Archive for Goldwing
Trailer Time
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday I went off to North Walsham to pick up my new trailer at Freewheel and also got a trailer towbar fitted at the same time. The weather going up was horrid – a grey murk that resembled a London smog in many ways, except for the foul smell that used to accompany those. It took longer than expected to fit the towbar but when I left, everything seemed fine until about halfway through the journey home when I noticed that my Garmin 2820 stopped working. Being suspicious of this and feeling that it must have a cause related to the recent fiddling with the bike’s electrics, I pulled into a lay-by and discovered that my trailer lights had also stopped working. I called Alan Young at Freewheel who made some helpful suggestions including an offer to put me up for the night if I wanted to return to Norfolk. However, being closer to home, I decided to get home, using hand signals in place of my trailer lights and sort the problem out there.
This morning, the cause of my lights failure turned out to be a simple fuse. The extra lights (in addition to those installed in the panniers, plus satnav plus CB radio were just too much for the 5 amp fuse safeguarding the accessory terminal. After debating with myself the wisdom of installing a 10 amp fuse in place of the original 5 amp, I decided in the end to power the trailer relay directly from the battery using an in-line fuse for the trailer. This seems to be fine, at least for the moment although I may have to check battery condition more regularly.
I am pleased with the trailer. It looks good and the Bordeaux red gel coat, whilst not a perfect match for the Cabernet red of my bike, is reasonably close and I certainly have no urge to get it sprayed to match exactly. The trailer is well shaped with plenty of storage for all the stuff I can imagine wanting on a camping trip plus a lot more besides. I am really looking forward to using it for the first time.
Before my return journey, I was a bit nervous about towing the trailer, never having done this on a bike before. I am happy to say that I really didn’t notice it was there unless I looked in my mirrors for it. I actually did this quite a bit at first to check the turning circle as I went around corners. Cornering presented no problems, I didn’t have to take them especially wide at all.
8000 mile service and new tyres
Posted by: | CommentsOn the Goldwing that is. I bought it just a year ago when I started this blog and it has performed beautifully during the time since then but I guess part of that is getting it serviced regularly and so I took it into Doble’s yesterday for the scheduled service. I reckon a 4000 mile service interval is pretty horrendous in this day and age but subtracting the tyre costs left me with what I thought a reasonable bill for a major service.
8000 miles isn’t a huge amount for a year’s biking but to that I must add the mileage of my two foreign trips on other bikes (Patagonia 2700 miles, Italy at 1800 miles and a further 1000 miles for the GS) and we end up with a respectable total of 13,500 miles for the year. Not surprising that my woodwork has taken a back seat!
Trailer ordered, 8000 mile service booked, new tyres needed
Posted by: | CommentsIn my (respectable on-road) Goldwing life – as opposed to my (irreverent off-road) GS life, I have decided it’s time to get a trailer for the bike. I hasten to say that is not a trailer to carry the bike on but a trailer to tow behind the bike. This will alow me to dump all the stuff that currently adorns the back seat when I go camping with the bike (because I can”t get it all in the panniers).
I have accordingly made arrangements to get a trailer at the end of May when I return from a trip touring on an 800 or 1200GS in Italy (not sure which at this stage but it will be one or the other and I shall be happy with either). The trailer will be used this summer on a couple of outings for sure – Kent Wings Wingding and the Irish Treffen (bloody expensive ferry ride that is too!).
I have also booked my 8000 mile service which I shall probably get done just before picking up the trailer. I have asked that new tyres be fitted although the ones I have are no doubt good for a good few more miles I have used them pretty hard and I figure I might as well get them done at the time of the service to ensure that my summer touring is not interrupted by a need to schedule a tyre change which will inevitably clash with something else I want to do. I am pretty happy with the Bridgestones that came with the bike and I have asked that the same tyres be used this time, altough I have heard good things about the Avon Venoms too.
Goldwing suspension
Posted by: | CommentsAfter riding the GS for the last few days, I took the Goldwing out this morning and it took me a couple of miles before I felt at home again on such a different machine – I even tried to switch the indicators in the stupid BMW mode! 
I think the thing that has most significance for me in comparing the feel of the two bikes is just how much better the GS’s front suspension is on rough roads. Now this is hardly a surprise in a bike designed for the rough stuff but the bit that is important for me is that it has started me thinking again about a front suspension upgrade for the Goldwing. I had grown used to its foibles before riding the GS but some roughish road this morning reminded me that it was one of the first things I noted about the bike when I bought it.
I see two options – one is to install Progressive springs which is the cheap option but one that some folk think highly of and the other much more expensive option is to go for the Traxxion system. I am pretty persuaded by the movie but it would be nice to talk to someone in the UK who has fitted it.
Another expense is on the horizon in the form of its 8000 mile service and a new pair of tyres to go with it. I could let them go further but the rear especially is looking fairly tired and I might as well get it done soon – before the suspension upgrade too if I decide to go that way.
New Arrival
Posted by: | CommentsPicked it up from South London Motorcycles this morning! The bike feels really stable and planted in the corners, new tyres notwithstanding. Only a few miles on the clock so far but I have booked the first 600 mile service for two weeks hence, so I hope the weather will cooperate!
I am really looking forward to taking this baby off-road. I rode through all the potholes I could find on the way home (and our roads these days have plenty!) and the bike and suspension felt really great. I have to get used to the crazy BMW indicator system which needs three switches where the rest of the bike world makes do with one and I need to curb the urge to see what it can do with its 85 HP – at least until I have a few more miles on the clock. At the speeds I travelled home, the on-board computer was indicating instantaneous mpg of anything between 65 and 90. I’ll be well pleased if I get that sort of mileage in normal use!
Lovely Weather!
