Time to say goodbye

[mophead]

Glad to be alive today. Took a buddy for a ride on the wing while traveling (about 900 miles from home). We were having a great time and I pulled to a stop on a side street and waiting for a car to pass so I could make a left turn. All of a sudden I heard it. It was the unmistakable screeching of car tires as a silver Dodge Charger came up behind me doing perhaps 30 miles per hour. Later on we looked at the tire marks: There were two 30 foot stripes on the road. By the time I figured out THAT the noise I was hearing was actually a car trying to stop BEHIND me, I hit the throttle on the Honda. I launched it forward just as the car came to a stop where I had been. It all happened in a split second. The car just sat there for maybe 10 seconds as the driver sat and perhaps tried to get over what she's just done, By buddy turned around in time to see that it was indeed a lady.

I pulled over on the side of the road and waited for her to pass on by. But darked out windows were never rolled down and no words were exchanged as she went her way. It took a minute or two for the adrenaline to dissipate, so I just sat there. That was when 1 of 3 fellas, who'd been standing and talking in their driveway maybe 50 feet away, motioned to us. He held up his two hands in front of his face, about an inch apart, indicating how close we'd come to a trip to the hospital. I'm feeling extremely thankful that I am not writing this from a hospital bed this morning.

I'm also thinking that if the new wing had the flashing LED brake light that I have on my FJR, she might have seen me sooner. Note to self: get SOMETHING done about this ASAP. I'm certainly thanking the Lord for tapping that lady on the shoulder at just the right moment. I walked away from this one, and I am one very fortunate rider. 

I began riding in 1966. This is not my first close call, but this is the first time anything like this has happened. Typically, it's somebody pulling out in front of me, which I have always avoided by driving defensively. This was different. Fine, I could have been watching my rearview mirror, which I often do, but well... not this time. 

We all know the risks. I'm reminded that no matter how careful ya drive, this can happen to any one of us. No wonder we often say to each other, "Ride safe..." Feeling extra happy today to look in the mirror and know I'm fine and all is well. I won't bother to thank my lucky stars. This was not a case of being lucky. I"d rather be blessed than lucky any day: so glad that somebody was looking out for me. 

Sent you a PM.

 

[NBB]

Glad to see you found another ride to continuing to enjoy the sport. And there is that 6 degrees of separation item that will continue, so I hope you will run into some of you past riding acquaintances in the future.

Good ridings' with the podomus .

nbb

 

[mophead]

This is how I lit up the rear of my Wing.  Skene P3 runs everything.  Canbus unaffected.  Picture is running/taillights only.  When you hit the brake everything flashes and goes bright like a brake light.  And all has the Skene flicker when normal running.

Not sure it will be noticed by someone on Facebook though.

 

[garyahouse]

Auburn, you said:   The GL1800 Riders forum is really good source of info and has something like 49K members. Thanks, I appreciate that. 

Brett, you mentioned the Skeene P3 system, as did Mophead. I'll be getting some of those when I return home from Indiana later in the year. 

Pittsburg: thank you. Hoping I never have to deal with that again.

It appears that I don't have to buy a trunk rack from Honda to mount some lights at the top of my rear trunk. I think that's the direction I'll go as I'm not happy with the price Honda wants for a luggage rack and stop light assy. 

•  
  

 

[mophead]

Check out Goldstrike for rear trunk lights without needing a luggage rack.  The Honda luggage rack, light, and harness needed to hook it up is a b--ch to install.  Never knew a trunk had to come in so many pieces that has to be disassembled to mount a rack.  

+1 on GL1800 riders.  You will find all kinds of griping about no luggage space on the new Wings.  It is smaller than the previous Wings but I did a six day trip to California in early March before the shutdown madness hit and I had plenty of room for clothes, rain gear, tire repair if needed, and did not need a seat bag or rack bag and still had room in the trunk.  Went to Corbin and had them build me a seat for the Wing.  Did the ride in thing and was there at 8:00 am and out by 2:00 pm.

The new Wing is a nice bike but the FJR is still in the stable.  Did 860 miles on it last Saturday and all in the daylight.

I highly recommend the Fred Harmon videos if you wrench on your own Wing.  There are lots of hidden plastic pins and bolts and tabs that need to match up while removing and reinstalling the plastic.  One broken piece and you will spend more on replacement than Fred's videos. 

