Topic: GL1000s

[754]

Touring bikes werent around till the 80's     


yeah and motorcycles were invented in the 50,s.










.... NOT!!!     

[cb750k7]

 

[medic09]

Now THAT'S what I call touring!   

[Terry in Australia]

While the comparisons to BMW are correct, touring bikes weren't around until the 80s.  You could certainly make a tourer with aftermarket luggage and fairings.  Honda didn't offer this until the GL1100.  We have Craig Vetter to thank for what we refer to as "couches on 2 wheels".  And the aftermarket also had something to do with the muscle stuff.  You could get superchargers and rear ends with different gear ratios.  The timing belts on the front of the engine made the supercharger easy to design.  Another trick was a manifold to use a 2 or 4 barrel automotive carb.

Well I think you missed my point mate, "Musclebike" was a term coined for big engined jap bikes with some sporting pretensions, like the Kawasaki Z1, or Suzuki's GS1000, or even Yamaha's XS1100 "Elephant", as all these bikes were raced by factory teams, with some success. The Goldwing was never raced by Honda, as this was never Honda's intent. 

Sure, you can strap a blower on to a Cadillac, but that doesn't make it an IROC Camaro, nor will jazzing up a 'Wing make it any more than just a jazzed up Wing. While the GL1000 was a milestone in Japanese motorcycle design, it certainly had no place in the hallowed halls of motorcycledom's most exclusive 1970's club, the "Musclebike". Cheers, Terry.

[333]

Maybe things are different in OZ than her in the States.  The Kaw did well all around, the Suz I only seem to remember in endurance racing.  The Yam was too heavy for anything.  There's a reason you referred to it as "The Elephant".  There was a BMW back then that they called Elephant or Elephante.  It was an Baja type that pre-dated the Paris to Dakar bike that had a 10 or 12 gallon gas tank And when I think of muscle, the only racing there can be is drag racing.  And there has never been a (Japanese)factory drag racing effort.  That's how Harley can get away with saying things like fastest and winningest (is that a word?) when it comes to factory drag racing teams. 

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, I guess so mate, drag racing is popular enough here, but not considered "real" motorcycle racing, for that you need to go around corners, something that Goldwings aren't all that good at. Cheers, Terry.

[ChopperCharles]

In the US, "Musclebike" is a term reserved for bikes that can go fast in a straight line. Big motors, nice and heavy, lots of balls, but few refinements. Like old mopars, they have the engines but not the handling. Think V-Max, V65 Magna, and yes, the GL1000. 70 rear wheel horsepower (83 claimed crank horsepower) was nothing to scoff at in 1975.

Hell, the GS1000 and XS1100 didn't even come out until 1978. The only thing to compete with the GL1000 (horsepower-wise) in 1975 was Kawasaki's Z1.

Charles.

[DarkRider]

Wouldnt the V65 Sabre be considered a muscle bike as well? I have always been confused on that bikes definition its neither a sport bike or a cruiser...just seemed to be a middle ground between the Interceptor and the Magna. The GS1100G has the same confusing definition..

[fuzzybutt]

How about a GL 1100 chopper?
   For what it is, its pretty cool.
 It has a steel gas tank.
DG

i want it, badly

[Roach Carver]

you say muscle bike, I say tomato....... or was that potato.

[Terry in Australia]

The problem here is that the term "Musclebikes" wasn't coined until the late 1970's when all the Jap manufacturers had a 1000CC plus "Sportsbike". (By then, Honda had the CBX as it's big sportsbike)

Up until then, the the CB750 and Z1 900 were referred to as "Superbikes", but when the big 1000CC (+) Honda, Suzy and Yam's were introduced, magazines around the world started referring to big jap bikes as "The latest crop of Musclebikes", etc. The 'Wing was always referred to as a "Tourer".

As far as the GL1000's straight line speed goes, well, I had one and it was plenty fast, but very heavy, and the Z1 and even the Suzuki GT750 (also referred to in the January 1972 edition of "Motor Cyclist" as a "Tourer") could kick it's butt in a straight line drag. As I said, great touring bike, but at almost 650 pounds, it had no sporting pretensions, and it'd be a stretch of the imagination to accept it as a "musclebike" in the same company as the Z1 etc.

As it was summed up in the May, 1975 edition of "Motor Cyclist" magazine, "We see the 'Wing as a far-out extension of Honda, the massive, sophisticated Grand Tourer of the late Twentieth Century". Prophetic words, indeed. Cheers, Terry.