Oh Happy Day

Last night I was web surfing for Wing parts and fenders, handle bars, seats, pipes, etc... that might look good on a Wing cruiser. I woke up this morning as was thinking to myself, 'I would really like to spend a day, a warm day, in the garage working on the bike. That would be a good day.'.

My first pleasant surprise of the morning was that it was actually fairly nice outside. I decided that I would just go out to the garage and look the bike over and try to get some ideas. As I got looking I realized that the trunk would come off really easy. So, I took it off. I liked the look of the bike with all the plastic off the rear end.

I next wondered what it would look like without the fairing. When I looked closer I found my second and most happy surprise of the day. Underneath the fairing was a headlight housing. I was worried about how I would find a replacement housing and taking the forks apart and running wire and.... surprise! There is already everything you need right here. Glorious.

Four bolts, eight hose clamps and a few snipped wires later, the fairing is off and I get my first look at a naked Goldwing. I must admit. I like it.


I think that I can keep the rear fender and handle bars. I will replace the giant tail light with something that fits the curve of the bike better and get new exhaust pipes and a thinner seat. I'll have to find some good looking turn signals for both the front and back and I think it might look good with the three headlight cluster, although they are expensive.

I'll need to put the highway bars back on and do a little work on the engine; oil change, replace coil, fix air line for the air ride shocks. I did find out that there is a K&N air filter in it and it has a sticker under the seat for the last oil change. The previous owner did try to take care of the bike.

I'll take off the panels and the air dam for the radiator and have them painted. Now, what color and design?

Valkyrie?

I have been looking at customized Wings and I think that I want to put a Valkyrie rear fender and seat on the Wing. I don't think that it would take a lot to make the Goldwing look like a Valkyrie cruiser.



This is what I had in mind.

It's freaking freezing.

I put the bikes(the wing and bleubells) on the charger for a little while the other day. It was way to cold to start them though. We are suppose to have warmer weather this weekend, so I'll try and run them then.

Time to start surfing the net for parts again. I've decided to rebuild the '78.

Time to Winterize

I've had the bikes in the garage for several weeks now. The weather has been fair up until the past couple of weeks and now it is pretty cold. A guy could still ride if he bundled up, but I'm not that guy. I need to go out and put some Sea Foam in the tanks and run a little through the carbs so they won't gel up over the winter. I know that a lot of people like to drain them all the way down but I try to start the bikes a few time during the winter just to keep things wet and batteries fresh.

I've taken the battery out over the winter before and brought it in the house to keep it from freezing but I've found that they still die. I would like to get a battery Tender and then just switch it from one bike to the other every couple of weeks. It would make them easier to start and help keep the batteries fresh.

This winter might be a good time to start the '78. I am heavily considering stripping it and making a naked wing out of it. I can see a lot of potential in that pile of dust.

LAS VEGAS

I don't have a lot of pictures from the Vegas trip but plenty of memories.

On the way down we took the highway through Marysville and across Bear Valley for two reasons. First to avoid the smoke from the Tushar Mtn fire and second because a huge storm was blowing in and they almost always follow that side of the mountain. The head wind was so strong going south that I had to switch to reserve crossing Bear Valley and ran out of gas on I-15 just before Summit. I had put a gallon can in the side compartment and that got us on to Cedar City. Just as I get done posting about great gas mileage I find out that a head wind, 70 mph, a passenger and a trailer drasticly cut into that.

We stopped about every 50 miles after that leg of the trip. I didn't use as much fuel but the head wind was still pretty bad. I found that my hands were going numb after about 25 miles. I think it was because I couldn't rest them. I was honestly fighting that wind the entire way down. I would have loved a throttle rocker or cramp buster but I couldn't find one anywhere to include Las Vegas.

The bike did fine while we were down there. The helmets worked really well. The Nolan n-com devices are great for being able to talk and pass time. The turn on and find each other in less then 10 seconds. It was really nice to have an extra set of eyes while driving in downtown Las Vegas traffic especially at night.

One interesting thing about 30 year old plastic is that it becomes very brittle. On the return trip we got only 30-40 miles from Vegas and the bike started puking antifreeze all over both of us. It was coming from the right side of the bike and after stopping in Mesquite I could tell that the return tube to the overflow reservoir had broken off the cap. I poured some water in the reservoir put the tube in place. I even contemplated buying some glue to glue it in but thought it would make it. The extra water probably wasn't a good idea as it likely over filled the system and it wasn't long until we were both getting a shower of sticky water.

We made it to Cedar where Brant, my brother and bike mechanic, lives. He helped me get it together and we glued the tube in place until I can find a replacement. It held well the way back, 120 miles, and the bike ran a lot cooler.

I was glad to get off after that trip(600 highway miles and plenty more around Vegas) but I look forward to going for another ride before the snow hits. A fellow Goldwinger told me that 300 miles a day is plenty and he is absolutely right.

Trailer Lights

Tonight I wired the Goldwing with trailer lights. The last time we took it out I didn't have them and it was a bit terrifying to say the least. I used the wiring diagram from Goldwingdocs.com to chase down the signals, brake and clearance lights. The wiring harness was a generic 4 prong from walmart and was labeled very well. Right and Left turn, clearance, brake and ground.

If you are attempting to do this on your own be advised that the bike puts out a lot more power when running then the battery will alone. After I first got everything plugged in I found that the clearance lights where quite bright but the signals and brake lights were really faint. I contemplated not connecting the clearance lights at all and just have signal and brakes.

After talking to my mechanically gifted brother, he told me to try running the bike as the alternator would likely put out more juice then the battery (and charger, as I had the bike on the trickle charge so I would not drain it playing with the lights). As always he was right and all the lights lit up quite nicely while the bike was running.

I am still considering replacing the bulbs with the LED bulbs. It would use a lot less power and probably never burn out. I'll let you know if I decide to cough up the money for them.

Another 50 miles

We were able to go on a little trip around the valley again this weekend. With Brant here and Trev with his own bike now we with Ben (on Dad's nighthawk) took a loop to Salina and back on the highways. The overall trip was around 50 miles. Just enough to warm the bikes up. Each time I take the Wing out it seems to run a little better. The brakes still squeal but they stop so I'm not going to worry much about them. It was a fun weekend and a fun little ride.

Rachel and I wore the Nolan helmets and the n-coms worked quite well. Towards the end of the ride Rachel's battery started to get weak and the signal was a little staticy. We left the helmets on over night to kill the batteries and I'll charge them both tonight. I hope that get the full battery life (14 hours) out of them like Nolan suggest we should.