Topic: 500/550/650's that followed me home

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

All was well until the sun went down, and we had 40 degree temperatures combined with the wind chill of riding.

Ha! Be glad you didn't get stuck in a driving rain storm in addition- Ask me why I say that...  And no, I didn't have my rain suit that trip. What was a normal, long, hard day of riding between Chicago and DC became the Death Ride from Bataan (so to speak).

No kidding! I've ridden through thundershowers but not in cold weather at night. That sounds awful!

[rb550four]

When I got back from the Army I didn't have a plan. I had no car,couldn't find a job and had a Honda cl 350 as my only source of transportation.....for an entire year. I took a dishwashing job 20 miles away out of necessity , in the winter. Outfitted the 350 with MotoX tires , and off to work I went. New York winter weather every day ,one night I pulled a second shift and hit the road just before mid-night, It was below zero and half the master link flew off in the parking lot. I wired what was left of it together  with some wire that I found at work and took an extra 20 mile route on my way home because I thought if the chain blew off at least I would be in my old neighborhood and I'd find a place to spend the night....
the wired chain held together and took me the entire, now 40 mile trip, back home. It took an eternity to get there, and vision surely suffered by all the teeth chattering and visor frost. When I reached the house I was so cold that I couldn't drop the kickstand and opted to lay in a nearby snowbank until I could get up and walk to the house.... Not the same as a 700 mile ride in cold rain I know, but it was also one of those rides that were not just uncomfortable but survived. Those kind of rides will stay fresh in your mind no matter how old we get. And you can bet we it won't happen the same way to us again.

[Restoration Fan]

  Prepare as we may but , few things in this life can compare with riding on an 80 degree day in the sun.

So very very true!

[RAFster122s]

In southern AZ there are some washes and dips in the landscape that the air currents coming down off of Mt Lemmon (9000 ft peak) and in the fall and winter and even spring the temps are dramatically different on top of Mt. Lemmon than down in Tucson around 3000-3300 ft. You ride through one of those washes and it is like you just road into walk in freezer, but much bigger. Makes your boys suck up tight to your body and a chill hits you that will really wake you up...
You may be dressed fine for around town where you are going 30 to 45 depending on what road it happens to be, but you hit one of those and you are suddenly way underdressed. It is like someone has sucked all the warmth you were getting off the motor from time to time and replaced it with a block of ice betw...uh, below your tank.


It is nothing like RB or Cal have experienced...or any of the other stories shared...


Ride Safe and stay warm...


David

[RAFster122s]

Had an email from AeroStich who had a relevant topic recently brought up here...ok, it was a segue off topic and I contributed heavily to it...Was I to blame for it? Probably...
More fuel for the roasting...


Naturally they had things for sale after every dash list item..


You can see all their solutions and things they highlighted that they carry by viewing the email sent to everyone on their mailing list here:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=ee4b1c8a3cb628702757dff67&id=dd62b90846&e=903666defd


I copied the list items and pasted them below...


