Stuart’s GoldWing Blog

Last week, from July 20th to 26th,  2,786 unique visits were made to this Blog.  This reflects the steady increase in readership ever since its launch last November.

It’s already got a very much bigger ‘circulation’ than any other UK GoldWing  publication.  For example Wingspan, GWOCGB’s  magazine, might still be in second place but it’s only distributed monthly and its circulation has now fallen below 1,000 copies.  And of course it has a month’s lead time for copy whereas this Blog can respond quickly – the Tram Sunday article and pictures were published the very next day.

The Blackpool Light Parade website gets similar numbers of hits too and that’s currently being updated almost daily, so it’s well worth a regular visit too.  There are some very promising irons continues………

I kept the filter to show you....

I kept the old filter to show you, said the mechanic, when Nigel had his bike serviced recently.

It was quite a while ago when he saw some evidence of a mouse having been  in his garage and there had been no evidence of any harm coming to his bike or of it moving in long term.  The bike had also been running perfectly satisfactorily so far this year, with no hint of power loss or increased fuel consumption.

Yet when the mechanic took the lid of the air filter housing this is what he discovered.  Mice had clearly been in residence there, tucked away cosily during the winter.  The GL1800 has dual forward-facing air inlets to the air filter housing and these are of course plenty big enough to admit a mouse or indeed something much larger and easily accessible to an agile climber.  There are no grills or other barriers until you get to the air filter itself, which fortunately blocks access to the inlet manifold completely.

Mice have squashable skulls and they like squeezing into tiny dark holes; if a hole is big enough to poke a pencil into, a mouse can get in there too.  Presumably they close their eyes and use their whiskers.  I’m too claustrophobic to be reincarnated as a mouse; I’d quite like to be an albatros next time around, although I suppose if I’m honest my natural physical predisposition would lean towards being an elephant.  Indian rather than African hopefully; I am getting much more docile with advancing years and I haven’t had a proper Musth for many a year.  Anyway, from a mouse’s perspective continues………

2009 Model GL1800

In the Article I wrote a few weeks ago, Buying a GoldWing Part 2 – Overview of the UK  GoldWing Market, I suggested that the UK market for big bikes was depressed because of the economic downturn and that dealers were existing on sales of commuter bikes.

There has been a big change in recent weeks. I  heard from the Trade recently that the market for bigger and more expensive used bikes is surprisingly buoyant, to the extent that prices of used bikes of  many types are likely to rise in UK, even those of bigger bikes.  This is not because UK riders are suddenly opening continues………

It's all about freedom of choice

This Blog has become extremely popular – far more than I expected when it was launched a couple of months ago; its viewing figures have risen very quickly. It’s been getting over 1,500 unique visits per week, so it’s being fairly widely read in the UK GoldWing Community already.

So thank everyone for your interest; you are helping to create a new and useful type of Newsletter for the UK GoldWing Community.  Please keep viewing regularly and keep your contributions and comments coming too. This Blog is for everyone.

Strange then that someone would not want to make use of it, or at least not to continues………

A 2008 model Pearl White GL1800 in standard trim, as sold by the manufacturer - this particular colour is available only by importing from North America

The simplest and easiest way to buy a GoldWing is to visit one of the specialist GoldWing dealers in the UK, where you will be able to view a selection of new and used GoldWings.  You will get advice and assistance from people who know a great deal about them and you will probably also be given an opportunity to ride before you buy.  But they only sell late model GoldWings and you will probably pay a premium price, reflecting the costs of the service they are providing for you.

You can of course buy a new GoldWing simply by ordering one from any Honda Dealer in UK, but although all Honda Dealers are supposed to stock the full model range, GoldWings are expensive to stock and slow to move, so only a minority of the non-specialist Honda Dealers will ordinarily stock them.  They are unlikely to have a demonstrator for you continues………

Ian and Denise Cardwell, Founders of Elite-Wings (by the way they didn't ride their bike to the top of this!)

Elite-Wings was formed back in 2001 with just two couples, myself and wife Denise and another couple, Derek and Christine.  After buying a GoldWing in 1998 we had all joined an existing GoldWing club but we were disappointed with what was on offer.  We didn’t want to do tents & camping, which was basically all the existing club seemed to do; we wanted nice long touring rides to new places and a decent standard of overnight accommodation en route.

It became clear that nothing like this was on the agenda of the existing Club or ever likely to be, so we decided to do our own thing.

The very first Elite-Wings event in 2001 was continues………

Thirsty Bob

I am very pleased to announce, as its Provisional Chairman, the formation of a new independent GoldWing Club:

GOLDWINGS NORTH WEST

A strong contingent of former members of Lancs & Lakes will be founder members of this new Club – we are the doers and organisers, indeed all the organisers of the spectacularly successful 2008 Blackpool Light Parade are involved.

We want to create something new and different as a GoldWing Club, something which will appeal to the wider GoldWing community in the North West of England, not just those who were members of Lancs & Lakes last year.  We are not just a breakaway group continues………

I am heartened by the response to this Blog and grateful for the comments which are being made, favourable or otherwise, which I would therefore like to encourage. 

This is a Blog not a forum, but comments, especially innovative ideas, are welcomed and will be usually be accepted without alteration (except editing for typos, spelling  etc) unless they are either offensive in nature or irrelevant to the Article.  Elements of a Comment may therefore be edited out if the Comment is otherwise acceptable, rather than lose the whole thing.  If you would like your comment removed please contact me using the email link at the foot of the page.