Anyone who has even a passing familiarity with motorcycles knows a GoldWing is Japanese
Hog Heaven, but
even experienced bikers return a blank stare when you mention a SilverWing.
Back in the late 1970s Honda developed a shaft driven, water-cooled,
turbocharged bike which had a Motto Guzzi style perpendicular mounted V-twin
engine. Those who rushed out to buy one quickly discovered that waiting for the
turbos to spin-up and the power to kick it is not something you want to do when
you are leaning into a tight curve at 100 mph, so this $10,000 was not very
popular. (Note: For a detailed -- and far more accurate -- story about the
development of the Turbo and CX please see this background
story contributed
by Eirik Skjeveland, of Norway.)
Not one to let expensive R & D and tooling go to waste Honda built and
marketed a conventional street bike -- the CX500 -- around its radical -- for
them -- 500cc water cooled engine. The CX500 was a moderately successful, albeit
ugly, bike which is still popular with commuters. In 1981 Honda, seeking to cash
in on the huge popularity of the GoldWing created a smaller version around the
CX500 and in the process turned the ugly duckling CX500 into a swan; the Honda
SilverWing Interstate.
Honda replaced the ugly rear spring/shocks with an internally mounted (i.e.
invisible) air adjustable "ProLink" mono-shock similar to what they
used on their motocross bikes, and added a second disk to the front wheel which
also rode on an air adjustable fork. These two changes improved the appearance,
handling, and braking performance. The "SilverWing Interstate" package
consisted of full frame mounted fairing -- exactly the same as the one on the
GoldWing -- and a very cleverly designed seat / luggage rack / saddle box
arrangement.
The bench seat was split into two parts and the passenger half could be removed
and replaced with a streamlined looking luggage box which was tapered so it was
smaller at the top than at the base. This box was designed to open at both the
base and the top using a clever two-way latch. You could easily access small
items by opening the top lid and by opening the bottom it was possible to stow a
full coverage helmet.
The saddle boxes were equally well designed, sculpted to match the lines of the
bike and easily removable. The same locking latches which secured the passenger
seat / luggage box also served as the rear support for these saddle boxes. The
front support for the saddle box was a push button clip identical to a seat belt
buckle. It was possible to mount or remove the saddle boxes in seconds by simply
unlocking the rear catch and pressing the release button in front, and folding
the front support arm out the way. The back of the box even had a spring catch
for holding the support arm in place and there was a built-in handle which
allowed the box to be carried like a suitcase.
The sum total of the innovative engine / powertrain and the cleverly designed
luggage system was a small bike that looked good, performed well around town and
for short road trips, and offered the storage space and convenience needed by a
solo, suit and tie commuter like myself. The same type of integrated design can
be seen on the Honda Pacific Coast Highway, but in my opinion Honda went too far
on the PCH, completely disguising the fact there is a motorcycle underneath the
plastic.
Like a Beemer, there was something comforting about having the cylinders of the
SilverWing up in front, next to your knees. It was a great way to warm your
hands in the winter too! Compared to my previous bikes, an 1968 BMW R60/2 and an
1969 BMW R50/2, the SilverWing had plenty of power, albeit at much higher RPMs.
The SilverWing was in many respects more like a Beemer than its big brother the
Goldwing in that everything on it was no-frills functional but extremely well
engineered. That, and the fact I was able to buy a mint condition, year-old
specimen for only $2,500, is how I came to own the burgundy 1981 Honda
Silverwing Interstate which is now tooling around downtown Lumbambashi, Zaire.
For
those of your who found this page at random with a search engine, be advised it
is a supplement to Chuck Gardner's SilverWing
Tales contributed
by Eirik
Skjeveland of
Norway who has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Honda CX/GL 500 / 650 bikes. He
corrected some inaccuracies in my orginial posting and now whenever someone
sends me a Silverwing question I can't answer I send it off to him. Here's what
he had to say about the GL650: