650 Silverwing dressed to naked? Will it be alot of expense?

[DJ]

This is what it looks like today.
The changeover was easy and fairly cheap.
I like this much better than the fat barge it used to be.
The very nice handling surprised me. Much better and with a lighter feel than I was expecting.
My son who test drove it longer than I did, said it out handles and outruns his almost new Yamaha V-Star.
I know I like it better already than my hotrod Suzuki, even though it is not as powerful, it is still powerful enough to be fun.
This is what it looks like so far. It was an easy changeover so far. Nothing to it.
The paint is shabby and the seat has duct tape on it, I will cure that soon enough, but boy it sure runs and drives nice!
I like riding this one better than the hotrod Suzuki.
I like the way it feels light and nimble, and still has enough power to have fun along the way.
The ride is nice and it handles much better than I expected.
The engine is not as smooth as my other 4 cyl bikes, but is smoother than the other common v twins I have been on.
I can tell by the exhaust note that louder pipes could give it the "cool" sound of the bigger v twins.
I watched a YouTube vid of one of these with pipes that had a "glasspack" sound, and it sounded good, and sounded a lot more powerful than a 500- if you like noise, that is.

My next steps will be to clean it up, put on some nice paint and a seatcover.

I like this so much I am keeping my eyes open for another deal on the same kind of bike.

I recommend it as a cheap way to get a very good bike.
Just don't start running the prices up until I scarf up a couple more for me...
This is probably the one I will take on this year's Moonshine Run.

sw1.5.jpg

[sunnbobb]

That came out real nice! More pictures! LOL

[Rat]

Nice work, they are great old bikes.

Gord

[DJ]

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[duke182]

[quote="kap384"]Speaking of Canadian GL's, here's the one I sold 1 year ago, almost to the day:



i have one almost identical to that one.
i say identical because mine has all the same parts except mirrors, grips and my paint is faded quite a bit.
i really like my bike. it is amazing how well it rides.
i will post some pics as soon as i get a chance.

[duke182]

here's apic of mine.
i have toyed with the idea of stripping off all the dresser gear but in a way i kinda like the fairing with the option to swap back and forth between rear seat and trunk. and of course the bacgs are removable too. that makes the bike very versitale.

[DJ]

I like the way you can move around the seat sections and the trunk simply by moving some latches. I Couldn't get along with the monstrously heavy and awkward fairing though. Weight is the enemy, and weight on the nose is the worst place to have it, especially bad when it's high up and forward..

[duke182]

I like the way you can move around the seat sections and the trunk simply by moving some latches. I Couldn't get along with the monstrously heavy and awkward fairing though. Weight is the enemy, and weight on the nose is the worst place to have it, especially bad when it's high up and forward..

im not a real big fan of fairings either but on these bikes i found it to be managable, for me anyway, becauce the fairing is fixed and does not move with theforks.
i dont think i would like it at all on this bike if the fairing was attached to and moved with the forks.
all in all i enjoy riding this bike and find it to be pretty agile for what it is.
i dont reccomend it but i've actually scraped a peg once or twice on this one.
maybe someday i'll find a cx650 to turn into a bobber or cafe style bike but in the mean time i think i'll leave this one reletively stock in configuration and if i do anything to it , it will just get a few add ons and some fresh paint, maybe.

[DJ]

Me too. I was so surprised at how agile and easy to toss around it is. I think it handles and rides so much better than my hot rod suzuki and other bikes I have ridden. I really am happy with mine.(500) I believe it will quickly become my favorite.
I actually prefer the fork mounted windshields. I know the frame mounted ones have less effects on steering than the fork mounted ones but I think the lighter weight makes up for it. I also find it a bit unnerving to "turn the steering wheel" and not get feedback from the windshield as to where the wheel is Pointed.
I know I would get used to it, but. Fornow it just feels so unnatural I don't trust my balance at low speeds with a fixed position windshield. I hear they are less tiring on long trips though.

[Sidecar Bob]

Yeah. I don't much like the way a fairing makes a bike look either. That's why I removed the one that came on my 'Wing.

But I'm not dumb either and it didn't take me many winters to figure out that when its really cold out I want a nice big fairing with full lowers in front of me when its -20c or colder and I'm doing 80+ Kph. The fairing from the 'Wing has been on every winter machine I've had since '95, including the current CX650E based frankenbike...