Management holding Swing Arm, confident that it will go into the suitcase

Swinging arms for Gl1500s are apparently hard to come by in UK these days, so when Ian Duxbury’s Green 1997 failed its MOT because the swinging arm was badly corroded, he was in something of a pickle.

Only the occasional GL1500 is being converted to a trike in UK these days and this was the principal source of used replacement parts.  A new replacement swing arm from Honda costs around £800 which is almost staggeringly expensive, even by Honda standards.  The prospects for Ian of getting his bike back on the road in any reasonable timescale was not looking at all good.

But a chance mention of Ian’s difficulty during a phone call yesterday evening back to UK from Florida, where I am currently on a short holiday, started off something of an impromptu international rescue mission.  A brand new replacement swing arm will be flying back to UK with us this evening and with luck Ian’s bike will be back on the road by the weekend.

Our host in Florida, Randy Rodriguez, is both Captain of the Central Florida Motorcycle Drill Team and a resourceful man.  On the basis of a casual mention on my part of Ian’s difficulties along the lines of “I don’t suppose that …” and he was on the trail.   Smitty, another Drill Team Member who also came over for the 2008 Blackpool Light Parade was the first man Randy called because he works as an Insurance Loss Adjuster and would therefore probably at least know where to start looking for used parts.

Swing arms don’t corrode in the Florida climate the way they do in UK so there was a fair chance that someone, somewhere would have one from an accident-damaged bike.  The question was could we locate one in the short time available – I was due to fly back to UK within 24 hours and this was the evening of Easter Monday, a public holiday in UK and, as I expected, a time when Floridians would also be in vacation weekend mode.  Not true; Americans celebrate Easter Sunday as a special religious day but Good Friday and Easter Monday are ordinary working days.

Smitty suggested ringing around the trike builders rather than the bike breakers to start with, since there are plenty of those in Florida and and they might just have a whole pile of used swing arms sitting in a corner waiting to be scrapped.  It was too late to start calling them that evening but an internet search soon yielded a list of telephone numbers and as the working day started this morning, Randy was on the phone.

There were a few abortive calls, for example to a nice lady who explained that her husband, who used to build trikes, had passed a way so the business was closed down.  Another call was answered by a gruff gentleman who said simply that “We don’t have no Honda parts” and put the phone down.  Oh dear, he was clearly a Harley trike builder.

Eventually however Randy located a trike builder an hour or so’s drive from his home in Port St John on the Space Coast.  There was a trike builder in deepest rural Florida continues………

Knutsford Honda - a magnet for Wingers in the North West

In a surprising development, Knutsford Honda have announced that they are in process of reliquishing their Honda franchise and will in future be operating under the name of Knutsford Motorcycles.

Thankfully however they will be continuing to specialise in GoldWings and GoldWing Accessories, so this valuable and relatively recent addition to UK’s limited selection of GoldWing specialist dealers is not being lost.

Quite what has led to this decision is not clear but it may stem from the way in which HondaUK operates. There have been indications of concern about the quality of support which HondaUK offers to its Motorcycle Dealers and this may have something to do with this decision. Time will tell.

Biggest UK stocks of GoldWing accessories

Certainly it should be a concern to HondaUK that they have lost the Dealer who last year sold more new GoldWings than any other.

Modern, attractive Showroom

Knutsford Honda have a very smart, modern and well located showroom with excellent workshop facilities and from a rider’s viewpoint they will be a sad loss to Honda’s very limited list of UK dealers.  There is of course a precedent for a GoldWing specialist Honda Dealer continuing without a Honda Franchise because Appleyards have been doing it successfully for some time.  But UK GoldWing owners will perhaps be wanting to see clearer evidence that the manufacturer is genuinely interested in supporting the GoldWing model in UK than has been apparent in recent years too.

I hope to learn more of Eric’s plans for Knutsford Motorcycles (including why he’s not planning to resurrect the name of GoldWing International) as soon as practicable.  Maybe I’ll be able to find out a little more about HondaUK’s plans for GoldWing dealerships, now that they’ve lost a second one to their fold, and so soon after it opened.

