New member from Southeast Texas

Hi, I'm Tracy from southeast Texas, and I just bought a used 2005 s'wing last weekend. It was in a wreck, and the guy had replaced all the front faring and related mouldings, and had to straighten the front end of the frame a little bit. I test rode it, and it felt fine to me, so I bought it.
He told me that when he put everything back together in the front end, there was one color-coded wire (white) that he could not find where it plugged back in at, so he left it unplugged. Neither of us could tell that anything wasn't working properly, but when I got on it Sunday to go for a ride, I didn't get very far when I noticed the tach and speedometer pulsating from normal to zero when I turned on my turn signal. After a few more seconds, they both went to zero. As I was slowing down to pull over to the side of the road, it died on me.
I tried to re-start it, and the starter would barely make any sound at all. I called my wife to come get me (sigh!), and proceeded to look things over.
I couldn't find anything amiss, but decided to try to start it up again. It started up, and I pulled out onto the road to go back home. Made it down the road about another mile and it quit again, but this time I was able to pull into a gas station.
My wife met me there, and we put the jumper cables on and charged the battery up for about 15 minutes. This sufficed to get me back home (a couple more miles).
I'm assuming this wire he couldn't find the mate to plug back up has to do with the charging system, and wondered if anyone has any idea how much work is involved in taking the entire front end back apart to try to find it. Or would I be better off to take it to a repair shop?
Thanks,
Tracy

If you don't already have one, first order of business is a shop manual. It has all the answers you need. The correct order of removal of tuperware, a color coded wiring diagram, etc. :flower:

We;come Tracy. +1 on Jon's advice to get a service manual. Check the for sale section. Sometimes there are manuals for sale at a good price. Send a PM to the sellers. It is well worth the investment. Hope you get everything straightened out. If anyone has one, maybe they will PM you. They canned be shipped at the media rate which will save money on shipping.

Cannot go wrong getting a manual. Although good old google can work often. when it came time to change the oil and filter on a Bergman, I googled it and got a you tube video on exactly how to do it

Hello from SoCal.

Welcome to the forum - enjoy the ride.

Hello and welcome from NE Texas. I bought my 2006 SWing last spring in Orange. Hope you get your troubles located and worked out .... these are great rides and too much fun. You will find terrific help here for whatever you might need. Enjoy.

Welcome to the forum, hope you manage to repair your Wing swiftly.

Welcome Tracy! Good luck on getting your ride on the road.

Thanks to all of you for the warm welcome! I've been having to put in a lot of hours at work, and have been unable to spend any time on the bike. So, I took it to the Honda dealer in Beaumont, told them my story and left it with them. They found my wire, plugged it in, and checked out the charging system. Everything works fine now (only $79, so not too bad!).
Now I have a new issue: I've been reading on the forum different people reporting a "wobble" at various speeds, but mostly between 40 and 30 mph on the coast-down. Mine has a tendancy to wobble at all speeds, but less at higher speeds. I called the guy I bought it from before checking out the forum, and he said I needed to check the tire pressure. I did, and sure enough, both tires were down to about 28 lbs. I increased the pressure to 38 psi per the stamp on the side of the tire, and it diminished the wobble by about half.
I call it a wobble, but it's more like a "correction issue" than a wobble, now. It's like I'm constantly having to compensate for the bike shifting from one side to the other. I was wondering if it had to do with the frame being bent and straightened back out, but the seller assured me the angle of the bend was directly from the front towards the back, and it had been "trued" back up. If it's frame issues, obviously I've got problems. I did notice the front tire has some scallops, but only on the left side of center. Soon as the shop opens on Monday, I'm replacing the front tire. Anyone have any other suggestions to check?
Thanks,
Tracy

Check the rear suspension is set on the same number on both sides.

Texassilverwingrider64 wrote:

I did notice the front tire has some scallops, but only on the left side of center. Soon as the shop opens on Monday, I'm replacing the front tire.

What brand is the front tire??

The tires were my first thought as I read your post.

The rear has been replace fairly recently, according to the seller. It's a Pirrelli, I believe, but the front is a "hoop".
Thanks,
Tracy

Texassilverwingrider64 wrote:

I believe, but the front is a "hoop".

That was my guess. I had two front Bridgestone Hoops and both had the same raised diamond pattern right next to the center groove. I will be using the Bridgestone Hoops anymore.

I have not heard of the raised diamond pattern occurring on one side before ... but it will definitely effect the handling.

I have the usual wobble on coast down around 30 mph, and have always had it. In the last year, my bike has developed a high speed wobble (above 50 mph). I had a new rear tire installed when it first started happening (tire was worn out), and it did not get any better. It has been getting worse over the last 3000 miles (since new rear tire installation). I will be getting a new front tire installed in the next month or so.

My suspicions are that the worn front tire may be causing the high speed wobble. When I had a brand new Diablos on the front and rear, the bike had no high speed wobble and handled wonderfully. Keep your eyes on this forum, as I will report if it helps remove the wobble in a new thread.

Both front and rear are Pirelli Diablo. New front will be Metzeler Feel Free. Springs have been replaced with HyperPro. Pressure is 29/33.

All the motorcycle shops around here are closed on Sunday and Monday, so I am going to try to get a new front tire this morning.
I also read in a thread the other day on here about a guy that had a problem with rust in the rear wheel where the drive spline connects to the rear wheel. He said you could not get the wheel bolted on straight with the rust, and that caused a mis-alignment between front and rear? Sounds plausible, so if the new front tire doesn't do it for me, I'm checking that out soon. Oh, one other thing I noticed. If I have to stop fairly quick, and use the front brake hard, I have a "loose" feel in the front end. I also have a "clunking" kind of rattle in the front when I hit a large bump, such as crossing a railroad track. Maybe my head bolt needs tightening? Worth checking, at any rate!

Hello and Welcome..........

If I may be so bold, you sound like a prospective HyperPro spring customer!!

Ian

Good morning and welcome to the best Honda forum on the internet.

I also believe that by changing your front springs to the Hyper Pro ones that the problem with the front end will disappear.

There are four large bolts on top of your forks. Two on each side. You will have to bend down and look up to see then. Make sure both are tight. That might be the reason for the sound you hear.

TX64, the clunking that you mention sounds typical (or at least what mine used to do before having HyperPro springs installed). I would come into my driveway and get a big clunk every time as I went over the curb. The factory springs are fairly soft and allow you to blow through the travel and bottom out.

Try putting a zip-tie around the shiny part of the fork leg (stanchion) near the seal and see how far it slides up towards the top of the fork after a few bumps. Mine used to go to within an inch of the crown.