Topic: 78 GL1000 20 year sleeper! Old Blue.

[RAFster122s]

I notice bikes around me and I like to see when the loud pipes save lives set become audible as they overtake and pass me.  It is speed dependent, the higher the speed the greater the wind noise and they are on top of you beside you many times before you hear them.  At low speeds you hear them coming easier and faster.

Saw a guy die, most likely, in Tucson while living there.  Lady in small Toyota or Nissan turned in front of him and he was doing 40-45 most likely.  No helmet and he went flying landing 20-30 ft from where his bike nailed the rear quarter panel of the car, big cruiser bike...likely Harley.  He began having seizures before the paramedics arrived.  They quickly cut him out of his riding gear before immobilizing/strapping him to the body board and rushing him away to the hospital down the street.  It was sad...several people had been trying to provide care before EMTs paramedics arrived and they carefully rolled him to his side when he began having the seizure and throwing up.  Taking extreme care to keep his spine and neck from turning or neck from changing position relative to his body.  He was on his back after the accident and totally out...

[Bankerdanny]

When I drive my 2 to 2 1/2 hour trip home I count Motorcycles to keep me observant. Bikes can split lanes here in Calif. so they can sneak up on you. That game keeps me alert to Bikes, if more people played it there would be a lot less "I didn't see you's"!

The record count is 125 Bikes all going my way, I don't count the ones on the other side of the freeway.

They can't split here in Chicago, but lots do anyway. It drives me nuts because I don't look for that sort of thing because it is illegal.

[RAFster122s]

What I hate is when you are riding in the middle of a lane and a cager decides to pass you and do it only giving you about 3 feet between his car and you.  State law requires you to give 5 feet for bicyclist and they won't even give you that on a bike much less a motorcycle.  Makes you want to have an EMP gun to render their car permanently inoperable until lots of expensive electronics are replaced.

[Don R]

 I heard today my friend is responsive, I'm hoping to buy him breakfast some day before too long.

 Edit, the guy is totally recovered and back at work. I don't know if he ever got another bike.

[RAFster122s]

Don,  glad to hear your friend is doing much better.  Speedy recovery to him.

[Don R]

 I rode old blue to Sturgis with every intention to head to the family reunion after. On the ride out I chose unwisely on the seat once more, It took 16 hours to get there after taking a bad choice of roads with many detours and two hours of rain. At any rate we rode spearfish canyon the first day and I needed to take a day off from heavy riding so I just did a couple loops near mount rushmore. Anyway the bike was performing better than the rider and I ended up taking a slow ride of 15 hours home rather than the 40 hours of just travel going on to the reunion. 
 Before the trip it still had an intermittent miss at 2 to 3 k rpm. I installed a set of 83 1100 carbs like my 79 had and the miss was still there. My brother had a set of new plug caps so I borrowed them and the miss cleaned right up. I also put in a set of the 1/2 hotter heat range plugs Hondaman likes for the 750's. It was too late to swap carbs back so off I went.
At spearfish canyon we rode 45-50 mph most of the day and I got nearly 50 mpg. At 80mph on I 90 it dropped a lot to mid to low 30's. I got one tank of gas that went on reserve at 118 miles. Around here I've gotten 155 before reserve.
 I was passed three times by the same three Harleys as last trip two years ago. When I saw them at a gas stop the one guys wife cracked up that I had caught them again.  They wisely spent more time off the bikes than I did,  I settled on 75 mph as fast enough for the old girl and held it there most of the way home.

[Don R]

 I passed a dozen bikes stopped on the opposite side of the road, I was pulling up a hill and accelerating through the gears from a stop light. I think every one of them stopped what they were doing to look at what was making that sound.
 Or someone said look at that ugly ass old Goldwing. I couldn't wait to remove the sissy bar and saddle seat when I got home.

[RAFster122s]

Hope the seat was not too punishing...at least no stories of taking a knife to the seat foam, yet.

