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 one I arranged and it was a weekend away to Sunderland – just four people on two GoldWings, one illusion red and the other one a nice subtle shade of bright yellow. The hotel was the then Swallow Hotel at Seaburn and we had ride out up the coast to Newcastle for a bit of culture.

This founding foursome grew fairly quickly and, with the aid of the internet and a website which Derek developed for us, into a new type of GoldWing Club, which we decided to call Elite-Wings. There was nothing pretentious in choosing the “elite” for the name, it was just a nice name, but there were some people who took it that way.  The fuss they made probably helped to spread the word that there was a new GoldWing Club on the scene.  We got lots of interest.

Coffee Stop in South East Austria

Elite-Wings has never tried to do much more than arrange motorcycle tours (and the occasional social get together) based on a comfortable standard of accommodation.  It’s just a group of keen motorcyclists who like riding a Honda GoldWing.  We all tend to think that the GoldWing is the finest touring motorcycle available, so naturally we enjoy helping and encouraging other GoldWing riders to use their machines adventurously too.  So we are welcoming to newcomers who want to try what we like doing, but we have never set out to be a big Club. We don’t try to be all things to all Wingers.

Since 2001 Elite-Wings group has nevertheless grown to nearly 100 bikes, most of which will have done at least one tour but a typical tour will be for just a dozen bikes or so.  We don’t do massed rides!  Many of our Members are also actively involved in other biking clubs too, including other GoldWing clubs – and jolly good luck to them, we don’t seek to cramp anyone’s style or tell anyone what they can or cannot do.

The Mountain on the left is called Roy

We’ve had tours to lots of places over the years: Lands End and then John O’Groats on successive Bank Holiday weekends, three one-week Scottish tours based near Edinburgh and at Fort William, where it rained every day but was still enjoyable, and Creiff, which was lovely.  There have been three weekend tours around Yorkshire and lots of other weekends away to Llandudno, Bath, Peterborough, Whitby, the Lake District, Ilfracombe, Brighton, Thanet, Coventry, Forest of Dean, Durham, Rugby and more.

We’ve even been to Margate and we once stayed in a hotel which was a dead-ringer for Faulty Towers; they’ve all been enjoyable in one way or another, not least for the friendly company.

We’ve had a seven day tour to France and a long list of two-week European tours – to Sorrento, Cadiz, Verona, Prague, Monte Carlo, Oporto, Germany’s Black Forest.  And we’ve had a group going to Daytona Bike Week in Florida for each of the past seven years.

Touring in Aragon, Spain, in the Sierra de Albarracin, between Cuenca and Zaragoza

Some of us live close enough to share ride outs for the day as well as tours, but long distance touring is what the Club is really about.  From the early days some of us also got into advanced motorcycling and this encouraged others to get interested in developing better riding skills too, because they could see the benefits.

But the Club isn’t elite in that sense, or in any sense come to that. I can’t think of any of us who aspire to being acceptable in refined society except possibly Lord Purchon and Lady Meg, as we call them when we’re checking into hotels, much to his quiet enjoyment and Meg’s conspicuous discomfort.  There’s no flashing of individual wealth either, not least because there are quite a few Yorkshiremen among us, one of whom makes an art form of ostentatiously spending as little as possible.  And he’s not a  real Lord either.

Most of us ride GL1800s but it doesn’t matter which model you ride so long as it’s a Honda GoldWing.  We don’t pretend to cater for trailers. trikes or sidecar outfits because our motorcycle tours are suited to solo GoldWings only.  On a typical tour, whether UK or continental, we will ride 150-250 miles per day seeking out scenic routes or good riding roads rather than using motorways. We will usually ride for two or three days making one night stops then stop somewhere interesting for two nights and take a rest day. If there is a challenging riding section on our touring route, as some of us enjoy tackling from time to time, there will always be a less challenging alternative way of getting there; it’s never about forcing either the pace or the riding challenges, it’s always about enjoyable riding.

Quicker and easier than swimming - Eurotunnel

We don’t have a committee or a chairperson etc, basically we just do what my wife tells us.  We’re simply a group of fairly keen motorcyclists who like to ride our bikes, visit nice interesting places and prefer to stay in decent hotels.  We all pay an equal amount each year to maintain our website, currently £10 per year.  And we all respect one another’s views, privacy and feelings.  We’re all willing to help others when we can and we’ve all made some good friends through our Club.

The Club is now made up of riders from all over the UK and even one or two from further afield. We keep in touch with one another via our website forum and by e-mail. Our aim is to encourage all Members to arrange or help with arranging tours or social gatherings and other events. Everything is organised by Members for Members.  And our events include everything from one day ride outs, weekends away, long weekends, short trips abroad, tours into Europe and even trips by plane to such things as the Daytona Bike Week in Florida or the USA Wing Ding.

The Falkirk Wheel

We also like to encourage riders to achieve and maintain a good riding standard but that is done by example and by providing opportunity rather than by criticising a newcomer’s riding.  Lots of us have passed their Advanced Motorcycle Test and/or done the RoSPA Advanced Riders training course.  It’s left up to the individual to express an interest in advanced riding, and if that happens then help and guidance is available on request. This approach gradually spreads an interest in taking riding skills seriously and the Club does enjoy a high overall standard of riding ability.  We even have Members who are IAM Examiners or Observers too.

Our website has been the Club’s main communication system from the outset and we have never seen the need for newsletters and the like.  It has been revamped recently to encourage Members to use it more and it now provides a Member’s discussion forum as well as a calendar of events.  But Elite-Wings is still a relatively small Club and likely to stay that way.

Any member can post an event (day ride, weekend away, foreign tour etc) and they can enter the dates of the event on to the calendar as well as write a brief explanation of what they have in mind and how to book.  We usually work on the basis that the volunteer organiser plans the tour routes and decides where to stay, then provides the information so that other Members can make their own hotel reservations if they want to come.  Sometimes it’s a bit more spoon-fed than that but the organiser is a friend who is helping, not a professional service-provider.

Photo opportunity in the Black Forest, Germany

Because we have been an internet-based Club from the outset we have also got pretty good at sharing Garmin GPS routes over the internet and putting together and sharing the information (for example checklists of what to do before you go and what to take with you) which is helpful to join in with a tour.  This means that newcomers get well looked after and they also discover by example how to plan and organize a tour, so that when they feel like doing one, they will not be starting from scratch.

It all very easy-going.  There’s no pressure to attend any of the events.  Members are free to do as much or as little as they wish.  It’s all based on having fun on the bikes with friends who like doing the same things.

If you think you might fancy joining us on a tour please take a look around our website and it will tell you what you need to know and how to make contact.

Best wishes to all Wingers from Elite-Wings