1700 miles on the 83 silverwings

[loingrader]

I was blessed to be able to take a trip with my brother Brandon and my uncle Cory out to Yellowstone on our 1983 Honda GL650 Silverwings.  If you want to read the ride report go down to the second post to skip the backround on my love affair with these motorcycles.

My connection with these bikes began before I can remember.  Several uncles had CX650's and CX500's as well as GL650's, GL650's and even a CX650T (as in turbo).  I would ride with them as a toddler.  Sit on the tank, nap on the tank, while we rode around on gravel roads and highway.  My folks were hicks from the sticks and didn't know better!  One uncle (Mike) in particular has owned at least a dozen of these bikes.  He rode one to Alaska (Arctic circle) back in the early 80's before it was cool.  The haul road was 1000 miles of gravel back then and he had to weld two fuel tanks together to make it between fuel stops.  He has owned many other bikes (BMW's and Honda's especially) but has never wavered on the bullet proof ultra practical nature of the GL500 and GL650.

Fast forward to a few years ago when Brandon and I did a SS1000 on our way back from Uncle Cory's in Dallas, TX.  I was on my CBR1100xx and he was on a street fighter converted CBR600F1.  When we finished our 1000 mile day about 16 hours after we started I was ready for more and he was ready to give up riding forever.  The next year when we rode to Dallas he wanted comfort and didn't care how ugly the bike would be.  So we did what uncle Mike suggested and found a Silverwing.  It was the 1983 GL650i which was only made that 1 year.  Brandon bought it for $1000 bucks, sight unseen, in Minneapolis.  The seller must have been laughing all the way to the bank.  We left for Dallas from Dell Rapids about a week later on our bikes.  Me on my XX again and Brandon on his hashed out, been thru the war, couldn't have been neglected any more or been missing any more pieces or had any more zip ties holding it together 83 Silverwing.  We made it 6 miles before the bike was on the side of the interstate.  Started up again and we kept on going.  Was Oklahoma City before we realized that the stator had not been charging the battery.  With 100 miles left it finally would not go any farther so Brandon hopped on the back of my XX and we rode the rest of the way to Dallas.  We went back and got it with Cory and his trailer.  On the way home we strapped a second battery to the back seat of my XX, and charged it on the road.  When Brandon's battery would die we would just swap them out so he could keep going.  Went pretty good till it got dark and we had to plug his headlight back in.  We would be cruising along the interstate, him in front, until his bike went dark and I'd hit the brakes and follow him to the side of the road to do the battery swap.

Fast forward a few years and Brandon is out of room so I get to store and ride his Silverwing.  No matter what was in my shed (KLR, XX, Wee, or any number of dual sports) I always wanted to ride the Wing on my 80 mile round trip commute to work.  It was ugly, brakes suck, home brew seat is awful, fairing wants to fall off, but it always brought a smile to my face.  One day at work the FedEx guy comes in and asks if that silverwing he always sees outside is mine

I said yea.

He asked if I wanted another one.

I asked what he had. 

He said, "83 silvering, just like yours" 

I asked what was wrong with it.

he said, nothing, just haven't ridden it a few years.  needs a battery and tires and carbs cleaned.

I asked what he wanted for it (knowing my wife wouldn't let me spend a penny on another ugly old honda)

he said, come get it and it's yours.

I picked it up the next day and it was way nicer than Brandon's!  It was the standard Silverwing, not the interstate model, which meant it didn't have factory saddlebags or fairing.  It had a painted to match Vetter windjammer and the low trunk (think Corbin smuggler) and 36000 miles.

but I still had Brandon's bike to ride so I just parked my free Wing in the shed until I needed it.

Fast forward to about 2 months ago when I sell the bike (Wee) I had been planning on riding to Yellowstone with Brandon.  I was in need of a ride so I get my free Wing out of the shed and with a little elbow grease the bike that hadn't been on the road for 6 years was about to be ridden 1700 miles.  My uncle Cory who also knows the awesomeness of 83 Silverwings had a pristine interstate model he bought 12 years earlier that needed some miles put on it, so we invited him on our Silverwing rally ride.  Plus he is a great mechanic which we knew may come in handy!