Illustrating the cut and cupping, visible here as a sharper edge on one side of the valleys of the tread pattern. The grey lines are merely scratch marks.

CLICK ON AN IMAGR FOR AN ENLARGED VIEW

I mentioned in a recent article that when my bike had its first MOT Test recently it was discovered that the front tyre had been fitted the wrong way around.  Apart from a bit of cupping on the edge of the tread pattern the tyre didn’t seem to have suffered any obvious damage and when I rode the bike home – the Dealer’s Techie having kindly re-fitted the tyre the right way round – it seems to handle very well, slightly better than it had on the way there.

I did however take the precaution of ringing Graham Matcham, a contact at Coopers Tyres (the manufacturers of Avon Tyres) to take advice – expecting to be advised not to take any risks and to replace it.

By this time there were two deepish curved circumferential cuts in the tyre too, where I had run over some road debris which suddenly appeared from under a car I was shaping up to overtake, probably a chunk of exhaust system because it sounded like a collapsing metal can as I ran over it.

At Graham’s suggestion I sent photos of the tread cuts to Graham and waited somewhat gloomily for his continues………

Appleyards Open Day in the glory days of 2001

If you missed the big discounts on shiny bits at Knutsford Honda’s Chrome Crazy Weekend at the beginning of the month there’s a chance to make some Yorkshiremen happy in Keighley this coming weekend by spending your money at Appleyards Open Day instead.

This has been a popular start-of-season meet-up for Wingers for many years and weather permitting there should be a decent turn out this time as usual, although perhaps not quite as many as in the past.

There will be the usual very nice packed lunches, specially prepared by local maidens – well maybe not strictly maidens but very nice local ladies nonetheless and there is a choice of sandwich.  Even better these lunches are free – well, almost free, this is Yorkshire, so you are expected to make a small donation to charity.  Nonetheless Appleyards are generous in laying on this hospitality each year and it always goes down well.  Wingers have been known to eat more than one, or take an extra one home for Tea!

And if the prices of the new stuff upstairs aren’t cheap enough for you there will be the usual auto-jumble of used accessories and left over bits somewhere downstairs to rummage through for a real bargain.  continues………

Billet valve on a GL1500 wheel

Some of you GL 1500 owners out there may be  aware that the design of the tyre valves on the GL1500 was not one of Honda’s better engineering achievements.   You could even say that they recognised a weakness themselves by providing a separate supporting clip, was to be used in conjunction with the rubber valve itself.

The main problem with the design was that a significant unsupported portion of metal was located at the point on the wheel exactly where it would be subjected to the greatest rotational forces. Although a supporting clip was provided as part of the overall design, it was not uncommon to find that these could work their way loose and disappear, leaving the valve to do its own flexible thing.

Couple this with the natural tendency of rubber to perish after a while, and you had the potential for a very effective time bomb. After a while, the rubber seal at the base of the valve would have had enough of all this extra work and would give up the ghost. Not something that you’d want to happen whilst riding the M6 at 70mph with your significant other on the back.  This risk was brought home to me forcibly this week.  I’d been using my Wing to commute to work, my car being off the road for a while and I’d diligently checked water, oil, tyres, etc, weekly.  All seemed well. continues………

Dressing up is optional but all part of the fun

This is a well established and large scale Egg Run which provides an opportunity for lots of Wingers to meet up and also to encounter lots of other bikers in friendly circumstances.

The Wirral Egg Run is a major annual event (and a Registered Charity) which raises money for local children, children’s charities and donates Easter eggs to hospitalised children.  Traditionally it takes place on the Sunday immediately preceding Easter.

It started off 30 years ago with the idea of donating an Easter Egg to the Hospital for the benefit of hospitalised children and you are still welcome to bring and donate an egg.

The Hospital does however tend to get overwhelmed by the number of eggs donated (over 3,000 in 2007) so you certainly don’t need to feel obliged to do so.  There are facilities to make a donation to the Registered Charity, which supports children in various ways,  via the Wirral Egg Run website if you wish.

