Johnny Smith
New member
Another newbie here. I'm Johnnie and mainly haunt the GL1800Riders site as I have two 1800s, an '08 and a '10 Level 3 ABS both with full monte TRAXXION suspension. The yellow '10 is loaded with functional accessories for long distance riding.
My first new Wing was a '76 Red Wing which promptly got the Vetter Windjammer fairing and a rear luggage rack, home built CB radio and antenna mount and about everything else that was available for it. After the first one I knew I was hooked for life and used to delight in putting it on the center stand and put a nickle on the engine cases upright and rev the engine and show people how the coin would spin but stay standing up. Do that on a Harley of the day and that nickle would be somewhere in the next county. I quickly followed that bike with later models and when the Interstate became available, had to have one and next moved up to Aspencades. Probably had 6 or 8 wings thru 1990 and never made it to the 1500 six. In 1992 I suffered a really bad dirt bike accident and nearly lost my foot and ankle. The doctor was going to finish removing it but my wife intervened and persuaded him to try to find a good orthopedic surgeon on the weekend and get a 2nd opinion. The orthopedic surgeon said he could save it but couldn't guarantee how useful it would be. It turned out pretty well with about 60% of the motion range I had earlier and about twice the size due to the rods, screws and pins.
I sold all my bikes and swore I was through riding and stuck to that till I accidentally ran across the GL1800Riders site and started lurking and before long it got the best of me and I just had to have a new Wing. I actually found a used '10 in Florida with 136 miles on the clock that belonged to a young man who had broken his leg badly and the doc said to wait a year before he could ride the bike again and finally was told his leg would never be strong enough. I paid about what a leftover new bike was selling for because it had almost $4000 worth of accessories on it, mostly Kuryakyn. I later discovered that Kury was junk and sold them all replacing them with Rivco or better quality parts. Since I'm height challenged, I had to lower my 1800 an inch to feel secure when stopping. I'll probably never own the new model and my riding days are close to being over and the '10 is yellow which I like very much.
I'm sure I've never put the kind of miles on my Wings that some have but they've brought me much satisfaction and a lots of smiles.
My first new Wing was a '76 Red Wing which promptly got the Vetter Windjammer fairing and a rear luggage rack, home built CB radio and antenna mount and about everything else that was available for it. After the first one I knew I was hooked for life and used to delight in putting it on the center stand and put a nickle on the engine cases upright and rev the engine and show people how the coin would spin but stay standing up. Do that on a Harley of the day and that nickle would be somewhere in the next county. I quickly followed that bike with later models and when the Interstate became available, had to have one and next moved up to Aspencades. Probably had 6 or 8 wings thru 1990 and never made it to the 1500 six. In 1992 I suffered a really bad dirt bike accident and nearly lost my foot and ankle. The doctor was going to finish removing it but my wife intervened and persuaded him to try to find a good orthopedic surgeon on the weekend and get a 2nd opinion. The orthopedic surgeon said he could save it but couldn't guarantee how useful it would be. It turned out pretty well with about 60% of the motion range I had earlier and about twice the size due to the rods, screws and pins.
I sold all my bikes and swore I was through riding and stuck to that till I accidentally ran across the GL1800Riders site and started lurking and before long it got the best of me and I just had to have a new Wing. I actually found a used '10 in Florida with 136 miles on the clock that belonged to a young man who had broken his leg badly and the doc said to wait a year before he could ride the bike again and finally was told his leg would never be strong enough. I paid about what a leftover new bike was selling for because it had almost $4000 worth of accessories on it, mostly Kuryakyn. I later discovered that Kury was junk and sold them all replacing them with Rivco or better quality parts. Since I'm height challenged, I had to lower my 1800 an inch to feel secure when stopping. I'll probably never own the new model and my riding days are close to being over and the '10 is yellow which I like very much.
I'm sure I've never put the kind of miles on my Wings that some have but they've brought me much satisfaction and a lots of smiles.