LESSONS FROM 33 MN WINTERS


- As long as the ambient temperatures are above freezing, commuting and urban distances between 2 and 15 miles is easy. Though you won’t see many other riders.
- Commuting and errand riding through the forties is not much different from summer riding except adding a sweater and slightly warmer gloves.
- Commuting and daily riding down to freezing (32ºf) is easy on an unfaired bike with heated grips and combinations of Aerostich gear (jackets, jerseys, microfleece...)
- Comfortable all-day-long highway rides...six to eight hours between freezing and 45ºF temps...requires planning, and some extra time dressing in the morning. Long underwear, electric grips, winter gloves, and electric gear.
- Commuting and daily riding below freezing and down into the twenties is doable with the right base layers, and if the streets are dry. Many bikes do not start as easily if left outside all day or overnight cold-soaking. And tires have less traction because they never really warm up.
- Longer distance all-day highway-speed rides in these lower temps is possible but never super comfortable, even with a lot of layers, electric gear, etc.
- If the streets have ice and snow in places, studding your bikes tires is important. Using only low profile ‘street’ studs…riding on the tips of longer off-road studs is dangerous and doesn’t work. Some tire rubber must be available to be in direct contact the pavement on the dry sections of the road.
- On days when it may snow, if you get caught at work and the roads become snowy or icy, and your bike does not have studded tires, get a ride home in someone's car, or take the bus. Leave the bike for later. Find a decent place for it until conditions improve.
- The use of salt, sand, urea, and other ice melters by municipalities will corrode your bike terribly, make maintenance and adjustments more difficult, and leave your boots and riding gear filthy. From your helmet down.
- Anti-fog solutions, pinlock visors, baclavas and scarves are all important winter rider’s tools.
- Frostbite is a real danger at below-freezing temps, and hurts like hell. And once you have frostbitten a cheek or nose, it’s more vulnerable to frostbite for years into the future.
- Many car drivers are insulted that you are out riding in winter conditions and will let you know with rude gestures. They are not expecting to see you, and can find your surprising presence offensive. Ride doubly defensively.
- It can take a long, long time to warm up if you’ve become even a little hypothermic. This can ruin your day. Dress carefully.


Copyright © 2016 Aero Design and Mfg. Co. Inc., All rights reserved.

[rb550four]

My, that stuff looks toasty alright, and I would like to say that I'd be in the market for it. Just old enough now to not enjoy anything that may be chilly. The biggest  problem I have with winter riding is the amount of salt and sand. That sh1t is slippery. In NY they dump it on the road a few times a day when it snows ....Then spend all summer trying to clean out the ditches that are now full of sand.  It isn't safe to ride around here until the roads have been swept in late April or May. I take comfort in a Ford truck with a decent heater until then.

[RAFster122s]

RB, I don't blame you one bit.
A friend who used to ride a lot with his wife as passenger and they had Goldwings, early Naked versions with a clear shield to keep the bugs out of their teeth...
They lived on the NW side of Tucson and went to church with me on the SE side of Tucson and they had a 25 mile ride one way. I asked him one summer morning where's the bike today...? He replied, he had a carry a car full of cold air today so they left it at home. It was about 9:30 and the temps had already passed 90F that morning and was going to be 105 or so that day.

I've bicycled in 105F weather and it is like riding in an oven, the hot blast you get when you open the oven door to check something visually without the glass & interior lamp making it not really bright enough to see the progress of your baked item to see if were browning or cheese melted in the center (pizza). Well, that is what riding a bicycle in 105F weather feels like.  I would pour a bottle of water (24 oz) over my shirt and soak it through and through and it would be dry completely in about 3 miles. I had a 7.5 mile ride and I had a 100oz Camelback and I would stop after 3 miles to refill it with ice water having drank it all by the time I would finish. The shop owners with ice and water wouldn't charge me anything to refill the camelback from their soda machine's ice and using tap water. I had a couple bottles on the bike and they were not to drink as it would be warm in no time. They were to get the evaporative cooling going.
So, I've experienced the opposite extreme on a bicycle. You survived the desert heat by being up early and staying out of the heat in the middle of the day. After the sun set it would cool off 10-15 degrees and then be comfortable and you would do your walking near sundown as by 7PM it was often 95-98 on the hot days and the sun was up at 5AM and it never was cooler than 75F all night.  You knew it was going to be hot when you had the nighttime temps never going below 75F.

Riding with sand and salt on the road is just silly...as Aerostich said, way too corrosive on the bike.
I found keeping un-clear'd chrome center caps or even lugnuts from starting to rust required a lot of upkeep in central Ohio when I lived there 19 years.  We were south of the snow belt and they still salted the roads massively. An hour north of us in Centerville would see much more snow as it was in the snow belt but far enough south to not have lake effect snow.  Cleveland, Akron, etc. would have lake effect snow and depending on the direction of the wind and storm, Toledo might have lake effect snow, but it was not coming off Lake Erie usually.