Posted by: | CommentsWe have had a great February weatherwise! I have been out on the bike a lot in splendidly sunny weather and feeling warm enough until the sun goes behind a cloud when it suddenly feels cold and you realise that this is still officially winter with over 3 weeks to go before spring. The apparent temperature and possibly global warming notwithstanding, I have decided to get a Gerbings heated jacket liner. My technical guru Ian Cardwell has explained how to fit the wiring and swears that he feels far more comfortable in a heated jacket liner than the various layers he needed previously, to keep warm. My principal reason for getting it now, even with spring just around the corner, is that I shall be in the mountains of Europe – Italy mostly- quite a bit during May and folk say it can be surprisingly cold there.
The bike is running really well and as I noted before, the gearbox is very sweet. I realised on my last jaunt (round Rye and Tenterden – some great biking roads there too!), that I was riding the bike pretty hard, scraping my feet in the corners fairly often – I deliberately keep them a bit lower than the pegs just to let me know what’s going on – which got me wondering about the tyres. They are OK at the moment but I shall probably get them changed in another 800 miles at the next (8000) mile service. I guess 8000 miles isn’t bad for a set of tyres on such a heavy bike. It”s probably a bit better than the ZZR but then I did ride that quite aggressively at times..
My new F 800 GS is due on 8th March – its launch day and rather inappropriately(!) my wife”s birthday. I shall (or may) be collecting a present for myself whilst LOML will be getting some flowers and a card – OK, plus an IOU for something later. It’ll be a good bike to ride some of the increasingly crappy stuff that passes for paved roads in this country. The aftermath of years of neglect, interventions by every service under the sun and heavy trucks have left some a lot of our roads in an appalling state.
Glorious Weekend Weather!
Posted by: | CommentsAnd still brilliant today as well. I took myself off to Wiltshire on Saturday for a bit of gentle, aimless wandering around the hillier bits. I was pleased to find that once off the main roads, the smaller ones were pretty quiet. It was such a lovely day, inevitably quite a bit of traffic had been tempted out.
The bike performed flawlessly and the improvement in the gearbox smoothness seems to have continued. It is as smooth as silk now – I guess that”s what 6500 miles do for it?
The name of this blog is currently “Chris’s Goldwing Blog” and that’s a pretty accurate name as far as most of it”s content currently goes but I have a problem.
I love my Goldwing better than any bike I have owned to date although I have done many more miles on other bikes, none has come close to the all-round road going performance of the Goldwing. Yes, “all-round” is what I said, although I modified it with “road going” by which I meant paved (metalled) roads. It’s fast comfortable and handles like a dream. If it wasn’t such an expensive bike, I’d take it to a track and turn it loose but replacing any of the Tupperware is likely to cost a bomb and I am just not going to risk it.
So – what’s the problem? Simply this, I already have another bike – the ZZR and am about to acquire a third, the F 800 GS. Neither of these resembles a Goldwing in any shape or form so if I write about them am I going to disappoint the masses who, misled by the name of the blog, came looking for thoughtful stuff on the ‘wing I dunno, but Chris’s Bike Blog has a certain ring to it so I might just make that change one morning..
Meanwhile, I am having to think about selling the ZZR, I am running out of space in my garage and I am afraid there is really only one answer. So for anyone in search of a great sports tourer at a very reasonable price – make me an offer!
Seaside Sun
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday was a lovely day and I took the Goldwing to the seaside – Eastbourne to be precise. Although the sun was bright and warm in sheltered spots, Beachy Head doesn’t quite fit that description – it felt very reminiscent of Patagonia with a strong wind and a substantial wind chill factor. Riding along, I had been conscious of the wind although it didn’t budge the bike and I stayed very comfortable behind the screen. There is really no doubt in my mind that for paved road, the Goldwing is the very best touring bike one can buy.
This notwithstanding, I am thinking seriously of getting a dual sport bike for some off-road touring and am currently lusting after the new BMW 800GS – I am off to the London Bike show on Thursday and this might just be the point at which lust becomes a deposit on a new bike…
Good weather for a while
Posted by: | CommentsIn between the wet stuff I had a nice ride yesterday in sunshine, if rather cold sunshine and because the sun is so low in the sky at the moment, potentially dangerous sunshine. Because it was very cold I put on a balaclava, then my Arai helmet with the headset installed because I wanted to listen to my iPod. Only trouble was, that this is a tight helmet at the best of times – so tight in fact that I couldn’t then get my sunglasses on. To hell with it I decided – I put my BMW System 5 on with enough room for balaclava and sunglasses but not equipped with a headset. Still, in the circumstances I figured warmth and vision were more important than music.
I was very glad of the heated grips and heated seat as I headed south at 08:30, also the big screen. Really, the Goldwing is a very civilised machine! I stopped by the BMW dealer at Pembury and bought myself a new visor which I need, my old one being rather scratched. I got one I didn’t know existed for the helmet – a double visor that cuts fogging, it’s also supposed to be scratch resistant. They didn’t have any tinted visors which the low sun prompted me to ask for and they advised me that I would have to order one from Southern Ireland as they weren’t allowed to sell them in this country. God how I hate this fucking government we have.
I enquired about the new BMW F800 GS – they are due in March apparently. I really lust after one of these but to be honest I am not sure where I”d ride it. There is no off-road opportunity for miles around. Perhaps I’ll get a trailer made for the Goldwing and haul it off to Spain!
One thing struck me about the bike yesterday and that was something I had noticed but forgotten to mention before. The gearbox is much smoother than it was when the bike was new. I had criticised the box for being agricultural previously and it is still not the best I have used ( I think that honour goes to the ZZR) but it is now changing very sweetly – I guess I must have knocked a few corners off here and there!