The 1986 GL1200 Aspencade SEi

One of the entertainments available in our household is that her indoors, or Management, as she seems to like being called, names each new vehicle we acquire – and motorcycles are no exception.

Our first GoldWing she named Gordon, after Flash Gordon, so he was male, but the gender score was evened up by calling the second one Gloria, and therefore female.  Then along came Ruby, our first GL1800, because she was red, then Ruby Two, a direct replacement a year later, courtesy of HondaUK as a result of the frame weld recall.  Finally, in 2008, we imported a US specification Airbag Model GL1800 in Pearl White, so she’s called Pearly.  So although she also named the Honda C90 we had for a while Kevin, the girls have it by a long way.  Silly really, especially Pearly, but when you’re married you have to roll with this sort of thing.

As it happens however the name Gloria does seem to suit my Aspencade SEi and this is her story, or rather part of it, the story of a bike which I couldn’t bear to part with when the GL1800 came along, so that although she was set aside and stored for a while, is now emerging from hibernation for a new lease of life.

My first GoldWing was a 1984 GL1200 Interstate, i.e. a parallel import, although of course I didn’t know continues………

It’s turning into a good year for the Federation of UK GoldWing Clubs with the announcement today of their third new affiliation of the current season.  ‘Appy Wanderers GoldWing Touring Club have joined them.

‘Appy Wanderers was formed in 2004 to provide new opportunities for GoldWing Owners, especially for GWOCGB Members, to get out riding their bikes more and to tour more extensively, especially on the European continent.  For Wingers who had never taken their bike abroad the guiding and helping hand which ‘Appy Wanderers would now be offering would make all the difference.

The guided tours would also enhance GWOCGB’s conventional calendar, which had consisted almost entirely of camping weekends.  GWOCGB Regions ride their bikes too of course and not just on journeys to campsites, but ‘Appy Wanderers aimed to provide riding opportunities of a wider scope and range.

And the ‘Appy Wanderers formula has proved to be very popular, with some of the rides and tours attracting nearly forty bikes.    ‘Appy Wanders has also been active on Facebook and has a Forum too, so altogether it could be said that Barry (or is it really Dave?) has a band of followers exceeding 500, although thankfully they haven’t yet all turned up for the same ride out.  The active, riding membership is 40+ bikes and occasionally most of them will turn out for a ride together.

‘Appy Wanderers has always been a Club in its own right rather than a GWOCGB Region and this freed it from some constraints about what and when it could organise in the way of riding activities.  In practice, since it offers mostly a different sort of riding activity than GWOCGB and its Regions were continues………

A steam powered Carousel at Llandudno Transport Festival

The Blog was quiet last week, partly because I had poor internet connection while I was away from home but mostly, I’m pleased to say, because I was out riding my bike.

Four couples from my Club, GoldWings North West, were camping at the Llandudno Transport Festival over the Bank Holiday Weekend at the turn of the month and most of us then went on to spend the rest of that week at a campsite near Caernarvon, further along the coast in North Wales.  We were blessed with lovely weather throughout and although we were committed to a static display of the bikes at the Transport Festival, once we got to Caernarvon the shackles were off – and of course the mountains of Snowdonia beconned.

It’s worth mentioning the Llandudno Transport Festival in more detail because it is an unusual – and very enjoyable – event.  Llandudno is blessed with a fairly long promenade at the eastern end of which lie Bodafon Fields, a large open area which owned by the Council and used for various events.

It’s also used for grazing, I suppose as a way of reducing the cost of its upkeep, and so the ground isn’t perfect as a campsite but these fields nevertheless provide an excellent venue for a large event of this continues………

A new business, a new approach

I was able to interview Eric Warburton this morning – well technically it was yesterday morning, since it’s past midnight as I press the button to publish this article.  Eric was the proprietor of Knutsford Honda and is now proprietor of Knutsford Motorcycles, an independent bike and accessory store, operating from the same premises and with broadly the same staff.

Things had seemed to be going well, so why did Eric decide to pull the plug and start again in a new guise?

It was of course very disappointing from the viewpoint of the UK GoldWing Community to lose the only contender within living memory to set out from the beginning to be a Specialist GoldWing Honda Dealer.