It was common for people in Michigan and the Buffalo area to have a winter beater car to drive in the winter when the snow and ice were around... They would start driving it just before the first snowfall and stop driving it after the last snow and the roads had been cleaned well by the rains to not expose the good car to that corrosion.  Their good car was parked in a garage or a storage unit and it didn't get pulled out at all. Their insurance would switch over to the beater and the good car would drop to protect it if something were to happen in storage.

The beaters had snow tires and chains in the trunk if it got bad enough to warrant them and was legal enough to drive safely. They ran well but cosmetics weren't a consideration normally.

RevZilla just sent me an email about prepping the bike for electric gear...
I think you would want one of the stator upgrades that a fellow SOHC4 member has for the 750...wouldn't want to waste a nice 500/550/650 being a winter bike...


Here's the link to RevZilla's article/video...  (they are usually entertaining and fun to listen to. They do great gear review...granted we aren't squids but, some of their stuff is applicable to us vintage bike owners.)




http://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/how-to-add-heated-gear-to-your-motorcycle?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Image+-+How+To+Add+Heated+Gear+To+Your+Motorcycle&utm_content=2/6+-+CT+Digest+110&utm_campaign=02/06/2016

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I wonder if my stock 550 charging system is robust enough for heated gear.

[Stev-o]

I wonder if my stock 550 charging system is robust enough for heated gear.

As long as you keep the R's above 5K!   

[rb550four]

  Last week I got my new galvanized metal roofing up on that nasty barn. I got 3/4 s of it done when a guy that used to work for me stopped and asked  me how I was doing  it all alone, told me I'm nuts ( like I didn't know that) ,climbed out of his truck and finished it up with me. He wouldn't take any money for his time either. I did his Sportster last year, guess he's still happy about it, asked if I wanted some Harley work my way. I said no and please don't tell anyone that I've worked on a non Japanese bike. Good guy.
 Since then I have been restocking the upper section of barn with my wife's and kids's collection of excess stuff that covered the entire shop floor to the ceiling. Made 28 feet of storage racks 5 feet high so far. I can see most of the shop floor showing now. My wife has been cleaning out the closets in the house boxing up even more stuff and filling up those shelves too. I think it's almost time to build another 28 feet. I'm gonna step out on a limb here , I suspect my wife may be a hoarder.... too bad it isn't  about Honda stuff... I could really help her with that.
  I'll remove everything from my old wood shop next and fill it with the bikes that are patiently waiting for me at the theater. I want to keep them on this higher ground in case of flooding this spring . That way there is no mad dash, bike moving going on or worse yet , bike losses. It'll be nice to have the mistress' home again.

[RAFster122s]

RB, I hope the flooding won't hit you...but, I pause to think...I hope he isn't in an area that would have enough of a current to cause the barn to be washed off its foundation...that could get really ugly and the house would be in jeopardy as well.
So much for that nasty thought.

I understand the comment about stuff and too much. It is easy to accumulate too much junk in our lives... Never hurts to have to move every 10 years or so to thin out some of that stuff to have room for the important stuff...

David

[rb550four]

  David,  I think the barn is a good place for the machines to rest, flood wise anyways, that and the house is about 300 foot higher than the flood zone.
 My garage is attached to the barn making it real easy for rolling one next door to upgrade parts without the hassle of trailering it from the theater downtown to the garage.
  I've been cleaning allot of stuff out of the barn and going to the dump with those items that I haven't touched in a while. I gave 2 pallets of shingles to a guy that could really use them.  It seems I've been stock piling building supplies for a while. Of course , I'm sure I'll be repurchasing some of it when the need arises , but it's nice to be getting to the bottom of all this.
 I had rolls of 12/2 , boxes and assorted electrical supplies....couldn't throw that out , so I tore out the old electric and rewired the barn while I was at it ( plenty left for the daughter's house this summer).
  It's slowly getting there, can hardly wait for it to be done ,  haven't turned a wrench since I don't know when. There's a Wing that needs some going over in the corner and I was hoping to concentrate on repaints this year. Most of the earlier machines got shot with any color auto paint that was on the shelf....it's okayyy... this time I want to really choose the color combinations and some different lines ,and techniques like this
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/449234131560861325/
or
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/449234131555378906/
maybe
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/449234131555226253/
something like that for a change, not too far over the edge... neat,clean, without looking like a freakshow or an acid trip.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/449234131555226364/
kinda like this.
Do you think any of these three may be too much?

