Stuart’s GoldWing Blog

Graham and his Custom GL1100

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This Custom GoldWing is unique as well as exceptional in terms of finish and presentation because its owner, Graham Whittaker, designed and constructed it himself to create a radically modified bike; it’s fundamentally still a GL1100 but this is no ordinary GL1100.

As one of the professionals we used as judges at last year’s GoldWing Light Parade said, you can recognise some of the parts as coming from other GoldWing models and some which clearly don’t, but you can’t see the joins. The parts have been assimilated into an impressive whole and the bike looks like it was factory designed and built.  And indeed it was professionally designed and constructed; Graham is after all a very talented and experienced motorcycle mechanic and his knowledge of GoldWings, especially Classic GoldWings, is unmatched.

The actual building of the bike took less than a year but as Graham says, the thinking about how it could be done took more like four.  Its creation and its relatively rapid construction was provoked by his wife’s enthusiasm at a winter social gathering for a European Tour they were invited to join.  Graham’s objections that he didn’t have a suitable bike were swept aside: “You’ve got all this bits in the garage, continues………

Not as chaotic as it looks!

The four basic accessory circuits which were described in Part 4 of this Series can be adapted to cover most requirements on a GoldWing, so there is little need for more examples of what would be relatively minor variations on these themes.   So this further Article is about integrating accessory circuits when the opportunity arises, to avoid unnecessary duplication when several circuits are being installed.  Likewise to minimise clutter.

It’s also a collection of examples of how I or other people have tackled particular jobs, to illustrate the things that need to be taken into account and that sometimes there is more than one perfectly valid way of going about things.

Lots of accessory circuits inevitably means lots of cables and connections, so that prime locations like under the seat and under the glove boxes can get very busy and crowded.  The first photo shows the numerous continues………

GL1800 Fuseboard with an in-line fused connection on the positive Accessory Terminal

In Part 1 of this Series the concept of an accessory electrical circuit was introduced; the idea that electricity flows around a circle from the positive terminal of the battery to the negative one, passing through an accessory or lighting to provide the energy for it to work.

In this Article we develop the idea further, to help you develop a practical grasp of how accessory circuits are created and connected.  We’ll use some examples of individual accessory circuits which are adaptable to various uses and, in the next Article, how they can be combined to form an integrated approach to a safe and reliable accessory wiring system on your GoldWing.

The circuits described in this Article are the building bricks you will need in order to create more and more complex circuits, which will be covered in the next Article in this Series.

Even a simple circuit needs to work reliably and to be safe and that’s essentially what this Article is all about: choosing the correct size of cable, the correct fuse or fuses and where to put them and deciding whether or not you need to use a relay to handle the power involved, as well as a manual operating switch.

In order to work effectively and safely an Accessory Circuit needs:

1. Cable which is thick enough to carry the intended load without overheating.
2. A fuse which is small enough to blow before the cable overheats.
3. An operating switch which can cope reliably with the electrical current it is stopping and starting.
4. And if the operating switch is not big enough to handle the full circuit load itself, you will need to incorporate a relay. continues………

Connectors and terminals - there's plenty of choice

Good electrical connections are an extremely important factor in the reliability and durability of accessory installations on motorcycles – and therefore connections are a common source of faults on GoldWings which have had them installed. The accessories or display lighting units themselves can of course be a source of unreliability too, but poor connections account for lots of failures.

The plugs and sockets which come with ready-to-use kits will usually, but not always, provide reliable connections but otherwise the installer has to make up the connections.  This Part of the Series tells you how best to do this.

Connections on a motorcycle are often exposed to fairly harsh environmental conditions and at the very least they are likely to get damp if not completely wet.  Motorcycle connections are also, even on a GoldWing, subject to vibration.

A wide variety of cable connectors and terminators are sold commercially, so there’s no shortage of choice.  Each different type of connector has special advantages of one sort or another, which is why there are so many different types sold.

Some are specially designed for quick and easy application, maybe even without tools, but they may not be suitable for the motorcycle environment and as a general rule the robustness and durability of continues………

One switch panel bought, one hand made

Some accessories come with their own switch, some don’t.  Even switches which come with a kit may or may not be suitable to adorn a GoldWing, so for most GoldWing accessories and display lighting it will be necessary to choose and install your own switch or switches.

