My new old 'Wing

[mcgovern61]

I never assume and it is also not obvious with an Interstate because of the saddle bags. Glad I could help! :good:

 

[GTC@MSAC]

That rear position is too far for me at 5'6", so I use the front or middle position, at most. I had not thought to mention the seat slider either, it's one of those things we kind of forget about sometimes, lol! I ditched the Markland floorboards that were on mine when I got it in 2016, as I did not like them for many reasons, some of which you already noted.

 

[brianinpa]

gravityisnotmyfriend » Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:22 am[/url]":19l9x0no]
Floorboards came in yesterday. Pretty straightforward install. They came with a heel/toe rocker that just moves the existing shift lever and a heel rest to use the rear brake.

Jury is out on them. Not immediately digging the setup. I do gain a little room downward, but it also puts my feet further out. And, the back brake pedal hits the frame of the floor board so I lose some of my rear braking ability.

I'll commute with them a bit and see if I end up keeping them on or not.

You need to adjust the linkage s the does not hit the floorboard. On the 1200 it is a lot easier... you just rotate the peddle on the shaft.

 

[OldCrow]

gravityisnotmyfriend » Today- 10:22[/url]":30vutscc]
Floorboards came in yesterday. Pretty straightforward install. They came with a heel/toe rocker that just moves the existing shift lever and a heel rest to use the rear brake.

Jury is out on them. Not immediately digging the setup. I do gain a little room downward, but it also puts my feet further out. And, the back brake pedal hits the frame of the floor board so I lose some of my rear braking ability.

I'll commute with them a bit and see if I end up keeping them on or not.

I feel your pain, my GL1200 came with floor boards. Well I've been riding pretty steadily since 1972 and this was the first bike with boards. First ride I HATED them. But the extra foot placement was nice. So after a few hundred miles I've finally got my brain rewired to use my heal to up shift and toe to down so good on the shifting.

But the linked brake pedal still sucks since it's too high to just rotate the toes up to depress, the whole foot must come up and press down. Not nearly as smooth an action as standard pegs and pedal and the linking makes it even worse. On why oh why did Honda have to go all Nanny on use. I think next year I'm looking into decoupling and get the front brakes back where they belong.

Now it's a tough call, it's not a sport bike it's a Mile Eater. So more comfort cruising or more control in town???????

 

[dan filipi]

On the seat way back adjustment....I discovered on my '83 I could pick up a bit more back by replacing the stock pin with regular hex head bolts and washers.
I got mine back so far that the front tongue almost comes out.

 

[pidjones]

You might be able to gain some rear brake by adjusting the push rod to the MC, but be careful not to over-do it.

 

[D-50Dave]

gravityisnotmyfriend » Yesterday, 11:22 am[/url]":ad78x6dp]
Floorboards came in yesterday. Pretty straightforward install. They came with a heel/toe rocker that just moves the existing shift lever and a heel rest to use the rear brake.

Jury is out on them. Not immediately digging the setup. I do gain a little room downward, but it also puts my feet further out. And, the back brake pedal hits the frame of the floor board so I lose some of my rear braking ability.

So that's a heel rest. I don't have that on my Markland boards. I just pick up my whole foot and "toe step" on the pedal. My shifter is also much more forward, directly over the board with a linkage rod. Interesting to see different versions.

 

[gravityisnotmyfriend]

D-50Dave » Today- 3:56[/url]":1768yj13]

gravityisnotmyfriend » Yesterday, 11:22 am[/url]":1768yj13]
Floorboards came in yesterday. Pretty straightforward install. They came with a heel/toe rocker that just moves the existing shift lever and a heel rest to use the rear brake.

Jury is out on them. Not immediately digging the setup. I do gain a little room downward, but it also puts my feet further out. And, the back brake pedal hits the frame of the floor board so I lose some of my rear braking ability.

So that's a heel rest. I don't have that on my Markland boards. I just pick up my whole foot and "toe step" on the pedal. My shifter is also much more forward, directly over the board with a linkage rod. Interesting to see different versions.

Took me a little head scratching to work out how the shifter fit. It wasn't attached on the pivot when I got it and I thought that maybe the seller had shorted me the linkage. But, if you remove the rubber on the shift pedal, the rocker has a fork that fits over it. Seems to work alright - even if it is a bit hokey IMHO.

 

[gravityisnotmyfriend]

pidjones » Yesterday- 18:52[/url]":3pmk8vqb]
You might be able to gain some rear brake by adjusting the push rod to the MC, but be careful not to over-do it.

I'll give that a try. I don't know how the linkage hooks up - since it's kinda hidden. I'll have to get down there and look. Really wish I had a shop manual for this bike - it'd make things a lot easier.

Plus, I could learn things like that adjustable seat thing!

 

[gravityisnotmyfriend]

dan filipi » Yesterday- 14:58[/url]":an2gccsr]
On the seat way back adjustment....I discovered on my '83 I could pick up a bit more back by replacing the stock pin with regular hex head bolts and washers.
I got mine back so far that the front tongue almost comes out.

That's a good tip. I'll have a look at it when I take my seat off. Right now the padding seems to either be worn out or it never was the right shape. But, when I sit on the bike and am going down the road, I'm constantly sliding forward. I need to build the seat foam up in the front so I don't have to keep pushing myself backwards while I ride.

