Honda GL1000 Goldwing - Between the Hedges

I'm still not entirely sure why I bought a Goldwing. I'd spent a very enjoyable year on a CX500a and suddenly I fancied one of these. It was an interesting, if not altogether sensible, excursion into heavy metal.

Many superlatives have been used by the various motorcycling pundits through the years to describe this bike. To say the very least, it was a lot of motorcycle. It earned itself a lot of attention from onlookers who would marvel at its size and looks.

At the time when I bought the GL1000 Honda had only just announced the new Euro-styled CB750F, 900F and the CBX1000-Six. I felt like a change from my trusty CX500 but I really didn't fancy these new big bikes on offer. I was very happy with shaft drive and fancied doing a bit more touring. I still couldn't afford a BMW R90S or R100RS. I couldn't even afford a new R80. So when my Honda dealer told me he could get me a very keen price on the last of the old model (unfaired) Goldwings I was quite taken with the notion. I bought it brand new for £1800 (Jan 1980) and my much loved CX500 stayed in the family, passing over to my father. This was the only black GoldWing I'd ever seen. Others were always either maroon or turquoise.

First launched in 1974, the GoldWing was already legendary. It had been marketed as a world touring machine with style and refinement. Its only real competitors then would have been BMWs and Moto Guzzis. Much snobbery existed between the tribes. The entry of this mighty bike on the scene was fairly significant. It was a water-cooled flat-four with thermoelectric fan, belt-driven overhead cams, dummy petrol tank which was actually a storage compartment, fuel gauge.. it featured a fairly long list of things never seen before on a motorcycle. In fact apart from the obvious it was almost a car!

Although the Wing was a seriously heavy bike (@600 lbs dry) it was fairly well mannered in the handling department so long as you didn't try to treat it like a sports bike. Whilst it could hardly be described as agile, it was manoeuvrable and dealt with fast bends in a way that surprised me and everyone else who took a ride on it. It wasn't a scratcher and what it was designed for it did very well indeed to be fair. Ground clearance was less than it might have been and before I had the measure of it I buffed off an exhaust clamp on a sharp curve in the Glens of Antrim trying to keep up with my father. One notable downside in my opinion was the mpg.. the best I could get was 33mpg even when doddering along at 45mph, which raised questions about its suitability as a tourer. Mine however may not have been a perfect example of the Wing - see below.

Despite its mass it could acquire miles-per-hour quite readily and in a thoroughly unfussy manner. Yes.. the Wing had the potential to be a real licence-loser. Its smoothness and quietness all too easily belied its velocity. Whistling along fast carriageways was a real experience on the GL. As expected from Honda the quality of materials and general finish was excellent and it was a most impressive sight with that monstrous engine dominating the picture from every angle.

The GoldWing has, through twenty years of evolution, transmogrified into today's models bearing little resemblance to this early model. There is still a world-wide following for the GoldWing of any marque and clubs exist everywhere to congregate and worship this shining icon. I wonder if Honda will ever dare to remove it from the brochure?

All that said... my GoldWing was troublesome. It soon transpired that I'd bought myself a 'Friday afternoon' bike. It started off with niggling little faults, mostly electrical, which were easy enough to cure but really shouldn't have been happening. The contact-breaker points kept creeping out of adjustment and had to be fiddled with far too often to ensure good starting and smooth running. Then it broke down completely and the dealer had to send a van out for it. This turned out to be a ballast-resistor in the ignition circuit. That was repaired under warranty but it kept the bike off the road for one of the best weeks of that summer. Then the 'biggy'... a serious problem arose with the final drive - yep the shafty bit. (A sickening whining noise was coming from the bevel-box). This, I was told, was due to a 'mistake' with the assembly of preload shims during manufacture. It was also repaired under warranty but that took the rest of the summer for the parts to arrive (from Japan!).

As with the Z750 a few years earlier, this developed into a relationship without faith. I had lost confidence in the bike and seemed to be spending more time fiddling with it than just riding it. When it was good it was very good and I dearly liked it but when it was bad I had to get the bus. I traded the bike into a dealer and made him aware of the Wing's blemished history. He sold it shortly afterwards and I later learnt that I had in fact unknowingly conquered all of its gremlins and that the new owner was delighted with it and it was running perfectly. How ironic!

Summing up, this was a very fine design of a motorcycle well ahead of its time, aimed at a certain type of buyer. I may not have been the ideal buyer and my particular bike was certainly not an ideal example. I have on many occasions met Wing owners who have clocked up very high mileage without trouble and wouldn't consider riding anything else. Guess it wasn't for me.