Old Wing

I'm thinking of a vintage Gold Wing, a GL1000 or GL1100. I know we focus a lot on Blasts, SV650s, and CB750s but does anyone have any love for the Old Gold Wing?

I know of a handful of them that have gone in excess of 200,000 miles.

I want eventually to get a GL1800 just wish they weren't as expensive as a mid-sized car

Not the fastest out there, but they are fairly comfortable cruisers. If it is dressed, you can carry stuff. Lots of stuff. They take a little getting used to because the geometry is 'different'(fixed in 1983) and the weight feels low, but they are bargains and being liquid cooled, will run forever. I've wondered how one would be all cafed out.

minimac wrote: I've wondered how one would be all cafed out.

A little something like this:

I'm not looking for the fastest thing out there. I'm kind of looking for the motorcycle equivalent of my P71. Comfy, cheap, bullet-proof, capable of eating up miles that is fast and handly enough to be fun without being the fastest or handliest.

Watch for charging system and clutch issues. Stators are getting old and brittle, and the clutches, well, they wear out. Replacing either one requires dropping the motor. Replacing/cleaning the fuel tank (under the seat, forward of the rear wheel) requires basically removing the back half of the bike. The carbs are a convoluted system of linkages.

Look around for owners fora and you'll find answers to the common problems. There's a good support network. But you should know what you're getting into before you buy, and they'll be able to tell you.

(Don't bother taking one to a shop that needs a lot of work. It'll cost three times what you paid for it, minimum.)

Lugnut wrote:

minimac wrote: I've wondered how one would be all cafed out.

A little something like this:

That is seriously cool.

My dad had a GL11, about a 1979 or 1980. I rode it (with a helmet on, of course, so no one would recognize me). It was a nice riding bike. Plenty of power. His was stripped down, no faring, bags, etc. It was "stock" as they came from the dealer. Back then, the Honduh dealers couldn't give them away, but had to take them from Honduh in order to get Civics to sell, which wouldn't stay on the lot long enough for a price sticker. So, he bought it new and super cheap. It eventually developed a leaky water pump. I mentioned to him that I had had a lot of problems with my '79 FLH POS, but never had a water pump go out. He sold it with a leaky water pump for the same price he paid for it.

I've heard about those alternators. They are inside the motor, so if they go out, you have to crack the case. Of course, Honduh owners like lots of lights, stereo amps, etc., so there's a significant risk of overloading the electrical system. Something about looking at the color of the plug where it comes out of the case. Timing belts can break with catastrophic results.

Woody wrote:

Lugnut wrote:

minimac wrote: I've wondered how one would be all cafed out.

A little something like this:

That is seriously cool.

That thing is rad.

Dr. Hess wrote: I've heard about those alternators. They are inside the motor, so if they go out, you have to crack the case.

Not true. You do have to drop the engine, but not crack the case. It still sucks plenty to have do.

DILYSI Dave wrote:

Woody wrote:

Lugnut wrote:

minimac wrote: I've wondered how one would be all cafed out.

A little something like this:

That is seriously cool.

That thing is rad.

For sure. A friend of mine is building a naked gl1000 and showed that to me a year or so ago. I haven't looked at Goldwings the same again.

My dad's basically looked like the pic above, except with a bigger rear fender, front fender and more "buckhorn" style bars. Back then, I don't think Honduh even made a faring. They came that way and most got Vetters farings put on them. JC Whitney was a big source for that stuff.

I've sometimes thought about getting a Goldwing Standard (the variety with no bags or fairing) as kind of a replacement for the CX500 I used to have. I don't know too much about common issues, though if it's like the CX500, preserving the water pump seems to be a matter of sticking to silicate-free coolant.

I just got an '81 GL1100 that I'm building for a GRM inspired challenge over at customfighters.com.

When I got it.

Now.

Not done yet, but very soon.

Oh, yeah. Never again. Everything is 2x harder than an inline engine/conventional bike.

The really early 4-cyl Goldwings were sold new without the fairings and bags, and I still think they look awesome that way. I have to give a should out to the Goldwings little brother, the Silverwing. Based on the CX500 (and GL650) the Silverwing had a fairing and bags, and a neat rear trunk that could make the bike a solo, or be slid back for tandem rides. I mention it because the CX/GL family (except the Turbo) are the P71 of the motorcycling world. Well, I guess the Suzuki 1000 would actually be on account of so many being used as police bikes. (CHiPS) OK, the CX is the Mail Truck of the motorcycle world. A little homely, but 100% bulletproof, easy to ride, and no need to maintain it. It was in fact the default courier across much of Europe for years.

IIRC, it suffered alternator problems to the larger wings, and I think they also had igniter problems.

I do like the look of the CX's though, like liquid cooled Guzzi's.

pinchvalve wrote: Well, I guess the Suzuki 1000 would actually be on account of so many being used as police bikes. (CHiPS)

The GS1000 may have been used as a police bike somewhere, but the CHiPs bikes were KZ1000P Kawasakis. They continued to build that exact same bike for many years for the police market, they only finally dropped it a few years ago.

82 for 7 bones http://hartford.craigslist.org/mcy/1252017049.html

This has me thinking - if a goldwing can be this cool, how cool can a Guzzi Eldorado be? I've got access to one of these that is just collecting dust -

Eldos are pretty damn cool stock, if you ask me. I suppose you could always do a V7 replica, if you're going the cafe route.

you could always go a different way altogether, I heard about this bike years ago, (google image search came through again) while searching I also found this

That supercharger 'kit' would be cool, but he decided not to mass produce it because it would cost like 2x what 'wings are selling for.

I'm thinking about an edelbrock 4bbl with a plate nitrous system for mine

I had an Eldo. That was a very cool, very large motorcycle. It had a BUBs mufflers and on trailing throttle sounded just like a hook and ladder on the jake brake. It's one that got away, but ultimately that was a good thing.

For what it's worth, a couple seasons of roadracing an FZ600 swapped to 17" wheels put me off big, klunky, wobbly, heavy slow motorbikes for good. Maybe if I lived in the country...