Although GoldWings are big bikes and most of them have large areas of dashboard available, installing switches tidily,  especially if they need to be in a location where they can be used conveniently and safely while riding, is not always straightforward.

Choosing the type and location of switches for your accessories is worth careful thought, especially if you might be installing more accessories requiring switches later.  In other words don’t plonk your first switch in the most obviously easy and/or attractive place on the bike, in case you regret it later.

We are all inclined, when we get a GoldWing which is new to us, whether or not it’s brand new, to give little or no thought to its resale value, even though in practice we are unlikely to keep it for ever.  So we should give at least a little thought to the implications of what we do for our bike’s resale value, especially if continues………

Fog light, Ring of Fire and lots of LEDs

Under the left glove box of many a GoldWing is a a tangle of unsecured electrical cables and dodgy connections. Wingers are better at some things than others and accessory wiring isn’t always one of them. This article provides some guidance on safe and tidy ways to add accessories and display lighting to your GoldWing’s electrics.

Connecting 12 volt accessories or lighting to a GoldWing is not especially dangerous or difficult and it’s well within the capacity of a reasonably practical individual to do it, and to do it without creating a “rats nest” of loose wires and dodgy connections.

It takes more care and trouble to do it properly and it helps if you have learned some of the basic do’s and dont’s of auto-electrical work, but it isn’t rocket science and any reasonably practical individual can make a decent enough job providing he (or she) takes the trouble to learn.

It is however worth mentioning that even though low voltage (only 12 volts) circuits on motorcycles cannot cause hazardous electrical shocks, short circuits and component failures can cause electrical continues………

Ian astride a 2001 GL1800 shod with early Bridgestones

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To put my experiences and views into context, I’ve ridden Goldwings continuously and exclusively since 1998 and I am now on my seventh. The first Wing was a GL1500SE but the rest have all been GL1800s, all US models and all with ABS – as of course do all UK model GL1800s.

I’ve ridden upwards of 160,000miles on a Wing, some of it in straight lines but as much as possible on non-motorway roads.  I enjoy exploiting the excellent handling of a GL1800 and I ride to make progress more often than I dawdle along.  So my tyres are sometimes working hard for their living.

I have used tyres from four different manufacturers including two different designs of tyre from two of them, so continues………

Correct size marking for a GL1800 front tyre. Click on the picture for a larger image

A GL1800 was fitted with Avon Venoms recently because there was a temporary stock shortage of Avon Cobras, which are now the preferred fit for a GL1800.

The owner noticed a significant deterioration in handling compared with his previous tyres, which had been Cobras.  This led to discovery that a cross ply (official terminology “bias belted”) front tyre had inadvertently been fitted while the rear one was a radial.  The tyre suppler replaced both tyres with Cobras as soon as the error was discovered.

Avon Venoms used to be made in both cross ply (for the GL1500) and radial (for the GL1800) versions.  Confusion can arise because although the rear wheels are different sizes, both bikes have the same size front tyre.

Cross ply Venoms are still made for the GL1500 but production of the radial versions stopped when the Avon Cobra was launched for the GL1800.  Any radial Venom continues………

On the right is a 2008 Pearl White US model, with chrome extras, and on the left an absolutely unique colour called "Last Week's Papal Robes"

A white GL1800 is to be sold officially in UK for the first time – but not just yet.

As I forecast in an earlier article on this Blog, included in HondaUK’s stockpile of GL1800s there are colours not previously seen in UK except personally imported US-spec bikes.  It now appears there were two such colours – and at long last this includes white.

White has always been a very popular colour for GoldWings and many have been imported from the US.  With a bit of extra chrome here and there it looks really good.  Indeed so committed was my friend Bill to having a white bike that when he replaced his white GL1500 and couldn’t buy a white one, he bought a blue one, stripped it of all painted parts before it turned a wheel and had them resprayed in pearlescent white.  The colour he chose has a golden sheen to it.  (Don’t tell him I said so but it’s really stunning.)

So at last, and it’s official, HondaUK will be selling a white GL1800.  Officially the new colour will be called continues………

Overnight Stop in France

Why on earth would anyone want to tow a GoldWing on a trailer? Surely the whole point of owning a GoldWing is to ride it?
Quite so – but when you want to ride your Wing on the biking roads you can only find in places which are far from home, like the Alps, and you also value sleeping in your own bed every night, towing the Wing behind a motorhome to make the transit journey to a decent biking area becomes an attractive option. continues………