Kiwi. Not just for shoes.

This could be Kiwi's new catch phrase. They are really missing out on a chunk of the market by not advertising to the Goldwing population.

I had just a little time this evening to play with the bike and have been thinking about cleaning up the tank cover for some time now. So tonight I did just that. I pulled the cover off the other day and thought that it would look really good if it were clean. The leather is in good condition. If it weren't I would peel it off and have it painted instead.

While talking to my dad about how to condition the leather, we discussed using mink oil or Dubbin, and then Dad suggested using black Kiwi. Now I learned a thing or two about Kiwi while at Basic Training for the Army. I got in 10 years before the suede boots so I spent a lot of late nights sitting in the stairwell spit shining boots.

I pulled out my now quite complete shoe shining kit and when to work on the cover. 30 minutes later, this is the result:

I think that the leather look will be nice on the bike. It will preserve some of the original Goldwing as well as add a touch of character that not many bikes have now. Every biker wants to have something that makes him different from the rest. Anyone can go buy a factory bike and look like every other poser. A real biker wants to stand out and express himself with his bike. He doesn't even care if anyone else likes the way it looks. And why should he? It's his bike. Not theirs. That is what really makes them cool.

With that being said, here's my ride.

Wires, Wires Every Where...

Yesterday morning I started thinking about what kind of mess I was going to find myself in trying to get all the wiring straight on the naked bike. I printed a wiring diagram that I downloaded from www.goldwingdocs.com. (fantastic site for Wingers) I looked it over for some time, and kept thinking how nice it would be to have my brother there to help, before venturing out to the garage.

Not knowing were to begin, I started unbolting everything that might be in the way of seeing wires. I traced several of them to get an idea of where things were going and put the battery on the charger so it would have enough juice so I could test the circuits.

There were two giant bird's nests of wires. One on the front that was tied into the fairing and a second on the rear end that went to the trailer and trunk lights. I started at the battery and unplugged all the axillary power wires that the previous owner had connected for various accessories.

Whoever wired in the fairings did a good job to preserve the original wires and harnesses. The fairing wiring was spliced into the original wires so all I had to do was expose the connections and cut off the newer wiring. Here is a picture of the final product.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the front light housing was still wired and circuits were connected. I used a 12V light probe to test them. A little later that afternoon I pulled the headlight out of the fairing and placed it in the housing. It worked fine but I still need the chrome casing to finishing mounting the light.
The rear end was equally simple and I had a new found confidence from my previous success. The original connections were still intact under the seat and after chasing a few wires I found that I could pull everything that wasn't in a heat shrinked coating out of the bike. Tail and brake lights both work properly and the signal light wires lit up the tester.

While I was at it I buffed some of the rust off the rear fender with Eagle One Never Dull chrome polish. The rust spots were superficial and buffed right off leaving a nice chrome fender behind. I used a little Ronsonol lighter fluid to try and soften up the factory decal. It took some of the ink off but the sticker remains. I'll have to find a better product to remove that one.

I tried to remove the exhaust pipes as well. I soaked the rust covered bolts in WD-40 and after using a 16 inch cheater pipe on my allen wrench was able to break the right side loose. The left side was so packed with dirt and rust that I couldn't get the wrench in it. I was able to get a #30 torx head in it but it wouldn't give and I feared that I might strip it out. At that point I called it a day. Here is the aftermath.

Pile of wire and tape

A second pile of wire and the horns out of the fairing

The big picture
(how do you like my creeper?)

First Ride of the Season

We had beautiful weather today so I decided that it was time to pull the Wing out of hibernation. On my lunch break I went out to the garage and put the battery tender on the Wing. I had it on bleubells. I cranked it a few times and it seemed like it wasn't getting any fuel. I checked the fuel gauge and found that it was empty. Even on reserve it wouldn't kick over. I poured the one gallon spare can from the side compartment into the tank and added a little Sea Foam.

I cranked it a few more times to start the fuel though the system and then gave it a shot of ether. The bike would burn the prime but it wasn't quite ready to start before I had to return to work. I left the tender on to charge the battery back up from all the cranking and went back to work.

After work I went back out to the garage and cranked it one more time before giving it another shot of ether. It took the prime and started sucking fuel. I played throttle jockey for a few minutes until the idle smoothed out and then decided that it was time to go fuel it up.

When I got to the gas station I looked at the odometer and realized that I hadn't fueled it since we returned from Las Vegas last fall. I topped of the tank (about 3.5 gallons) and rode it around for a few miles.

Everything seems to be working just like last season when I garaged it. The clutch still needs work and after the bike warmed up I remembered that I needed to replace the coolant reservoir. (I started to smell antifreeze) Overall, it was a pleasant ride and I was quite impressed that the bike was running so well.

I'll try to get out again this weekend.