[Terry in Australia]

Sorry to hear about your friend Don, Lane Splitting is legal here, but only at slow speeds. That doesn't stop the peanuts from roaring up between cars at stupid speeds, very early one morning I had a guy on a big Jap sports bike frighten the crap out of me  when he blasted my door, inches from my mirror, at probably 100 MPH in a 35 zone, it was like a gun going off, but somehow he kept going and disappeared into the darkness.

Not so lucky was a one percenter on a Harley. Traffic on the "Ring Road" was pretty congested one morning, but it didn't stop him from blasting past me on his hog. Shortly afterwards the traffic slowed to a crawl, and as I came around a bend in the road I saw his bike on it's side stand, but he was laying on his back, and as the cops and ambulance hadn't yet arrived, one of the car drivers was draping a blanket over his body.

I thought I was bullet proof when I was young too, but I was lucky, lots of broken bones, but still breathing unassisted. Cheers, Terry.   

[Don R]

 It was close to knifing the seat. I just overdid it. It's hard to admit maybe 16 hour riding days are a lost part of my youth. I prefer the stock seat now. lol.
 The miss was there, I swapped the carbs, it got a bit worse. I put on plug caps and plugs, it went away. I put the old carbs back on and it came back. WTF??? The difference may be the plug wires were separated while the 1100 carbs were on it and now they're back in the loom.
 I'm considering 1500 coils and new wires before pulling the carbs again, I think I'll separate the wires again and slip plastic wire covering over them and see if that helps.
  Trying the scientific method may yet yield results.  Theory, Action, check results, repeat with new theory until solved.

 The theme of the Davenport Bike swap meet show is the 70's. Old Blue might just fit in there.

[Terry in Australia]

It could be the leads Don. The leads on my first K1 (OEM leads) used to arc against the frame and the cam cover, especially when it rained. I was riding home one night in the rain and got off the bike in the dark with the engine still running, and it was like a blue light disco under the tank! Cheers, Terry.

[RAFster122s]

Good thing your petcock wasn't leaking externally, eh?
i had a plug cap break on my cx and until warmed up I often tuck my knees against the cylinder heads and did that day to get lit up by the voltage.  Just glad both were not,  the meeting in the middle would be unpleasant.

Was looking at GW listings and it is amazing the number of K&Q seats on those for sale.
Even Corbin is making a bunch of sporty bike replacement seats with very bucket like front seats to fit your backside for things like the FZ09, etc.
That works unless the Honda Std bench seats were needed because you sat farther back on the seat due to height, leg length...then the fitted seat becomes very very uncomfortable.

It could be the leads Don. The leads on my first K1 (OEM leads) used to arc against the frame and the cam cover, especially when it rained. I was riding home one night in the rain and got off the bike in the dark with the engine still running, and it was like a blue light disco under the tank! Cheers, Terry.

[754]

Apparently I can still do the 16 hour day, at least one day if it.
 Was getting worried, others said , that was then , but try doing it now,,
 I was determined to get to Dolores or bust..

[Don R]

 Yup the seat kept me too far forward and there was a lump under the middle front. I should have known better since I had a bad seat deal on the last trip. When I pushed back against the saddle seat and squeezed the "tank" with my knees, that was a good rest from the seat cramps.
 

[Don R]

 What's the opinion on coils? gl1500 stock with new wires or Dyna 3 ohm?  I'm doing the dyna ignition also. The miss came back with a vengeance so I'm using the shotgun approach, new ignition and pro cleaned carbs.

[Terry in Australia]

Get the Dyna coils Don, later Goldwings do tons of miles and their coils get baked, my GL1200's coils were both swollen and cracked from overheating when I finally realised they were the source of all my problems, so start with new coils to go with a new ignition, and that way if the miss persists, you know it's not an ignition issue. Cheers, Terry.  