[loingrader]

We left Platte on Thursday July, 23 at about 7am.  We had recently bought Sena SMH10's and they worked amazingly.  We talked non stop for about 14 hours a day on the bikes for the whole trip.  They made the trip so damn fun!



Anyway, we took highway 44 from Platte west towards the hills.  Stopped for a pic in the Badlands.



Headed up to Belle Fouche and then west to Devil's tower which Cory had never seen.  We had the 1 mechanical problem about 10 miles from the tower.  I had researched how to bypass the vacuum petcock and I was glad I had.  It was about a 20 minute job when it failed and we were back on the road again.



to Devil's Tower

[loingrader]

We then dropped down to the interstate and then took Hwy 14 from Gilette to Sheridan.  From Sheridan we took 14 across the Bighorns and all the way to Cody.  What an awesome road, and no pics!  The first night we stayed at the Budget Host in Cody, WY



and rode up to the Buffalo Bill Resivoir just outside Cody on the way to Yellowstone.





standing on the dam.  the wind blew my camera off of the side and it was 2 inches from falling a long way down to the water below.



we then drove back to Cody and took Chief Joseph Scenic Highway up to Hwy 212 and then went east to Red Lodge Montana for lunch.

this is just about the top of Beartooth Pass.



Lunch at Red Lodge Pizza was fabulous and while we were parked there 2 brothers on ST1300's parked on either side of our Wings.



we then rode 212 back west towards Yellowstone's NE entrance.  What an awesome road.







The trip thru Yellowstone was pretty quick because we wanted to set up camp before dark.  Here's a pic at one of the big thermals close to Old Faithful.



And we camped on the southern side of the park at Lewis Lake campground.  $12 for the 3 of us.

It was well below freezing that night and the fire felt great.  It was fun to be reminded of what colder temps feel like.



The next morning we broke camp and headed south to the Tetons.  There were some fire in Idaho so the mountains were veiled in smoke but were awesome none the less.

here's a pic in front of Jenny Lake



and Mt Moran.





the roads were just resurfaced and super nice to ride on. 



the rest of the day was spent crossing Wyoming on 26 to Douglas with some cool roads and not much fuel. 



a gas station in the middle of a 100 mile stretch was out of fuel till Monday so we had to slow down to about 55mph to squeeze every last mile our of our tanks.  We coasted in to Casper on fumes 50 miles farther than any other tank had brought us. 

From Douglas we took 20 to Chadron for the night and stayed at the Bunk House Motel.



The next morning we headed up thru Martin, SD and got back on 44 for the rest of the trip back to Platte. 

The weather was perfect, there was basically no wind, no rain, temp was fabulous.  It was an awesome trip.  My uncle Cory, who had put 3000 miles on his Wing in the last 12 years was having so much fun he headed south and rode another 1000 miles home to Dallas. 

All in all, the bikes did great and the trip was an absolute blast.

[plumber mike]

Great Report!!! Thanks for sharing

[loingrader]

And in case any of you sceptics still don't see the coolness in these bikes, here are a couple with a few hours of modifications done.

Cafe



Dual Sport

[greatbuffalo]

I owned one, a friend in Lead has it now.

[Hank]

Thanks for the report man.  Looks like a great trip.   I've taken nearly that exact route a couple times but it's been a long time ago.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[ryani]

Wow!  That looks like an awesome time!  Thanks for the pictures and write up.

[JoniJo]

Loved you're ride and the pic's.
Rock on Silverwings!!!!!!       JoniJo

[Lonesome Dave]

Thanks for the report Bret.  Looks like your the little one in the group!  LD

[loingrader]

i like to stand in the low spots to make those two look tall.