coasting down off throttle

Been driving my newly purchased 2003 Silver Wing about a week now, coming from a 2003 Reflex and years ago a 150CC Elite.

I've found that when you release the throttle to slow down, it seems like the Silver Wing does not coast down or freewheel as freely as the Reflex or the Elite as I recall. Almost as if engine braking or letting off the gas in a manual car, the engine/trans slows it down more so without the need for braking. Seems like the Reflex freewheeled more when you let off the gas and needed to brake sooner and the Silver Wing slows down more so on its own when no throttle pressure.  Hope my description makes sense.

Is this normal? It's not a bad thing, actually, I think I like the way it works better that the Reflex, but wanted to make sure its normal.

MORMAL it give a better  control   and saves on brake ware.

The engine braking is normal and it took me a while to get used to it as well. I had previous experience with a Reflex and then a Majesty neither of which had any significant engine braking when you rolled off the throttle.

The second thing that took a little time to get used to was during deceleration when slowing below about 15 mph. Below that speed, the clutch would drop out and the scooter went from engine braking to freewheeling.

The third thing that took a little time to get used to was the throttle position/clutch friction point rpm for a smooth standing start. Sometimes I would twist the throttle and begin to lift my balance foot only to realize that I had not turned up the throttle enough. I would nearly lose the balance of the scooter because I was expecting to get under way. I would realize that I didn't give it enough throttle to engage the clutch and then I would turn up the throttle quite a bit more and get off to a squirrely start.

After you get used to how the swing behaves, you will be able to relax a bit more.

From what I understand, and see with my 08 SWing, the clutch engages and disengages at around 2000 rpms. I don't mind the engine braking or the free wheeling as I've gotten used to it. I pretty much have it timed at a couple of places in my town where we come from 45 mph to 30 mph. I let off the gas and get slowed down to 30 right at the 30 mph sign. Or at least within a car length of it. I guess it's just something we all have to get used to riding a SWing.

One drawback to the CVT system common to the SW and my 650GT is the lack of engine braking on long, steep downgrades. Not much of a problem on the I-5 passes in the area here but some of the secondary roads in the hills here require more braking going downhill than I like.

I must be missing something, I EXPECTED my S'Wing to pick up spreed on the long down hill runs but found I must maintain a bit of throttle to keep going, The 2000 RPM drop out is spot on, like Dale N I found I can time it pretty well to coast those last few feet. It may be comparing apples to kiwis but our CVT transmission CRV actually automatically " downshifts " going down a long grade, you can see the RPM'S increase over a 1000 RPM compared to normal. One thing I've notice if for any reason with the S'Wing that the RPM'S drop below 2000 going downhill it WILL INCREASE " coast " faster and faster until you bring RPM'S UP with the throttle and engine braking resumes.

Thanks for the replies everyone, good to hear it is normal. The used 2003 I purchased had less than 5000 miles on it and I don't expect problems but it was only driven about 300 miles in past 6-7 years, so lack of use sometimes can recreate issues.

I've really started getting used to the deceleration feel but I'm gong to pay more attention to the details of the RPM's as other have said as I didn't really pay attention to the details of this and the mechanics of it all.

As another respondent mentioned, the acceleration from a stop takes getting used to as it also works differently than the Reflex and other scooters. Took a bit to get used to that but now I've become more used to it and have the feeling of how it works.

Definitely find the acceleration and power vs the Reflex to be nice and fun at times. Was able to easily pass a slow moving car that I needed to and would not have tried with the Reflex at that speed. You certainly surprise some car drivers that see you and think "slow scooter", get in the other lane at a 4 lane road, see you start off slowly, but then you just leave them in your dust

"Kindly come to terms with your aśś for it bares you" -- Fra Junipero Serra, c. 1769

"AMEN"! Howard

The Burgman 650 I previously owned had the opposite effect, excessive engine braking. It didn't take long to learn not to shut the throttle down quickly when slowing because that scooter would try to throw the driver against the windshield. Slowly closing the throttle was the key there. The reason I believe is that the Burgman doesn't use a flyweight variator as other scooters do but has an electrically controlled variator. That uses a small electric motor turning through a nylon gear set that moves the variator pulley in and out. Elegant engineering but not as robust as the flyweight systems. Have a failure in that electric motor or wear out one of those nylon gears and the bike needs a new tranny which along with the labor runs in the 3K range. I prefer the weight operated variator such as the SW, BMW 650GT, T-Max and most other scooters for their reliability and ruggedness.