i just bought a new goldwing for my adventures. i had a bandit 1250 and was looking for vstroms. the strom may come later too. does anyone here ride goldwings? the goldwing forum is a negative place to hangout...
I recently bought a GL1500 also. The immediate set up will be a cut down windshield, big driving lights, navigation and improved charging. Need to go to Utah and cover some ground. Still have 650L and R and ST1100.
I'm a former Goldwing rider. Sold it about 2 years ago. It was a wonderful bike for carrying a big load and eating up the miles in comfort.
I rode an 83 interstate for a few years and for the last couple years I've been riding a 91 aspy. They are great bikes and very comfortable for the most part but I don't think I'll ever be without a dual purpose bike AGAIN. Goldwing facts and North American goldwing are good places to look if you haven't found them yet.
The stock alternator is failure prone. In 1995 HITACHI moved their manufacturing from JAPAN to CHINA, since then they have been producing bad alternators. Broken rotor windings or burned up rotor coils from inferior wire and insulation. Replace it with a compufire or get a quality rebuilt one. Depending on how much electric clothing you also have the stock alternator is under powered.
I have an 09 Wing, 4th one so far. Pulls my XR650R to the fun riding area's just fine. Leaving for CO Friday AM for a week of trail riding
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o>Yep, I have a 2006 wing as well as a few other bikes. Love it, great bike IMO. I agree about the negativity on the GL1800 forum. Those guys will argue about anything. Here are a couple of action shots: <o></o> </o><o></o> <o> </o>
I am one my second Wing now. First was a 85 1200 Interstate, and now I have a 95 1500SE. For some strange reason both also used the exact same key. GL1800Riders was the first forum that I ever had to put people on ignore. I _think_ GWRRA will be opening the forums back up to the public again and moving the off topic forum to members only. And if you ask me why I as a 30something year old first joined GWRRA it was because of the towing and their message board (the message board was open to read by everyone back then). The GWRRA message board has saved me a lot of money over the years on doing maintenance. Just two weeks ago it saved me a lot of time on replacing the petcock on a 1500. There is the proper way to access the mounting screw for it (take everything off of the bike; seat, both fairing pockets, the radio and all of the right side panels) vs the easy way (disconnect the drain hose from the overspill tray, take off the gas cap, sneak the overspill tray up on the left hand side and use a magnetic tip screwdriver to take the mounting screw out of the petcock). I would have not known about the easy way except for after talking to a guy that just replaced his 3 days before me and saying he replaced his. So I asked him how he got to the mounting screw and he gave me his cell phone number to call.
'81 GL1100I and an '82 GL1100. Been riding them for over 30 years. Real Wings have 4 cylinders and round headlights. Doc
The older bikes have more class IMO, but for comfort I wouldn't trade my 1500. I test rode a 2005 and a 2006 (basically same bike) but they felt cramped and the sitting position felt more upright like a dirtbike. I would never knock another rider for riding the 4cyl, but for 2 up and occasionally towing a trailer, the old 1100 can't hold a candle to the 6 cylinders.
