A GoldWing!?! (a love story)

[Omega Man]

I wish I could say I always loved the GoldWing, but I didn't even really know what one looked like at the time I bought my first. The tranny had blown in my Yamaha and I needed another bike. I was watching the paper as there was no interwebz, and one day my friend showed me a listing in the paper "a GoldWing!?! I said? All I really noticed in the ad was 1000cc's. The guy didn't want me coming to his home to look at it(yeah, I know why now), so we met at a local shopping plaza. There she was, a 1975 GL1000 Candy Apple Red...and I was thoroughly nonplussed. I guess I wasn't clear when I said I didn't know what a GoldWing looked like, I meant an "OLD" GoldWing. This Standard with it's old fashioned black bulbus mufflers, bench seat, and wire spoke rims was not what I was expecting. "Where's all the stuff?" I asked myself. However the bike was clean, and big, and that's what I wanted because I just couldn't find my first choice a BSA 650 like my dad's. She started right up and purred. After riding her around the lot testing stuff I bought her. Still didn't love her on the ride home, the purchase was made on the other side of the Vegas Valley so we took the freeway. I wasn't ready for the size of the bike on a freeway, I was used to a Yamaha 750 but I white knuckled her home.

It was dusk by the time I got home, and THAT is when it happened. The fluorescent light in the carport came on as I was getting off the bike...Hmmm. In this light she looks different. Those chrome things on the mufflers kinda catch the light, the seat is in perfect condition, and I'll be damned if those aluminum spoke rims don't look brand new. Wow...four carbs, those runner things are cool, and look how the engine just kinda spills out on both sides. I could put highway pegs on those crash bar things, and get some leather saddlebags, OH! one of those big windshields too!

I added all of those things but there was no happy ending, I soon found out the battery problem was a bad stator, and I had bought her that way, but story gets even worse. The mechanic at the shop I took it to told me it wasn't worth $100, but since he could use some of the parts he'd give me $200...yeah...

Anyway! the above mentioned ass raping is what brought me here. Ten years later I knew if I could just find the information now that computers were commonplace, I could fix anything on another GoldWing. The day I bought old girlfriend I join a forum that brought me here and rest is history...only this time, there was a happy ending. Did I mention I love GoldWings?

~O~

 

[slabghost]

I spent way too much on my first and had plenty of repairs to do. I still ignore my other bikes.

 

[joedrum]

neat randy i was the same way in i saw this old bike in anda barn covered with dust ...i had no ideae what it was took me months to get it to run ...no forum help at cause iwas a computer idiot and idont think the internet was even around then ....finaly got it torun but poorly and after a long time i finaly got brave enough to try and clean the carbs ....it ran better and eventualy i could see how much better it was than othere bikes a real dependable bike and started traveling with it and how much further you could go because of its smoothness ....a real touring bike .....the rest is history and i dont even look at other bikes ....my one complaint is i cant keep tires on it for all the miles i ride.....the oldwings are great :mrgreen:

 

[rock42]

i know what ya'll mean my is that blue (i believe it is candy apple blue) anyway i spent more on my 75 wing than my 05 shadow. if there was chrome on ebay to buy i was on it. went to 81 1100 carbs, new dyna dc1-1 coils and electronic ign. vetter fairing, trunk,and saddlebags all from ebay. and now just put on great looking chrome megaphone mufflers. also a softer saddle and h4 headlight. all in all it is one great looking bike. i take it mostly to ralles as it brings people to our cma trailer and give us time to talk bike.

 

[dan filipi]

My first goldwing was a 75 Honda cb360T.

Man was I proud of that bike.
I rode it everywhere at 15 years old, no license, no helmet.

A full dress 80 goldwing was only a dream at that time so I decked out that 360 to be as much like a goldwing as I could.

I added a front chrome bar with highway pegs,
A larger tail light and some side lights.

Always envious of the guys riding a goldwing but man, that was MY goldwing.
My first electric start bike I felt like one if the big guys but I was a shy loner in my own little world, it was all that mattered to me.

Now I have what I always wanted, a GOLDWING and my very good friends here!

 

[sledge]

been there myself Dan .......... I'm pretty sure most everybody here are like Myself .... glad you started this site. :music:

 

[paddy.shadow]

story time :laptop: First was a cb550 four....Santa Barbara to Eugene Ore. in one day...decided at the end of that day that one day I would have a Goldwing!
And yes...Thankyou so much Dan! :music: You rock the wing world!

also i sort of have an affliction for boxer engines...I had a '74 r75 BMW, and numerous VW's and Subarus, seemed a natural progression!

 

[detdrbuzzard]

when goldwings were first introduced i'll admit i didn't like them. i was 16 at the time and still had my hotrod go fast dunstall norton 750 and a wing was too heavy, and too slow to have that much motor and the looks were not doing athing for me. that changed with those chromed piped '78 wingsand those guages on the fake tank but i sill didn't want a wing.. the1100 wings ( all of them ) were nice enough but i still didn't see the beauty or need of a dressed bike afterall i was riding a '79 cb 750 with a 900f motor between the pipes. that all changed with the '84 wings, i wanted a wing any of them dressed or nekked. i put some money down on a left over '84 nekked wing near the end of '85 but after going through five cars in three months the money for the wing money was spent, had to get the deposit on the wing back to buy a car

 

[jdegase]

I grew up on dirtbikes.
2 stroke to 4...
first real new bike was a xl250r rode that bike everywhere for many years before getting license then after.
in 83 an older friend of mine rode up on his new GL and I couldnt keep my eyes off it..
theres a very unique beauty about the gl1100 always wanted one..
theres been a few bikes in between, a 73' CB750F SS. and a CX500.
and took sometime off riding.

most of you have read my story a time or two... how I bought her in a basket, drug her home and pulled out the tools. and how the guy I bought her from still calls me atleast once a year asking if I still have her and how is she running...
beyond the outward appeal of the old bike, she continues to amaize me with good performance and solid dependability.

The looks from other bikers always get me going.
new guys at the chapter meetings riding 1500 - 1800... standing around my old bike smiling...
I aint the only one..
many saying the same things... they dont know why they ever got rid of the old bike..
there comments are always great..
even when I start her up and she misses on one for a few seconds before smoothing out...

now dont get me wrong.. I like all goldwings.. new and old... but for me there will never be another equal to the gl1100.
they look good dressed or naked, customized or stock, chromed or not. to me even the ones in the local salvage yard picked apart and rusty have a certain character thats not equal to any other.

now after a few years of ownership I can spot a gl1100 in an instant...
They are just one of a kind.

 

[jdegase]

one more thing.
I proudly display my CGW sticker

and get many inqueries about this great palce...
Thanks Dan, and everyone who makes CGW what it is.