Hello from Heidelberg, Germany

Hello Everybody,

my Name is Peter, 57, married and living at Heidelberg county, Germany.
Though having a licence for Motorbikes for years, I bought my first bike in April 2014: A 2001 Silver Wing, 49000km/30000miles, looked rather "used"  but running. With a Sidecar.
One of the reasons: My wife never would take place on the backseat of a motorbike. The first ride with lent helmets was a big surprise for me: she was hooked at once!
Now we are looking forward to trip to Scotland in May.
By the way, actually I try to improve my English. Please excuse my mistakes, schooltime is long ago...

So have a safe journey everyone!
Best regards from Heidelberg

Peter

Hello Peter welcome to the forum. You've found the best place to learn all about your "new" to you Silverwing.
I wouldn't worry about your English. It looks like you speak English as good or better than a lot of people here in the US. Also I'd be lost if I tried to communicate in German.
Perhaps sometime down the road you'll find another Silverwing and your wife will take over the one with the sidecar.

If you plan on doing your own maintenance you'll find you can do anything you need or want with the service manual and help from this forum. I add the paragraph below for most new members because there's a lot of information in the links and may save you some work.
Here are some links(3 below in blue)that will help you learn a lot about your Silverwing. If you can't find what you need in the links below the search on this forum works good, and if you still need help just ask and someone will do what they can to answer your questions.

Maintenance, Tips and Hints
Maintenance "Pictorials"
Accessories-Modifications

And another for the one in the sidecar.

Welcome. Sidecar outfit is much safer than the 3 wheel trikes seen in the US.....but riding skill needed. I rode sidecar outfits for over 40 years----from R51/3 BMW Steib S350, Harley factory setup
1966 and MZ (Wildschei 300 conversion-better Koni sidecar damper on sidecar wheel from him, too) in the end

Does your outfit have TUV? 3rd wheel brake?

I now have about 100,000 km SilverWing experience----to me they have no known serious defects but in sidecar use I would expect short drive belt life-----carry a new one with you as dealers will not have them in stock if you break one underway. Several years ago one German magazine did test of Helix gespann=every 4,000 km it ate a belt in hard use.

SilverWing fuel use----I can do near 4 liter per 100km in gentle solo use---I would think at European speeds you can expect 8 liters per 100km or more.

Peter,

Welcome to the site and congrats on your new SWing. Your english is just fine so don't worry about anything. Most americans, myself included, are "dummkopf's"when it comes to english. lol If you have any questions please just ask away. Again, welcome.

There´s more business around me as I thought and so this is the third attempt for an answer.

Hello and thanks for the friendly welcome and the links.
Its a good deal of work for me reading al the themes and posts, but I´m working on it. Seems as if I found a good dictionary...

To Johns questions: Of course I got a TÜV-seal on the license plate. Thats a prescription for using a vehicle on German roads. (Welcome to Germany, the home of rules )
The 3rd wheel has a brake. It works together with the frontwheel brake. The belt worked about 5000 km from buying the the SW one year ago up to now. A week ago I had a main service on the bike and the belt was renewed. I´m curious how long it will work.
Fuel use : About 6 liters in gentle use. Very gentle. With a sidecar the SW is a comfy cruiser perhaps a bit "sedate". By the way, European Speeds are just possibilities

So far, so good for today, greetings from Heidelberg
Peter

Hi Drei, welcome to the site.