 

[gravityisnotmyfriend]

Well, it's December here in WI and riding season is over for a few months. Decided to pull the Goldwing into the shop to address a couple of issues I ran into last summer.

 

[gravityisnotmyfriend]

First was the electrical issues I've had since I got the bike. The turn signals worked intermittently. Almost never when I first started the bike - and then some times they would as the bike warmed up. But, the more I used the bike, the more infrequently they'd work. I could see the signal relay without pull the fake tank off - but I could not get to the plug.

I also wanted to address my other electrical demons - the fuel gauge and temp indicator also not working all the time - so I pulled the fake tank.

I checked the relay - and couldn't get it to click at all. I decided to upgrade to a modern electronic relay. Picked up one of these at the local auto parts store:
https://www.autozone.com/electrical...signal-hazard-warning-flasher-ep35/849390_0_0

On this bike, black is the positive signal from the turnsignal switch, brown is ground, and green is the flashing signal wire.

Wired it in and its working great.

Its a little loose in the stock holder. Going to have to address that.

There appears to be some very amatuerish wiring under the fake tank. It's for the aftermarket lights on the rear crash bars. The wiring looks to be cheap indoor extension cords wire nutted and secured with electrical tape. It's working fine as is - but I'm thinking I'm going to replace it with actual automotive wire, and do proper soldered joints.

 

[gravityisnotmyfriend]

Next thing to address was the rear brakes. They didn't seem to work very well - and they were dragging badly. I ordered a rear caliper rebuild kit and proceeded to remove the rear caliper and attempt to pull the pistons. They were not budging. I can usually hit the banjo bolt hole with compressed air and the pistons will pop out. No such luck on this one.

I had heard of a technique where you block off the banjo bolt hole and then crack the bleeder vlave and pump grease in the caliper. Never tried it, but I couldn't see any other way to move those pistons. And it actually worked! One piston started moving almost immediately - but I was pretty sure that if one came all the way out before the other moved I would lose all my grease pressure. So, I clamped the one that was moving, and kept pumping til the other one moved.

I slowly got the pistons out by pumping up pressure, then loosening the c-clamp. Eventually I got them both out. The caliper cylinders were a mess.

The pistons and seals were worse.

 

[gravityisnotmyfriend]

But, with enough time and brake cleaner, everything polished up nicely.

Got the new seals in and caliper back on the bike. The brakes are working perfectly now.

 

[gravityisnotmyfriend]

Back to dealing with brake issues on this bike. Took it for a short ride, and the brakes started hanging up. When I got to where I was going the rear disc and front right disc were very hot. I figured it had to be the rear brake MC, so I ordered a rebuild kit and dug into taking it off.

As soon as I started pulling it apart, it was very obvious that the return for the high pressure fluid was clogged. This is probably the worst looking master cylinder I've seen. Kinda surprised it worked at all and wasn't leaking.

With this all cleaned up and back on the bike? Brakes are working great again. She's turning out to be a great commuter bike as the temps start cooling off in the morning as it has much more wind protection than my other street bike.

 

[pidjones]

There is a tiny hole at the bottom of a larger hole slightly above the inlet port. It is TINY! Clean it out with a .009 or .001 guitar string. Then, squirt brake cleaner through it.

 

[Dean Julius]

If you're upgrading your radio

After getting the bike home, I went through it - and found that it needed surprisingly little work. I bled the back brakes and they came back to life. No small feat, BTW - that LH saddle bag had to come off and it doesn't have a quick release! The radio works - though I may be updating to a new head unit. Got rid of my cassettes long ago. I had to tighten the bolts under the side mirrors as there wasn't enough tension to hold them in place. I drained out the old gas and put fresh non ethanol in it.

Overall I'm very impressed with the bike. I can't believe how quiet and smooth that engine is. There is no vibration at highway speeds. The wind protection is so much better than any of my other bikes. Storage room for days. I can fit a full faced helmet and lunch bag in my top box.

My kids absolutely love the bike. The back seat is super comfy for them and they are fascinated by the tape deck. I don't know how many rides I've given them since I got the bike - but they really love riding on it.

I don't really need another bike, and wasn't sure if I'd even keep it when I first found out it was left to me - but I really like it. And it actually brings back memories of riding behind my dad on his. Like accelerating up the onramp - when you really grab throttle on this bike, you can hear a sort of whining of the air getting sucked into the intake. Very unique sound and I've only ever heard it on the GL1100. Brings a guy back.

I'm not sure what the long term plan for the bike is. I know when I was a kid, I always wanted to ride in a sidecar. I'm considering adding one to this bike as it seems like it'd make a good tug.

I thought I'd be needing a lot more advice at this point - but there are only two things that I'd like to address.

1st - the turnsignals. They only work when the bike is warmed up. When I first start it in the morning, they don't work. Nothing lights up at all. But after runnign about 5 mins, they work fine. Even the self cancelling feature works. Anything to look at there?

2nd - I'm wondering if there are any options for dropping the footpegs an inch or two. I'm 6'4" and I find the peg position cramped. I know I could raise the seat - but I'm kinda at the upper limit of the wind protection as it is. I'd rather not go up much higher.

If you're gonna upgrade your radio and decide you want to part with it let me know. Got about 100 cassette tapes and miss playing them.