Thinking about switching to Silverwing

Hi all,
I've been riding Motorcycle and especially Suzuki Burgman 400 in the past 10 months and put 11,000 miles on it since I bought it used last year in April...I am hooked to Scooter.
Now I am thinking about switching to Silverwing. Found a 2005 Wing for sale for $1,500, problem is it has 55,000 miles on it and the current owner just bought it 2 months ago and he has no clue what was done to the scoot. All he said is it runs good.
What your thoughts ?
Thanks

Welcome to the forum first of all. If you like the Burgman than you should enjoy the SWing more IMO. Have had a chance to ride the SWing yet? The SWing lasts a long time but you would probably need to do all of the maintenance if you decide to buy it. If you still have the Burg than I would suggest you sell that so you can spend a bit more money on a newer Swing. But it really depends on how good of shape it is in.

Btpham919, welcome to the forum.   
I would pay $1,500 for an 2005 Silverwing with 55,000 miles on it in a hart beat if it was in good shape.

Welcome from Seattle.   We really enjoy detailed ride reports with pictures.

$1500 is not a lot of money for this type of scooter, even if it has 55,000 miles.  There are some around with more than 100,000 and counting.

If it hasn't been properly maintained and you are not handy with tools, it could add up quick having the work done by a moto shop. There is good information on this forum concerning routine maintenance.

Tires are a big deal. Plan on $325 if the tires are old or worn out. (Installed price)

I would pass on that deal.. Look for one with under 10k and start getting handy with a wrench to keep it in shape....
3-4k should get you a good one...

Welcome to the forum. That is not a lot of miles for a well maintained 2005./That is a lot of miles for a poorly maintained 2005. Why is the owner selling so soon? How much maintenance are you able to do? Only you can decide if it is a good deal for you. There are a number of threads here on buying a used Silver Wing.

Welcome to the forum! And to second the above comments, scrutinize the 2005 carefully to try and determine the condition. If you can't do that perhaps pay a Honda dealer to check it out PRIOR to purchase? $1500 sounds like a sweet price but if it needs tires, battery, and a drive belt etc., you would be better advised to find one needing less work. Also look at the plastics on the scoot. All that plastic (tupperware) is horribly expensive so...

offer $500--near 10 year old scooter---they are not cheap to fix even if you do everything yourself. Might be fine.....but need everything, walk away.

I think this is a great deal, subject to mechanical inspection by Honda Mechanic.
Tell the owner you will pay for an inspection if he will submit the bike to one.
If the results are unfavorable, use the estimate to bring it into shape as a negotiation tool.
If he doesn't want to negotiate, offer the original owner the written inspection results for the price you paid for the inspection. No guarantee he will buy the inspection from you but if he is interested in what it will take to make the bike saleable, he might.

Dan

Thank you everybody for your valuable advices.
I feel almost as welcome at this forum as at Burgman's... Just kidding guys !
Seriously, thank you.
I found an excuse to ride to the beautiful city of Santa Barbara to check it out. Buy this one or not no big deal I will find another one.
BP

I would go max $500 as well, with that kind of mileage. You will surely need to put money into it should you buy it. If you are prepared to fix things yourself, go for it. If not, pass, as paying someone else to get it in shape could easily be over $2000. With no service history, factor in a new battery, tires, drive belt, spark plugs, radiator flush, brake fluid flush, perhaps pads and rotors, fuel pressure regulator, stator, and voltage regulator. Not knowing what has been done puts you behind the 8-ball. A mechanic won't even know if a new stator and voltage regulator have been installed. Assume the worst, and tell the seller that. The Silverwing engine is essentially bulletproof, but the parts that are required for it to function are not.

If you're lucky, you could score a bargain. If not, you just bought a money pit.
Pay a reputable mechanic who knows this type of scooter to check it out. If I lived near you, I would be happy to check it out for you. But sadly, I don't.