[RAFster122s]

RB, good deal on the work. That was very nice of you to help a friend/neighbor out.  We have that attitude here in TN and it was also prevalent in AZ but, I didn't see it in Ohio. Exception was a family we were friends with who was Morman and they had 5 kids. We would help each other out. They were good friends despite being of different religions...they of Joesph Smith's twist and we being Christian, worshiping and having a relationshipwith Jesus Christ. They ended up moving to Salt Lake City and then ended up divorcing. That was odd.

I am glad you wereable to help out your neighbors. Relationships with others is a very important part of life.

Itis cool you are going to help build your daughters house/ or build it. That will be a huge gift. Building a housecan bevery stressful on a marriage they say.

This Nook isn't the best for responding or reading stuff on the internet, so forgive thetypos and lack of spacesbetween words. I thought i had hit the space bar everytime, but as you see...it didn't take...

Those are some wild tank designs and the carved metal art is pretty cool...you have to have someskills to do that stuff. I would imaging a jeweler who designs rings and does ornate designs in metal would be good at it if they wereinterested in doing so. Lots of time with carbide or diamond bits...unless they do the design in sculpting clay and then take a mold or the design on the tank and then form a mold to casr the design in molten metal that is applied and finished once adhered to the tank.

Have you ever looked up the water dipped finish technique? It is acool effect if you get the pattern the way you want before dipping. It is a little bit of reverse of what you see as the layerson the bottom are on the object dipped. Definitely a one of a kind finish.
Gun stocks and other items like that are often using that technique.
Little trivia...at night and all black uniform like SWAT wear is more visible than a dark green and black pattern that the German military elite squads or counterparts in police special units wear.

[rb550four]

  I help when I can,  what comes around goes around. It's all good. I live in a tight community and we all do what we can do, there is no rat race or keeping up with the Jones' here . Like Red Green would say We're all in this together.
 Oh no, I would never cast a tank.. I was looking at the larger pictures at the top of the page of the Pinterest addresses . Although with both daughters being silversmith/ jewelers, a design similar to those could be possible with airbrushed paints to mimic relief work, however, my shadow techniques aren't up to those of a professional airbrush artist by any stretch. I enjoy color , stripes, and little surprises with shadows or an unexpected line of gold leaf maybe...  or an unusual Sizzle strip (for lack of a better description). I'd like to "play" a little but not go too loud or over the edge, it's just not me.
 Although after discovering the Steampunk style, at one point I was considering the idea of a copper plating a tank and other things...even that would have been too loud for me . Any loud changes always seems to require explanation of the changes, which in my mind, detracts from the overall enjoyment of a machine for what it is.
  In the late 70's , before camo was desert tan colors or today's camo there was the European theater forest camo: Forest green , light green, sand, and flat black ( like my camo bike) which were also good in the dark... the real trick (for the painter) was to use curved lines in forest and light green over any sheetmetal lines to alter how we see the shape. the sand and the black acted as false highlights and shadows , that reversed the usual shadow areas of known shapes such as vehicles, to fuzzy unrecognizable shapes mimicking forest shadows. Especially effective with painted tires. Far more effective than the olive drab of WWII and Korea was. and seems to work on everything. I have to park the camobike in front of brick or light single color walls so I can find it ....just kidding.

[RAFster122s]

My daughter a clever one had a green camo tshirt that she had the words, "haha, you can't see me!"