 

[RossKean]

Do you know these guys?

https://wingstuff.com/

 

[dcarver]

Well then traitor. Old guff, cranky old man traitor, hey kid, get offa da lawn traitor..

JSNS, Bugnatr has you beat.. He has

1. A Prius
   
2. A Poodle
   
3. A Goldwing
   

So don't feel bad, but see your future!

In other words, we love anyone who rides, so says the doode with:

1. 1991 HD Ultra Classic
   
2. Two vintage BMW's
   
3. KZ1300
   
4. CBX Honda
   
5. ATK Xr600 
   
6. DL650
   
7. and oh, did I mention TWO FJR 1300's?
   

So, bud, without the FJR, turn in your man card immediately AND CandyButtAssociation membership is now *required*, just like face masks.

Stay around, huh? You are welcome anywhere, anytime. 

Just Ride.

 

[FJRay]

Well then traitor. Old guff, cranky old man traitor, hey kid, get offa da lawn traitor..

JSNS, Bugnatr has you beat.. He has

1. A Prius
   
2. A Poodle
   
3. A Goldwing
   

So don't feel bad, but see your future!

In other words, we love anyone who rides, so says the doode with:

1. 1991 HD Ultra Classic
   
2. Two vintage BMW's
   
3. KZ1300
   
4. CBX Honda
   
5. ATK Xr600 
   
6. DL650
   
7. and oh, did I mention TWO FJR 1300's?
   

So, bud, without the FJR, turn in your man card immediately AND CandyButtAssociation membership is now *required*, just like face masks.

Stay around, huh? You are welcome anywhere, anytime. 

Just Ride.

Correction Don. I have the KZ1300, the CBX, the ATK/Honda and one of the vintage BMW'S

 

[mophead]

I have seen their website but haven't used them yet.  I have installed fog lights and Pathfinder cowl lights with the Pathfinder harness.  Actually used the Pathfinder harness to run the Goldstrike panel lights in the rear.  The plugs aren't compatible but chasing down the wires to use isn't hard.  Snip off the plugs and use the needed power and ground and you're good to go.  I used the pathfinder harness to snip and cut so I did not have to hack the Honda oem harness.  I just don't cut stock harnesses. 

 

[garyahouse]

Ross,

I've seen wingstuff mentioned a couple times as I've been perusing the net for all things wing related. Will check em out.

On another note, was talking to the owner of Action Honda in Hudson FL the other day and he said that 90 percent of the wings he's sold recently have been the ones with that 7 spd auto DCT. Interesting that the auto clutch and trannie is so popular. Our FJR's had something similar for a few years, but I guess they couldn't sell enough of them to merit continuing to market them in the USA. Seems odd to me that the FJR crowd would shy away from this technology, but the Gold wing crowd seems to love it. Hmmmm....

 

[Goodman4]

That was a scary post about your close call.  We were driving up to Moab on what used to be Hwy 666 on our goldwing a few years ago and heard screeching behind from the large pickup that slammed on their brakes behind us.  It wasn't as close as your's but I can imagine how that made you feel. 

Enjoy your goldwing.  My wife is much happier on it and it is a comfortably smooth ride, but I still get a lot more enjoyment out of the FJR.

 

[mophead]

I went with the manual clutch on my Wing.  Been shifting motorcycle gears all my life and not going to change now.  I can see my getting used to no shifting and then mounting on the FJR and pulling up to an intersection, no shifty, and picking an FJR up in the middle of the road.  I rode an FJR AE once and really did not care for it.  The DCT never even crossed my mind but you are correct that they outsell the manual by a wide margin.  

The one thing I was really concerned about on the new Wing was range on a tank of gas.  Its only 5.5 gallons and knowing how past Wings used gas I was afraid I would be looking for gas at 150 on a tank just to be safe.  All the marketing talks about how the gas mileage is 20% improved and I have found that to be true.  Living out here in the Texas Panhandle the wind blows ALL the time.  I have consistently got 220/230 from a tank running 80 mph.  Into a strong headwind that will drop as will anything.  It's not FJR range but it times out well enough for bladder emptying.  If I get out in the wilds of Nevada then we may have to throw some spare gas on the bike just to be sure because when out in those wide open spaces it gets real hard to not want to run triple digits just because you can and not see anyone for miles.