The 2011 Wirral Egg Run will follow the usual pattern, taking place on Sunday April 17th, ending at continues………

It's All about Freedom of Choice!

The Federation of UK GoldWing Clubs continues to grow and has just announced that two further GoldWing organisations have joined.

An established GoldWing Club in Lincolnshire and Norfolk has joined and, in an innovative move, so has the GoldWing Riders Forum.

The Federation is all about serving the needs of the UK GoldWing Community and supporting freedom of choice, so when David Williams, who owns and operates GoldWing Riders Forum, enquired about affiliating there was no hesitation about saying yes – just a bit of head scratching about how to go about setting the affiliation up.

Family-friendly and enjoyable

David’s Forum aims to serve the UK Internet Winger community rather than the world at large and he’s also rather keen on avoiding club rivalries and politics – so his ideas are entirely compatible with what the Federation is about too.  David isn’t trying to take over the Federation or vice versa; his wish to affiliate merely reflects his recognition of the common aim and from the Federation’s viewpoint it’s a new way of supporting any and all parts of the UK GoldWing Community.

Anglia GoldWing & Touring Bike Club, which has also affiliated to the Federation recently, has been established for some while, doing its own thing in Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

Chris McDonough 01406 365668

They are a small local club (currently only 8 bikes) and their interest, although primarily in riding and enjoying GoldWings, is in maintaining friendships, even when a Winger loses the plot for a while and decides to ride another sort of bike.

They used to operate as a sideline interest more or less within Norfolk Wings (a Region of GWOCGB) and indeed one of their Members is still in GWOCGB.  But the inflexibility of GWOCGB’s rules about having to own a GoldWing – and more rules about what is and is not a proper GoldWing, made life uncomfortable for them so they made the decision some time ago to go completely independent.  They came across the Federation as a more welcoming and inclusive approach to bringing UK Wingers together which will allow them to keep their independence, do their own thing and also make new Winger friends too.  It only cost them £10 to affiliate (the standard first year membership charge, no matter how big their Club)  and they’ve already received £40 worth of free Federation Badges – they can’t believe it’s for real!

Chris McDonough who leads their Club (and used to lead Norfolk Wings) would be delighted to talk to anyone in their part of the Country who would be interested in joining them.

Motorhomes with tow bars for hire

I came across a new hire company, Motorhomes UK, which has shown special interest in catering for GoldWing riders.

There’s a growing interest among Wingers in motorhomes as a way of enjoying their motorcycling; they can provide a comfortable base at a rally or for a touring holiday – you make your journey to the rally or your holiday touring area and then enjoy your bike as well as your motorhome comforts when you get there.

Motorhomes have become a popular alternative for Wingers to hotel-based touring as well as sleeping in a tent.  But motorhomes are expensive to buy – indeed it’s often been suggested that buying a motorhome which you use for only annual holidays and a weekends each your is more expensive per night than staying in five star hotels.

The initial cost of a new or newish one is high (most of them cost well over £30,000 when they are new) and as with any vehicle they depreciate – and that’s the big part of the cost.  Other running costs, like insurance, is relatively cheap but depreciation, even though motorhomes don’t depreciate as steeply as other vehicles, is the killer cost. continues………

Eric Warburton and his wife Bridget, proprietors of Knutsford Honda

This is your reminder that it’s Knutsford Honda’s Chrome Crazy Weekend, so the discounts are going to be tempting as Wingers gather for this popular early season Meet.

The weather is supposed to be getting brighter as the day develops, so it’s going to be a pleasant experience meeting up with Winger friends, especially on Saturday afternoon.  If you don’t make that there’s always Sunday, if you can square it with your Mother.

I’ve had one phone call already saying he going later but we’ll see who turns up for our Club rendezvous.  Sooner or later, we’ll be there.

Directions: leave the M6 at Junction 20 and take the A50 towardsKnutsford.  Knutsford Honda appears on left after about 2 miles.