2 SWings in my Garage :)

Hello all,

Skippy here from SW UK logging in for the first time. I'm the proud owner of a 2004 600 Silverwing Scooter and an original 1983 GL650 Silverwing (I did have a GL500 for a while but sold that to a friend in Ireland).

I've recently had my left lower leg amputated due to injury sustained in the Army and while I am able to still ride my 83 Wing, which is now fitted with a 'Klictronic' gearchanger and an MTC Voyager Quike conversion, I have far to much respect for the old bike and decided it was probably better if I got a more modern machine.

It had to be a Honda and one that I could ride without having to spend another £700+ modifying to suit my needs....... The FJS fitted the bill perfectly and I had to hunt around for a while until I found one at the right price, I got a bargain from ebay; a 6 year old bike with only 3100 miles on it - full service history and T&T into the bargain as well!

The bike has caught me out on more than one occasion - last weekend I found myself zapping down the A30 into Cornwall, happily sitting at 90mph!! This bike is a serious danger to my licence LOL

The new one; rapidly having miles put on her - just for the hell of it Esp while the warm weather is holding out so nicely; usual British summer weather is pouring rain




The old one; This one is called 'Hetty' and we have done nearly 50,000 miles together since I got her as a stop gap winter bike back in 1998. Since then my wife and I have grown to love her so much we would never consider getting rid of her, even if we couldn't ride any more (I'd rather be dead!!). I've taken her over a large part of Northern Europe and visited a fair few CX/GL rallies.



(somebody always wants to pose......)



I look forward to chatting with other members soon, and perhaps meeting up with any that get out and about to rallies, runs and shows.

Ride Safe All. Skippy. QRT.

Hello Skippy and welcome!
Great to have another European member although distance is no problem on this forum.
Respect for a rider from the Armed Forces, too.
The 'new' Silverwing's a super bike but I can see you'll miss the 'old' one lots.
Great pictures.

Welcome Skippy, (ex RN), but won't hold being an ex pongo against ya!!!

The 'Wing' new style is a particularly good choice of machine and as you say, a danger to your license. Mainly use mine for getting me to and from Bovington.

Some great advice and knowledge on here, so dive in.

Many thanks for the warm welcome folks - its nice to know that these bikes are as popular as they appear.

Since my first ride on the scoot I thought I was becoming a shade more invisible despite riding in my cut-off etc. (Which did seem a little incongus at first but hey what I wear is my choice; I prefer leathers and armour it saves loosing even more 'bits'.......) However, my faith in fellow riders was some what restored over the weekend when a spur of the minute ride down to Cornwall and back on Sunday afternoon (round trip of about 220 miles in four hours ) and a fair few riders on all sorts of machines, not just scooters, gave me a friendly wave or a nod.

Skippy, welcome to the forum. That's some good looking machines you have. Maybe people were waving and nodding, but you didn't notice because of the big grin on your face.

Skippy,

Welcome to the forum -

We are Brother in Arms, you and I.

And I also have two SilverWings in my Garage, although one is Kim's and neither of them are CX/GL models.

I have always liked the CX/GL's and I was a huge fan of the FT500 Ascot.

Be an active member and live man - LIVE.

Hi Dale,

Thanks for the welcome Lucky you to have a choice of machines to ride in your garage also lol. For some strange reason the FT500 never really hit if off with UK riders - perhaps it was something to do with the overhead cam shaft supposedly giving problems.... Mind you, I only ever came across one person who actually owned one and he loved it - I suspect much of the 'reputation' the bike gain was hearsay! A bit like the first production run CX's, which were supposed to lunch main bearings and cam chain guides. They did in a few cases, but once a machine gets a poor reputation its almost impossible to shake it off! Honda had to work overtime to sort the problem(s) and fortuantely ended up with a bike that every courier in the UK probably rode at one time or another in the 80's/90's.

A much more favoured bike here in the UK, using the same engine as the FT500 is the XBR or the much sort after Japanese home market GB Clubman

http://www.scigacz.pl/zdjecia/gallery/uzywane/Honda_XBR500S_klasyczny_singiel/Honda_XBR500.jpg.html

Personally, I think this is a bit special, but wouldn't want to ride to far on it - I went to a party once where somebody turned up rather late having ridden approx 250miles on one of these....... He spent the rest of the night laying on the floor drinking beer through a straw

http://lovik.tripod.com/gb500adingerman.jpg

Those are beautiful bikes and remind me of the CB500T which was a very popular bike here in the states. I happened to see some of them at a RadRenn (bicycle track) in Swabach Germany. An interesting feature race where the bikes followed close behind the CB500T's to draft along while racing on the oval. Crazy stuff, but so much fun.

The FT also spawned a VT500. Not sure if that was the same chassis with the V engine or if it was a completely new animal.

The CX/GL setup was an enormous hit in Germany.

jdeereanton wrote:

The CX/GL setup was an enormous hit in Germany.

Oh yes!! I have plenty of friends in Germany who ride them still, and there is still a flourishing aftermarket spares trade catering for every taste from forward controls to wire wheel conversions etc. I'm hoping to go back to the Northern German CX Treffen in a year or so for the 15th anniversay rally at Vechta. I went to the tenth and there were over 500 CX's & GL's in the paddock and over 1000 other machines parked along the road way leading in to the site , by European standards for a single make, single model event thats pretty good going......

I was hoping to go to the Dutch Rally at Sint Jan Klooster this weekend, but as my leg was amputated in June my wife seems to think I'm not fit enough just yet - even if I did take the Quike instead of 'Betty' - oh well there's plenty of other stuff to do locally for the moment........... Next year is definate lol!!

Welcome to the Forum Skippy.
Great pictures of your bikes. I look forward to seeing most posts from you.
Dave