I rented one from DFW in Grapevine TX before buying one.  They have what they call a half day rental, 9 to 5, and all total it was $120 with rental, insurance, and taxes.  I put about three hundred miles on the wing and really came to like it.  If you are thinking about buying one I would highly recommend the rental thing for a good long test drive.  Especially if you have an earlier GL1800 and ride two up.  It is a smaller bike with less luggage room so just know that you will be traveling lighter.  I always take too much stuff anyway.

 

[Torchsport]

Wing on a trailer? Does not compute. 

 

[Tony Pops]

Bravo that to keep riding you found a bike that makes that makes that work for you. During my 20 some odd years long stint away from biking (ended very recently) I became a boater. First a sail boater and now power. It is a fairly common transition as boaters get older. I wondered what might come next after the FJR. I had started thinking something like the Polaris Slingshot because my wife said she would never ride a two wheeler with me. Luckily the FJR changed her opinion. I've now found that as power boaters age they often move to a land yacht with many doing both for a time. From your description I see little reason to move to something else after your Gold Wing. That 1mph walk and reverse should keep you on it the rest of the way. With this new love in both of our lives (wife included) who knows where it will take us. Nice to have some idea of what that might look like. 

 

[Bounce]

I had a boat... once... makes the cost of owning a bike seem like nothing.

I went with performance cars.

 

[garyahouse]

Boating. I became victim of the old saying: two happiest days in the life of a boat owner: the day ya bought it and the day ya sold it. And EXPENSIVE... Wow. Every little thing cost a fortune. So indeed I had two really happy days as a boat owner. Sad part for me was that I didn't have time to take it out much. I did a little math for fun just after I sold it. I only had it for two years, and oddly enough kept a record of how many times I took it out. I lost about 3k to depreciation, and another 2 k for repairs, insurance and gas. So it cost me 5 thousand dollars to take it out a total of 17 times. That's just about 300 dollars for each time I put it in the water. Too steep for my wallet.

 

[xcsp]

Travel_man has a site with some Wing info that may be of interest Gary.

https://www.gregrice.com/bike/2018bike.html

Enjoy the new ride, let us know how you like it as time goes on.

 

[garyahouse]

Travel_man has a site with some Wing info that may be of interest Gary.

https://www.gregrice.com/bike/2018bike.html

Enjoy the new ride, let us know how you like it as time goes on.

Appreciate the feed back about Travel_man. 

Like so many Wing faithfuls, I'm not liking the shrimpy paniers or the reduced size top trunk. My Shoei Neotec fits, but barely, and there's no way two full size helmets will go in the pizza box. Sad that Honda couldn't have given the thing  just a 1/2 inch more height and 1 inch more width. I suppose somebody desperate enough maybe could rip the whole thing off the Honda and install an E55 Givi (like the one on my FJR)  Sure would look ridiculous on the Honda though.

On another note, I'm enjoying the 7 spd DCT transmission. The gear ratios are really close. I'm not used to this. There is a huge and certainly noticeable difference in the RPM drop as she rows through the gears. Almost every bike I've ever owned had a five speed. This is a whole new world.

 

[Bugnatr]

I'll be test riding a 18 DCT at Redlodge, Mt that a forum member will be riding to the shing ding. I suspect there may be one in my garage soon. 

 

[garyahouse]

Still clickin' along on the new gold wing: have just under 600 miles now.

Interesting note: how does 800 pounds feel like 600? The bike indeed scales at just over 800 pounds. But it's just amazing to me that it just doesn't feel that way. Everybody will notice that once under way, it flicks back and forth like a much lighter machine. But even at parking lot speeds, or just muscling it around the garage, it feels seriously lighter than it is. While I'm at it, i'm loving the "walking speed" forward and reverse. On my DCT, these are both driven by the engine: so very easy and convenient to use, especially with my short legs (29 inch inseam). Gone is the electrically powered reverse. Makes maneuvering the bike around the parking space sooooo much easier. Don't shoot me for saying this, but backing my FJR out of the shed is a scary experience for me, EVERY time I do it. I can't do so... sitting on the bike: legs are too short to generate enough push power to get it out of the shed and 10 feet back onto the grass so I have room to take off. This always must be done standing beside the bike and muscling it around. Not an easy task. This may be no big deal for many of you, but it is for me. The Honda? Sit on board, hit reverse, and back her up slowly... easy peasy. Little things like this are a real plus for me, especially since this 65 year old body doesn't have the strength it used to have. Don't laugh, your day is coming my friend