I hope you have a good spring that comes comes without too much more snow. Last year we got nailed with4 heavy snowfalls with heavy wet and slick snow ( a few were drier and super slippery) and tgey started in early March as my mom had knee replacement and clearing the driveway and sidewalk was very painful... literally and physically. I have deteriorating lower spineand my hips and sacrum get misaligned and it became so bad I could hardly walk and getting up in the morning I was literally crawling up the steps from my bedroom to the main level to get a hot shower and muscle relaxers.
So, anyway...lets hope we don't have a repeat?
David

[Restoration Fan]

rb,
If you get the technique down for doing these two, then I might have to ride the 550 up for you to do some painting when it becomes a rideable bike.  Those two are gorgeous, IMO.


 or

[RAFster122s]

With local weather people saying we meteorologically having passed into Spring here, then this link on power and heated gear on a bike at RevZilla probably won't need much reading.  But, it could prepare you for next year's cool rides...as you have time to do any changes needed for next cold season...

http://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/how-to-add-heated-gear-to-your-motorcycle?

You'll have to forgive them they aren't SOHC/4 centric serving as parts sellers to just about anyone with green, be they a HD rider/Dual Sport/Classic/Chopper/Dirt/etc...
Naturally they go after people with deep pockets....
Anthony's videos are funny most of the time and it's a high energy and fun place...
David

[rb550four]

  That fella is good at video, clear , precise, no dead air time . Never saw his videos before, and the beard degree of difficulty was a great gauge .
  I often wonder how many guys it takes on these kind of shows to keep the shop  so clean . I would feel comfortable laying a sandwich  down anywhere around there.  It's not usually like that here, for sure, and I have been known to go on some wild cleaning frenzies . In fact , I'm on a reorganizing crusade right now. I just got all the engines and shelving full of parts moved into the not yet finished but dry barn that used to be a wood shop... 30 years of collecting stuff that I might need some day, items that haven't been on the market for twenty years, but I saved extra in case one of my customers needed  replacement parts.  All gone. I've got a pile of stuff for my daughter's build that should be gone this summer. It feels okay to part with these things. I'd hate to think my kids would have been saddled at some point trying to go through all that stuff .
 The weather up here ( I'm whispering this) has been really warm for winter and it hardly had any snow, it was excellent. So far.
Seems like everyone else in the nation got hit , but not here. Don't know if it's collective postulation or  what but, I could handle the same next winter.
  Did you get hit this winter?

[RAFster122s]

yeah, Anthony has a gift with words and speech and some of the blooper clips are hillarious!
Even in live on-air stuff he's pretty sharp.
Makes short clips packed with info and love the sense of connection and bond they form. They are motorcycle people through and through.


Also whispering...
We've only had a few snows and only 2 or 3 with 4 inches or so and that's atypical and really mild compared to last winter or earlier winters here I've seen since '13-14 and as a kid growing up. Some of the childhood winters had snow so deep that one year we were out of school for over 2 months including the start with Christmas break... we were socked in with record snow with it drifting up to an adult's waist and couple feet on the ground for well over a month. Once it started clearing then it was a while before buses could safely run due to ice and bad conditions of roads in hilly and valley areas causing too much risk. (county roads were mostly paved but little warm temps not much wind or other things that help melt the snow. We had lots of low temps and several power outages due to power lines freezing and collapsing/breaking under weight of ice build up as well as trees taking down some lines. My dad was out of work due to back surgery that winter so, lots of card games:  Rook, Cannasta?sp?, and similar and board games to pass the time, and playing in the snow when it warmed enough...
He recuperated and after he was up and recovering enough to power sand, strip, and refinished the cedar bedroom suite with new coats of varnish/shellac that he and mom had since they were married...


Yeah, I could stand the milder weather, really loved living in Southern AZ desert for 8 years... last 4.5 was in Sierra Vista at 45-4800 ft and it had much colder winter than Tucson at around 2000-2200 ft. If I had a do-over it would have all been in Tucson. I intend to return, Lord willing.


