A big question

Hey P butter here , my only draw back about buying a silver wing is the belt. I am life long florida boy and ride pretty much daily. I have my 2006 Honda Goldwing up for sale when it sells I will be buying a silver or burgman. The pros my view is Honda holds its re sale and has a great record. But 20 k and belt replacement has me worried those miles will come pretty quick for me .Dang I hope Goldie sells soon . I have test rode a silver wing I have not rode a burgman yet . Other issue is not a fan at all at a black bike . I do like the white on the bergman

Yeah, replacing the belt sucks, but so does getting new rotors so to me it's kind of a wash. My first belt went at 15K when a bolt sheared off in the CVT and decimated several parts. Belt 2 is approaching 35K so it will need to be replaced soon.

My bike is black and to be honest I prefer other colors. I see silver, red and blue ones on the road, so unless you are dead set on getting a new one there may be some color options.

Thanks I just don't know why they would only do black ??? lol . Yes I would like white or even yellow . When buying my gold wing it was a close call in that year white or gold . I bought the gold

Hi P Butter,
Yes I understand the reasoning behind wanting a better color selection; however you must remember that with the black bike that you can "wear" whatever colors you want; they will 'always' go well with black... ... Just so ya' know...

If you are reasonable at spanner work the drive belt change is an hour tops

p-butter fyi my friend had 27,000 on his belt and though some wear nothing to worry about. i got almost 21000 on mine.

I was lucky in my two Silverwings. My first one was the dark maroon color and my last one was red, just about the same color as my BMW scooter. I don't know what it is with the manufacturers and their dull colors, new BMW 650GTs only come in black and a couple color tinged grays. Boring.

Yes kind of nuts the way colors come out on all bikes . I have had a number of blue bikes , but the darker colors are not what I am looking for. The grays and silver colors tend to blend into road I M H O .




EDIT by Colin B to extract content from title!!

transam86 wrote:

p-butter fyi my friend had 27,000 on his belt and though some wear nothing to worry about. i got almost 21000 on mine.

Great to know , thanks I saw a shop manual on line that listed to replace ever 10 k ouch !!!.



EDIT by Colin B to extract content from title!! Again!

P. Butter, please add your message to the main box, not the title bar. Thanks

I'm from St. Louis, MO  US and just joined.

I'm getting ready to switch from my 1985 Honda Shadow to a SW and was hoping to learn before I buy.  

Thanks in advance for all your help and wisdom.

Hi P Butter. I just changed my belt and put in a 26 gram set of Dr. Sliders on my 08 SWing. I used this video to show how it is done: http://tinyurl.com/oo95c7l
It's very informative and only took me just over an hour. It was easy to do also. No problems. Now all I have to do is wait for MN weather to warm up in about 4 months so I can see how she handles.
The SWing had sat under a tarp for two years in FL when I got it. The belt was put on at 17,700 miles and it now has just over 19,000 miles on it. The SWing not the belt. The belt only has a minute or so of run time to make sure it all works. I only changed the belt due to it sitting under the tarp for those two years. The belt looked perfect and measured the same as the new belt but I felt it was best to replace it due to the time it just sat. The tires were weather cracked a bit, changed them. The battery was stone dead, changed that too. And I changed to oil and filter after I got it back to MN on a trailer. I rode it last summer but not on any long trips just in case the belt broke. This summer I will feel a lot better going on a trip or just riding around. Everything is new and I'm good to go.

The Burgman 650 has a LIFETIME CVT belt and I've had 3 of the 650's and no problems. The BIG question is: What constitutes the scoots "LIFETIME?" On the boards, some belts fail at 50,75 or 100,000 miles or so. I tend to trade my 'Toys' off before they accumulate that kind of mileage. I always try to buy new so that at the start, I know how the vehicle has been broken in and treated.

I just sold my 2012 Goldwing and as soon as it warms up, I will buy a New Maxi-scooter. I still have my very low mileage 2005 Pristine Burgman 650 and a near new 2013 Kymco Xciting 500 RI ABS so I'm well scootered but I want another shiny new toy!

I also hate the color black on any vehicle. I like white and white is the most popular color for vehicles in the United States. Having said that, I've never owned a white motorcycle. My Burgman is a deep metallic blue as was my 'gone but not forgotten' Goldwing. My Kymco is a candy apple metallic orange.

I have found a new 2012 Silver Wing for $6,500 out the door, in a neighboring State, which seems a great price to me. I also found a new 2012 Burgman 650, for just under $8,000 out the door which is also a great price, considering that I bought the very first year (2002 or 03) 650 and it cost me like $7,900 back then.

It's 12 degrees this morning as I get ready to leave to go to a 'Prayer breakfast' at a local church but I don't think I'll ride a scooter this morning!

Good luck on your choice.

Sam:)

As Dale said above this is really not a big job. I and a friend did mine in October and total costs was around $150 and included new DR sliders. My stock belt at 15K was in great shape as were the stock rollers, probably could have go another 5K. Don't let this put you off the Silver Wing is a great scooter. As to color, I agree with you, since 2011 they have ALL been black I figured Honda was winding down on production and just used one color.

According to the title for my SWing the color is Silver. Go Figure...

Also, making the tool that holds the front pulley isn't hard either. I had some scrap metal laying around that I made mine from. This is the tool I made: http://tinyurl.com/ld82kdp Although, I'd make the longest arm 17 1/2" instead of 17". I had to hold the tool with my foot to keep it from sliding on the floor when taking the center nut/bolt off. Putting it back on was no problem. I just hooked the end of the tool into the center stand leg and it held great when I torqued it back on to 76 Ft Lbs. Piece of Cake.

Sounds like the tool I made for my '04 SW. There was a 48" long 1"X1/4"I piece of aluminum on hand so I the tool from that. The longer arm was long enough to allow it to hit the ground at a fair angle and bolts that went into the variator holes fit with little play so once the thing was in place I didn't have to hold it. Counting cleaning up the black dust and all it took about and hour to change the belt and install the Dr. Pulley sliders. I'd still have my SW if it's max weight had been a bit higher, the Mrs. and I along with a full tank put it a bit over gross. The BMW scooter has a higher max weight which makes me feel better on the freeway with us being within specs when 2 up.

I believe the SW will prove to be one of the most bulletproof of the maxi scooters around. I don't know about my BMW 650GT because they've only been around for three years. So far I still like it very much and have had very little trouble with it. It's a bit more complex than the SW but not nearly as much as the Bergman mechanically. The electronics are a bit more complex because the bike has a CANbus system. I don't expect much difficulty with it since the system has been in autos for quite a few years now. I was lucky that my scooter is a '13 which still came in red. The newer ones went the way of Honda with dull colors.

gmdewulf welcome to the forum.  
It would be best for you to put your introduction HERE. That way it will show up in the Introductions with a the title of the topic whatever you make it. I understand how hard it can be to navigate a new forum. The first link is to post a new topic in the directory of the second link. The new post button is to the left above the directory you're in.
As you can see in the replies to your post no one welcomed you but gave advice on belt life and how to change a belt. They probably didn't notice you didn't begin this topic and this topic started with belt life and replacement. If you start a new topic you will get more information tailored for your post.