Hello from Portsmouth, VA

I joined a week ago, but waited till today to do a first post.  I wanted to be able to post a few pics of the new girl.  I met the previous owner on Sunday to look at the bike and closed the deal a day later.  It's a 2009 with about 4600 miles on it and I'm the second owner.  It was garage kept all its life and is really clean.  It's all original and in that time it's only had one oil change, so that will be a first order of business.  

A little about myself,  I'm no spring chicken and the last time I was on a bike was when I was a teenager.  I have a twin brother up in NJ (BillAquino) that also has a "Swing", his is a 2002 and is the same color go figure.   He's been riding a bit more than me all these years.  This is my first motorcycle.  I might have gotten one sooner, but my wife has always been against them.  She's a physical therapist and has worked with more than a fair share of people who were injured on bikes.  But recently we got a motorhome to do some traveling and having something to drive around in once it's parked became more important.  She started out by saying, "I may regret this..." and the rest is history.  This coming weekend we will both be taking the motorcycle safety course that will get us our license certs if we pass the 2 day course.  So far, she has been a really good sport about it all.

So the plan is to come up with some type of carrier that will let us carry the scoot on the back where we currently have a bike rack.  I'm researching what is out there and what I can either fabricate myself or have built custom.   Anybody that has some insight on folks that travel with these bikes please share what you know.

So here are a couple of pics of the new baby.   Haven't had it on the road yet, still waiting on a helmet from Revzilla.  My wife and I did take the cycle safety course over this last weekend and passed.  I found out that I still had an "M"  endorsement on my license when I went to the DMV, it had been such a long time since I moved to VA and it had carried over from NJ.  It was well worth the time and money to take the course, and it has helped my confidence greatly.

Good you did the training course. My story is similar to yours. I rode motorcycles when I was in highschool and college. Shortly after I stopped riding when I got married. Took up riding again in 2012. I too took the MC course. I learned that just because you passed doesn't make you a good rider. My advise to you would be to get some miles under your belt before riding two-up.
Good luck and welcome to the forum. Aloha from Hawaii.

Re: Carrier

By typing carrier into the search function (upper left), you should find an earlier post on this subject. Hope it helps.

Hi Eviltwin,

Welcome. Good work on passing your safety certs. My missus went the other way - I taught her to ride, she passed her test, worked as a professional rider for a year and then had an accident. Has pretty much refused to ride solo or pillion ever since!

You'll love the SWing. Comfortable, easy to ride and will take you all over.

Rog

Finally got the bike out for some rides around the neighborhood.  Did well with it, staying on side streets till I get my correct sized helmet.  Wife even took it around a parking lot.

First maintenance done.  Changed the oil.  Had a bear of a time getting the old filter off.  Even my smallest oil filter wrench wasn't small enough for this filter.  Ended up getting an adjustable wrench for 12 bucks that got it off first time.  Always helps to have the right tools.   Near future will be bleeding brakes and coolant.