Eric, a long time GoldWing man himself, had run a motorcycle businesses successfully in the past and hosted others.  But he’d never before taken a manufacturer’s franchise, always preferring to be free to do his own business thing.  Becoming a franchised dealer meant adopting Honda’s way of doing things.  Would that mean living under Honda’s thumb?

Eric has owned the premises at High Legh on the A50 for many years and motorcycle dealerships, including a franchised dealership had been run from this site before, not least of course Eric’s own continues………

This is off topic for a GoldWing Blog but it’s topical because there is a bit of a price battle going on at the moment, from which consumers may be able to benefit.

I was with TalkTalk for some time but switched back to BT a couple of years ago. They were only a little bit more expensive and I got fed up with poor customer service from TalkTalk at the time, especially when it came to actually getting hold of someone and dealing with faults.

If a line fault was suspected they would test the line from their end and if it was within tolerance (by whatever testing means they use) they would simply say it must be your end – the alternative being for them to pass the problem on to BT (who own the lines) for you to request an engineer visit, in which case if no fault was found there would be a call out charge of £130.

There were so many uncertainties of who was responsible for which bit of things (home equipment, internal house wiring, local telephone line, exchange etc) that I decided that at least if I went with BT continues………

John Wakefield (left) a very helpful man

I was wandering past the Arai stand at Northwich Thundersprint last weekend and noticed that there were two men working busily on bikers’ helmets, indeed there was a bit of a queue of bikers forming.

They seemed to be fitting stick-on inner “double glazing” lenses as visor attachments which prevent fogging and they were obviously making a very thorough job of cleaning and servicing the helmet visors while they were at it.  I’ve since discovered that this product is called Fine Vision and is available for self installation on almost all helmets, ie any manufacturer.

I wear an open face Arai which is very comfortable but the right hand side visor hinge has been popping off from time to time (since I dropped the helmet on to it if the truth be told) and I couldn’t work out why.  Bring it along and we’ll look at it for you, the man said.

This was late morning and the sunshine had arrived, and with it the crowds were building up too, so it was a bit of a bun fight to work my way to the bike and back with the helmet, but I made it and joined the queue.

Watching the Arai Man handle a helmet was a treat to the eye. His practised dexterity was impressive continues………

Excellent rally venue

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES

Sean and Jackie Stanhope of Yorkshire Wings are hoping to raise lots of money for Macmillan Cancer Nurses by hosting a camping rally for Wingers at Driffield Rugby Club in East Yorkshire from Friday June 17th to Sunday 19th to which all are invited.

A donation of only £12 per couple/camping unit will cover the whole weekend and everything they make will go to charity.

There are plans for an (optional) short static display in Driffield followed by a ride to to Bridlington, Flamborough and Hornsea.  There will be a charity raffle followed by some entertainment in the evening.

This is an excellent venue on flat, well drained grass with top class modern clubhouse facilities including really nice showers and toilets.  Motorhomes or tents, it doesn’t matter at all – and dogs and BBQs are welcome too.

This will be a relaxed and friendly occasion to which Sean and Jackie hope as many Wingers as possible will attend.  It’s not a “club rules” event and so any Winger will be most welcome, whether they belong to a club or not.

The venue address is Driffield RUFC, Kelleythorpe, Driffield, East Yorkshire, YO25 9DW and you can arrive there anytime after noon on Friday 17th.  There’s no need to pre-book.

For further information contact Sean or Jackie directly on 01377 250669 or 07772 436231 or 07786 993151 or by email to:

jsmdevelopments2009©live•co•uk  (jsmdevelopments2009©live•co•uk)  

'Appy Wanderers, wandering happily

The ever-resourceful Barry Walton has named the next ‘Appy Wanderers Ride Out, which is scheduled for next Sunday. May 15th, the “Captain Cook Ride Out”.   Historical associations and Barry never really struck me as likely to travel hand in hand so maybe his old school History of Yorkshire book fell out of the loft at the right page.  Anyway, it looks like a nice route and it should be a nice ride.

Barry has a ride of about 160 miles with some appetising refreshment stops – including of course Whitby, where they are seriously into Captain Cook and are also rumoured to sell quite decent fish & chips.