Yeah and probate is a nightmare you don't want to let your family go through either...


David

[rb550four]

  We're thinking that winter is over.
The barn has been jacked up, straightened out, new roof and siding keeping it water tight now.
  The old wood shop area has been emptied out and the shelved 550 items from the garage shop  have been moved in.  A spare lift allows another shop space.
  I have chosen an 81 wing as this year's first summer project an would like to post it's progress here , if no one minds.

  This is what we're starting out with. 81 1100, 37k miles,last ridden 2009, really ugly. Infact it was so ugly with those Vetter items on it that I was having a really hard time warming up to it as a project, yeah that kind of ugly.


 Took the ugly stuff off and gave it a quickie clean and polish so's to get friendly with it. Now it looks like a worthwhile project.

[RAFster122s]

Talk about different, that wing is radical departure from the 500/550/650 builds.  It is your thread, go for it!

Several wing owners on the list.
i like the naked wings or those with a rabid transit fairing...very sweet looking fairing.

Looking forward to the adventure.

David

[rb550four]

  Thanks for the go ahead David, good to hear.
I modified my last post  ( 2 posts back) with some pics of what we're starting out with. This one should take a while as I haven't had anything to do with Wings yet So there will be a learning curve for me. I want to take it nice and easy on this if I can, and just enjoy the process.
  I'm thinking there's too much aluminum paint on the cases, and there is chips and discoloration.  I really like cast iron color that is on the rest of my bikes and would like to do the main engine cases that color. The other case in the rear can stay with the cast aluminum color. There's enough dark areas in the middle  so not thinking of any semigloss black on the engine anywheres yet.
  The frame has some rusty spots here and there. Don't want that, so a sand blast, and fresh frame paint is in order.
The body parts are in reasonable to good condition (so far) and polished out alright, so they can stay stock (for now).
Front end needs new fork seals, brake shoes, brake piston seals, and some fresh fluid and greased bearings.
Yes and I'll be tracking down a new headlight and blinker ears since that stuff was discarded when it got a case of the uglies (the Vetter stuff).
There seems to be shiny stuff on the engine, I like that so it'll all get buffed.
   The engine will be getting new belts and a water pump and probably hoses and whatever else the book says to change .
The carbs/tank,petcock need cleaning inside and out, and new fuel lines would be nice I'm hoping to only have to do this once. I thought the carbs on a 4 was kind of a PITA sometimes but these things look like a real PITA everytime.
 Oil filter/oil /check the pan for horrifying ground up metal parts and and fresh belts.  May as well change the clutch plates while we're there  too. That should be all the engine should need  besides paint . I guess. Then it can go back in a freshly painted frame.
  The rear disc piston seal will be fresh and new fluid ,do have to check the rubber lines. The airshocks seem okay. Gonna be learnin on the shaft drive, never had one apart before.
 New battery,clean and check each wire, plugs...the usual stuff ,  put it all back, then  pack all those wires up front int a headlight.and hope for no surprises.
Sounds very doable so far to me, and I'm hoping  for an easy dependable ride when it's done.
  Have heard bad thing about new owners like me with bikes like this around 30K+ who have turned over the engine only to have a belt go and end up bending the valves. This one has been a non runner for a while, don't know if PO tried to turn it over , or what the condition of the belts are yet. So I'm going in blind and trusting that this 37k+ has not been fiddled with, cause I won't here it run til it's done. and that's the beginning of this story.

[RAFster122s]

Hahaha...like you need my approval. Ha!

Looks like you have a good one to start with, if it doesn't have any surprises...
Those King Queen seats are fairly comfortable and they don't have to look so bad on the Wing.

