Well, I finally plated my new to me first Goldwing that I purchased in February and like Jcol I'll give my impressions after a weekend of riding solo and two up.
First the bad.
I am surprised at the lack of bottom end torque from the bike. My last bike was a GSXR1100 and it had substantially more bottom end grunt, but it was also 500 lbs wet so the wing starts off with a handicap.
Like Jcol I was taken aback by the 3rd gear whine. Probably seems worse because the bike is so quiet.
The good.
The fairing is marvelous. The motor is smoooooth. The ride is better than any vehicle I've owned, it makes road irregularities disappear. The handling is surprisingly good. I love the bags and trunk. I love the exhaust sound. And most important, my wife actually suggested we extend our highway ride to a further destination, that's a first, and that's "Priceless"!!
And now a question.
I get what sounds like a valve tick at idle when cold. As it warms up the tick becomes intermittent and then fully disappears at idle. However, at about 2,000 rpm and up it's back, and it's very annoying. At 3,000 it gets lost in all the other noises but I like to loaf around at about 2,500 to 3,000 at light throttle when I can, and that "Tick" is quite audible. This is my first experience with this bike so I can't say if it was there before I did the belts or set the valves. The valves have been set twice now and they are on the tight side in an attempt to make it quieter. It didn't.
I can hear it quite clearly when I spin the motor over cold with the ignition off, but I can't pin-point it. I don't believe it's coming from the valve covers but if I had to guess I'd say it's more from the combustion chamber of # 2, right around the headgasket (using a cheap mechanics stethoscope). When warm the tick is gone when I turn it over.
How close does the piston chase the exhaust valve? Could carbon and setting the valves on the tight side give me that "Tick"?
I suspect this bike was ridden very gently by very senior previous owner so I don't doubt there is a lot of carbon buildup.
Any suggestions?
Jorg
First the bad.
I am surprised at the lack of bottom end torque from the bike. My last bike was a GSXR1100 and it had substantially more bottom end grunt, but it was also 500 lbs wet so the wing starts off with a handicap.
Like Jcol I was taken aback by the 3rd gear whine. Probably seems worse because the bike is so quiet.
The good.
The fairing is marvelous. The motor is smoooooth. The ride is better than any vehicle I've owned, it makes road irregularities disappear. The handling is surprisingly good. I love the bags and trunk. I love the exhaust sound. And most important, my wife actually suggested we extend our highway ride to a further destination, that's a first, and that's "Priceless"!!
And now a question.
I get what sounds like a valve tick at idle when cold. As it warms up the tick becomes intermittent and then fully disappears at idle. However, at about 2,000 rpm and up it's back, and it's very annoying. At 3,000 it gets lost in all the other noises but I like to loaf around at about 2,500 to 3,000 at light throttle when I can, and that "Tick" is quite audible. This is my first experience with this bike so I can't say if it was there before I did the belts or set the valves. The valves have been set twice now and they are on the tight side in an attempt to make it quieter. It didn't.
I can hear it quite clearly when I spin the motor over cold with the ignition off, but I can't pin-point it. I don't believe it's coming from the valve covers but if I had to guess I'd say it's more from the combustion chamber of # 2, right around the headgasket (using a cheap mechanics stethoscope). When warm the tick is gone when I turn it over.
How close does the piston chase the exhaust valve? Could carbon and setting the valves on the tight side give me that "Tick"?
I suspect this bike was ridden very gently by very senior previous owner so I don't doubt there is a lot of carbon buildup.
Any suggestions?
Jorg