Sadly Barry has to work at the day job this coming weekend so leading this ride will be Geoff and Chris Smith.  They’ll be at Skipton, on the cobbles in the square (can’t miss it) until 09.30hrs before setting off promptly for Thirsk.  There Dave, big Derek and the girls will meet everyone in the square on yet more cobbles.

The assembled group will leave Thirsk at approximately 10.30am, to ride through the magnificent North Yorshire Moors, entering at Sutton Bank to ride to Great Ayton, where the famous Captain Cook went to school – hence the historical associations.   Doubtless they teach the kids more modern history there these days, perhaps including tales of derring do featuring the increasingly famous 21st Century Yorkshire explorer of distant European roads, Barry Walton.

From Great Ayton the planned route then heads for Saltburn by-the -Sea and along the coast road to Whitby, from where the famous Captain set forth on his maritime adventures and fish & chips may be consumed.  Then inland over the moors again towards York and disperse on arrival at Squires Cafe, the well famous biker’s meeting place just north east of Leeds.

Barry has been pleased with the turnouts for Wanderers ride outs this year but there is room for more so all Wingers are welcome.   ‘Appy Wanderers is a sort of club but not a club, so friendly banter and riding great roads with like minded people is what it’s all about – so strictly no club politics.

So all Wingers are welcome, no need to pre-book although Barry would appreciate a telephone call if you will be a newcomer.   Barry’s number is 01535 606311

Eventually he was grabbing them in fours

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR AN ENLARGEMENT

So I said to Frank,  “If we wear Hi Viz vests and I carry my big camera, the dolly birds will think we the official photography team.”  He had his doubts but they were soon dispelled.  It seems that the dolly birds who are hired to promote things at biking events are very willing, even keen to be photographed – and they also have a repertoire of off-the-shelf fetching poses into which they can be persuaded to disport themselves on demand.

Of course our success might have been entirely down to Frank’s personal appeal and even if it wasn’t he must have begun to get ideas of personal celebrity potential because he can’t have had as many young women draping themselves all over him for over thirty years.  All I had to do was explain that my friend was very shy and wouldn’t ask for himself, but he would really like to have his picture taken with them and it worked, at least with the professional girls, if I’m allowed to call them such without risk of misunderstanding, every time.

The professionals, i.e. the promotional dolly birds, who seemed to be a particularly abundant supply at this year’s Northwich Thundersprint, are I suppose there for that very purpose.  Posing with ageing continues………

Steve Martindale, General Manager (Motorcycles) HondaUK

Sometime this month I will be interviewing Steve Martindale, who is General Manager (Motorcycles) HondaUK, as the basis of an article for this Blog.

Steve started his working life as a Technician Apprentice in Bolton and he still like restoring old bikes as a hobby but he’s been in management since his early 20s and has been with Honda for many years, in  a variety of increasingly senior jobs.  He’s been in his present job since 2007 and he is also a Director of the Motorcycle Industry Association, so he’s quite a big wheel within the motorcycle industry as well as HondaUK.  And he rides a GoldWing as his Company Bike.

As far as I’m aware this is the first interview which Steve or any other other senior HondaUK Manager will have given specifically for the benefit of the UK GoldWing community, so it’s quite an opportunity.

To make the best of it I need your help.

There are quite a few questions I can think of myself but this is an opportunity for the UK GoldWing community as a whole to put their concerns (and suggestions) to a really top man in HondaUK, so it’s important that we all contribute.  I can’t guarantee to use absolutely every question I receive of course but I will try to ask a representative selection.

There are no restrictions on what you can ask, although I don’t imagine for one minute that Steve will be free to reveal absolutely all, so asking for precise details of the design ideas for the next GoldWing will be unrealistic.  But HondaUK appreciates that communications with GoldWing owners in the UK need improving so Steve may be willing to be much more open about some things than we’ve been used to from HondaUK in the past and it’s certainly a very hopeful sign that he has agreed to be interviewed.

Please don’t assume that someone else will suggest the question which comes to your mind – tell me your question for Steve, so it doesn’t get missed!

You may send me as many questions for Steve as you like but please send them separately – i.e. use the Contact Page once for your first question, again for your second question and so on.

You are welcome to Comment on this article as on any article on the Blog, but for practical I need your questions for Steve to be sent to me using the Contact page.