Thank you so much.
I am not mechanically inclined, I can only do simple stuffs.
BP

Then buy new. It's an end to a area

Currently I don't have a SW. My present bike is a BMW C650GT that's only six months old. This is the first time in 55 years or so of riding that I have had with a warranty. Previously to this bike I've worked on all of them myself. Saying that I wouldn't have a second's hesitation to buy a'04 that had good cosmetics, started, ran and handled properly. I'd expect no oil or coolant leaks for that amount of money and at least so so tires. The condition of the plastic and paint is almost the most important part of the deal because those are the most costly things to replace.
Go see it, it might be a good deal if it looks good, etc....

How do you like your Beemer?

So far so good. Lots of power with 60hp, very good weather protection, very nimble handling with the larger tires and lots of nice features like the electrically operated windshield, tire pressure monitor that reads out on the instrument panel, heated seat and grips, automatic parking brake operated by the side stand, Exceptionally good headlights, the rest of the lights are all LEDS. It has a single sided swing arm which makes for easy rear wheel removal.
The bike has only been on the market for three years so it remains to be seen how reliable it is. One seriously lacking thing that irritates me is the difficulty to get a shop service manual, BMW is a bit like Apple they really don't want people poking into their products.
I wish Honda would do something similar to the Silverwing. Their scooter has a real track record now and is known to be reliable. Manuals are easy to get, and parts are available from several sources something that BMW is sorely lacking.
The big four maxie scooters, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and BMW all make some pretty fine machines I don't think you can go far wrong with any of them.

@exavid
I agree that Suzuki & the BMW are maybe a better scooter and have more options, but the honda knocks their lights out when it comes to reliability. That is why I chose the silver wing... it does lack all the options they have..
I think my next step will be ctx700....
More power, no rubber belt & the same parallel twin engine which is bullet proof... my two cents..

mj80s,

I just bought a CTX700DCT last week and really like it.  It really handles well and is smooth.  I have the tallest Cee Bailey screen available (23") and it is great but it is hard to beat a big scooter for wind protection.  I have read that "exavid" BMW has the best wind protection of all the scoots.  It also has about 9 more hp than my CTX but mine has 46 ftlbs of torque.

exavid,

Do you know how much torque your BMW has?  Here is something I saw on ebay when I was looking for a service manual for me:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-C650GT-C650GS-FACTORY-SERVICE-REPAIR-SHOP-MANUAL-ALL-YEARS-THROUGH-2013-/161236668636?pt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&hash=item258a7450dc&vxp=mtr


http://www.ebay.com/itm/WORKSHOP-SERVICE-REPAIR-MANUAL-BMW-C600-SPORT-C650-GT-New-12-2013-REPARATUR-/221373973538?pt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&hash=item338aeac422&vxp=mtr

Thanks Jeff. The digital one on the second link is the one I bought. It's pretty good, I'd prefer a hard copy version so might bid on that first link you posted.

I think the problem with these scooters is that a guy needs all three, SW, B650 and C650GT. I had my BMW in for its first after break in check. The shop took care of two factory updates. One was very minor the other was some software changes the main one which was remapping the ECU which seems to have improved the power and throttle response. I haven't ridden it enough since to check the mileage but it's a definite improvement to the bike. Personally I wish it was built by Honda since I've been a long term Honda fan, but this scooter really is the best handling one I've ever ridden, reliability is yet to be determined since these scoots have only been out for three years. Maybe it will spur Honda to bring out an updated SW. Sure wish they imported the Integra here that one looks great to me.

Great info Jeff,
Yea I am on the fence for the ctx700... The 2009 silver wing has been great...But I just can't get used to really leaning it down in the turns without the insides of my legs grabbing to the bike. Also, the high upright position is a little weird, but there is no real world test drive that can show all these little bugs. If the CTX700dct came in white I would have jumped...
I would have thought ctx700 would have least had a radio/bluetooth/usb charging port.. Honda does drop the ball on that point for me...

Welcome to the forum. I'm pretty much a newbie myself. I've only been here a few months.

As far as the Wing goes, it all depends on how well it was taken care of. I bought a 99 Chevy Silverado last November with 222,xxx miles on it and it purrs like a kitten. Just drove it down to FL to pick up my "new" 2008 Wing that I bought from my sister. I have to do a bit of TLC on it but should have it up and running in a couple of weeks. It's only got 18,160 miles on it.