[Don R]

 Thanks Terry, It used a little oil going to Sturgis, 1/2 qt. going and a little less after getting home, hardly surprising for an old bike with 57,000 and then sat for 20 years. It's my dedicated keeper now so, whatever it takes.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah Don, they are a cool old bike, for sure. The Dyna ignition is a great setup, nice fat blue spark and no adjustments once installed, ever. I bought a used Dyna III from Kyle (Chewbacca here) and am looking forward to installing it on my K2 bitsa, I bought one from a member here, Mike Beltrami, 12 or 13 years ago, and installed it on my first F2, and the difference was like night and day. Cheers, Terry.

[Don R]

 I have a Pamco on my K0 836 bike but I've had so many 750's it's been sorely neglected and haven't really used it since robbing it off a bike I sold. 

[Terry in Australia]

Do you like the Pamco Don? I've got a new one in a box that came with a bike I bought and then sold again, I think I'll put it on my K0. Cheers, Terry.

[dusterdude]

Do you like the Pamco Don? I've got a new one in a box that came with a bike I bought and then sold again, I think I'll put it on my K0. Cheers, Terry.

I like mine

Sent from my R1 HD using Tapatalk

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Mark, and good to see that you're still kicking! I would have installed it on my K2 bitsa, but when I saw Chewy selling that Dyna III it reminded me of the ignition I bought from Mike all those years ago, and so I had to have it! I've got a new Dyna 2000i for my Sporty, I must install that one day too! Cheers, Terry.

[Don R]

 The bike the Pamco came on would kick start when the battery would barely light the headlight, it ran after sitting years but it had airplane gas in it. it also started OK on points.
  I think on the K0 the pamco is on now, one of the 4 cable carbs has a hanging float, and in all honesty I've been working on too many other bikes to get to it. I'm thinning the herd now and hope to get back on it's restoration soon. 

[Terry in Australia]

No worries Don, if you see a spare set of K0 carbs, let me know? I'm thinking about putting a set on my K2, rather than the twin Mikuni carb set up I was gonna use.

[RAFster122s]

New ignition come in yet?  Had time to install it?  What do you plan to do about the awful seat?  Conside getting one of those adjustable back rests that can extend forward and be adjustable in between, it can help give some support and comfort for longrides when solo.  The Silverwing had a solo setup with storage box that could be put where rear seat would be, it could swap out for rear pillion seat. Many owners built extension rails to take that box behind the passenger pillion to always have the rear seat in place.  I wanna say there was a larger storage box available as well, but I do know if I am remembering wrong or just confusing it.

The GL650 motor is what the CXs and GLs should have sold with from the start...the bike might have survived in the market longer in the US.  By the time the 650 arrived the reputation was ruined/tarnished...making the CX650 a one year only chopper design that was truely horrible from a riding point of view. The GL650 being a one year only model.  Unfortunately we never saw the redesigned  CX500(EC) Sport which was a better bike and even more reliable and had the boomerang Comstars in silver like the CX500/650 Turbo models.  I hate the Reverse Comstars, they are horrid looking in my opinion. The CX650 Sport was a one year bike and a CX650ED model designation.   A few of the CX500 Sports and CX 650 Sports have been imported into the US.
The 650 motor is actually a 674cc motor, while the 500 is a 497cc motor and they are both quad valve pushrod motors because of a centralized single camshaft and the 22 degree twist of the 80 degree Vtwin design to tuck the carbs in tighter for a narrower profile, the transmission and cam being centrally located and stacked to make the motor shorter, resulting in it being very tall for its day...
The power output of the 500 being very similar to the CB550, but their torque curve and gearing making them perform very differently...  cx500 motor is 10:1 compression and 9500 rpm redline and likes its tits reved off like the cb500/550.

The Goldwing being similar in transmission location and its counter direction of rotation cancelling any torque effects of revs of the motor.

In your thinning the herd, what are you planning on selling?  Selling here and CL?

David