Hello Forum

Not sure how to introduce ourselves, but will try this box. Thank you, SW Forum, for the knowledge and advice shared here. We’re a married couple and recently bought a 09 SW with 2300 miles. This is our first motorbike. After 46 years and 50,000 miles of bicycling, we got tired of pedaling. At age 67, intending to ride around town and tandem day trips, the SW seemed perfect. Our bike had two prior owners, but no maintenance logs. We changed air filter, coolant, engine and differential oil, flushed the brakes. Couldn’t have done these without with help from the Forum.  The SW power is impressive. Hills we used to bicycle in low gears are now flat. Our SW came with a Shaw box trunk; love it. We added a Kaoko throttle lock and like it. It has a Givi windshield, but wife still gets quite a bit of buffeting at highway speeds, and on windy days. On the highway our SW has enough power, but sometimes feels small for us. We’re 6-2 and 5-10, 350#. We wonder how much better the Burgman or Goldwing wind protection and fit would be.
There area couple mechanical things that bother us when accelerating our SW from a stop. First, there is a no-power zone as you rev from idle until the clutch grabs; just can’t get this as smooth as slipping a hand clutch would be. Second, when the clutch engages, and up to about 15 mph, there is a noticeable driveline shudder and occasional a belt squeal. Forum articles suggest these are common. We would welcome long time riders opinions on cures, or if these are just SW characteristics we should not worry about.

Many times driveline shudder is because the clutch shoes and drum are glazed. Some take off the clutch drum and lightly sand the clutch shoes and the inside of the clutch drum. What I would try first is to start the engine, apply the brake and give it gas so the clutch engages. Doesn't be real gentle on the throttle, you want the clutch to wear off the glazing. Do this for about 5 seconds and see if that fixes the shutter. If not, try it for another 5 seconds after you allow the clutch to cool.

To help prevent the clutch from glazing you'll want to do a couple full throttle take offs per full tank. Deglazing the clutch should also make the off idle transition much smoother.

Hello!

I think you may have to experiment a bit with the height of the screen.

It's aerodynamic shape means that the wind-flow acts as if the screen is taller.

Since the head of an average-size pillion is higher than that of the rider, the air-flow will be directed in his/her face.

As you are fairly tall I guess you might be able to raise the screen and still be able to look over it.

Clearviewshields makes a much larger screen than the GIVI.  That may help.
While most people prefer the GIVI adjustable screen, most are riding solo.

A rolling couch like the Goldwing will definitely feel bigger beneath you and give you more protection, but it has trade-offs.
Manual shifting.  Weight.  Cost, Harder to muscle around, etc.

Couples whose combined weight substantially exceed the 386lbs recommended by the manufacturer have made many trips coast to coast comfortably.

There are larger displacement scooters, but any CVT will have the bottom end problem of a little rev before engaging.

Honda has a number of DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) Motorcycles that may be more to your liking if you want the twist-n-go experience with more bike beneath you.  And they have the advantage that you can switch to a clutchless manual with the push of a button.
INTEGRA (VERY nice, and a scooter like configuration)
NM4 Vultus
NC750S
NC750X
CTX700
CTX700N
VFR1200F
VFR1200X

Yes welcome to the both of you to the best S/W forum on either side of the pond. One more suggestion on launching from a stop.
Try holding the left brake and increasing the RPM a few and then releasing the brake and increasing the RPM more.It does not take much and with a little practice it will become a smooth transition.This will lock up the clutch quicker. Howard

Welcome aboard, this is one thing I'm sure that improved mine, I did this when I put the new drive belt on.

"Many times driveline shudder is because the clutch shoes and drum are glazed. Some take off the clutch drum and lightly sand the clutch shoes and the inside of the clutch drum."

At first it wasn't taking off it was the rolling up to a stop and the free wheeling but that is cured with some practice.

Welcome to the best SWing site on the Net.

My clutch was shuddering and I tried this, which I learned here. I held the left brake hard and revved it up to around 4,000 rpm for about 10 seconds. It burned off the glaze and stopped the shuddering. The clutch doesn't engage until around 2,000 rpms. I also sometimes take off pretty hard/fast and that minimizes the shuddering. I usually get my shuddering when I'm taking off for the first time on a run. After two or three starts the clutch usually smoothes out for the rest of the trip.

So the cure is to nail it
I like them sort of cures

Thank you for advice on windshields, clutch, DCT and bigger bikes.
We measured our Givi to be 0.5” shorter than the tallest Clearview. Would not consider change to add 0.5”, but good to know these are comparable. Actually the real bad buffeting was on a very windy day, wind 30mph+. Also we learned not to draft cars on the highway; air is much smoother 10 seconds behind. Drafting on a bike doesn’t work like it used to with our 1964 VW crossing eastern Montana.
“Burning off” the glaze is a bit rough treatment for our new baby; maybe later. From your advice, we now do faster starts with less shudder. Amazing. Who would have thought that our nice, slow, gentle starts exagerated the shudder?
It still seems evident that on the highway a bigger and heavier bike would be better. Being new riders we’re just not ready for manual shifting in city traffic, or for doubling weight and power. We read your links on Honda’s DCT and the bikes with it, and also about ST1300s. Thanks. Those bikes don’t appear to have as good wind protection or human passenger seating as our SW. Goldwing seems the only logical upgrade. We will keep processing this. Who knows, if our interest in bigger heavier will pass or not. Do you ever get an annoying song in your head, and can't shake it? Lately I can’t get that 1990s Rainier Beer commercial out of my head. I constantly find myself humming “Rai ai ai ai // n e e r r r // b e e r r r . . . . ”. You just can’t do that on a Silverwing.