The CV carbs are tricky.  The Air Cutoff Valves will need replaced most likely. You should not need new brass.  But, you will need to pull them completely apart and give them a good cleaning and an industrial ultrasonic bath with Home Depot's Purple Simple Green at 50% concentration will clean out the small passages.  The jets I hope are the screw out type. If the main jet is a press in style it can be a royal PITA to remove. You have to pull it before ultrasonic as there are a couple places that just can't get cleaned otherwise. I have a manual by Larry Cargill on the CVs used on the CX500/GL500 and CX & GL 650 bike. Larry's method is to pull the brass and chase the holes in the jet with numbered drill bits and as I mentioned with the ultrasonic.  The brass jets themselves can have white deposits from the fuel that normal cleaners don't really get broken up. It is similar to a calcium build up. By chasing the jet holes with the numbered drills of proper size in a pin vice you don't remove any brass but make certain they are cleaned with no deposits.  It makes a world of difference in running.

Another thing to look at while doing the belts is to pull the alternator and give it a good test to make sure it is healthy and the bearings and comm are in good shape as well as the brushes.  I have heard of guys changing them out with an auto alternator if they need major work. With 37k on the clock it probably needs brushes.
I don't know the water pump on these bikes but the CX motor is an easy drop and then you can get to the water pump. The CX500 cooling fans can grenade from the hub shedding blades taking out the radiator which is hard to come by in great shape.  I don't think you have that issue on the Wings.  Lots of guys do an electric fan upgrade from a Ducati  or GSX and a few other bikes...  With the fan and a thermocouple switch ($5-10) epoxied to the bottom of the radiator You can wire it to auto cut on with that thermocouple temp switch or you can manually turn it on in slow stop & go traffic.

I don't know if the Mikunis that a fellow in NC does are also used on the Wings for more performance, but if so...it might be worth looking at if you decide to keep the Wing as it can really wake up the motor without any other changes.

Once you have it sorted out the Wings are great highway bikes and can groove in the twisties as well. Totally different feel than the SOHC4 bikes and when moving the weight issues disappear once you understand how they handle and get used to that riding approach.  It is funny to see a motorcycle with a reverse gear...later wings had them. But, I guess with a big dressed out Wing it is very handy.

As far as the rear end goes...
Change the rear shaft gear box fluid and pull the gearbox or while the motor is out you will need to use the proper Moly paste from Honda on the splines. This is critical so you don't have to have expensive rear drive shaft spline wear that can be quite costly and involved to fix.
The shaft drive has less maintenance requirements than the chain drive and you will love that lower maintenance.
Pulling the rear wheel is involved, even without bags to cope with.

You have a solid plan for addressing the issues so I feel confident you will have a good experience with the bike after you have it sorted out.... If it turns out to not be your cup of tea, then you flip it and recoup the investment in parts and you have new experience under your belt.

How did this one come into your possession if I may ask?

Looking forward to your adventure and sharing that adventure.

You might want to go with braided stainless teflon lines, it is worth the extra money in my book as you have better brake feel.  I don't think with your wing you will have any of that funny rear and front braking setup where both are engaged with the front MC. Those bikes I think could be a royal pain.

There are more than a couple Wing owners on the forum and I can recruit a few from the CX/GL forum if you don't get answers over on the Wings forum.  Like I said, I would like a GL1000 someday and I like the naked wings far more than the Vetter junk on them.

Let me know what you got on the carbs and I can scan you some stuff or direct you to some of Larry's stuff he published on the web over on the CX forums.  Randall can redo the Wing carbs but you better be sitting down before you see what he wants to go through them and rebuild them...
Larry can rescue you if you can't get the pressed in jet out.  Don't use an Easy Out on them, unless it is a Snap-On or Matco...very good quality unit, not the crap that normally is out there and easy to get. Otherwise, if you break off an Easy Out in them you might need new carb bodies.


David

  Thanks for the go ahead David, good to hear.

[Restoration Fan]

Very happy to log in this morning and see some more posts on this thread as it's one of my favorites.  Looking forward to seeing what you do with this big bike, rb!

[RAFster122s]

Dhall57 is a member with a 77 GL1000, Naked Wing. He has a thread having done much of the same work you have planned.

Good luck with the coming adventure. Gonna have a busy summer if you are building the daughter's house this year.
David