Goldwing cafe?

willy D

willy D

Active Member
At the local cruise in a couple weeks ago there were two early goldwings that had been "cafe-ed" For some reason these seem kind of cool to me. anybody have any experience with the early naked goldwings? I read somewhere that they really weren't all that great to ride. i have seen several on CL lately low priced.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0213.JPG
    IMG_0213.JPG
    181.3 KB · Views: 310
  • IMG_0214.JPG
    IMG_0214.JPG
    178.7 KB · Views: 372
I think it looks really good! There are actually some really nice Wings around. check this one out!
009.jpg

JRK5892 has done some really awsome things with Wings.
 
Not Fun to Ride??? Mine is an F'n Hoot. Now it is a big bike but it hauls ass and will actually corner quite well. The first generation 75-79 came only nak'd from Honda and were designed to be large sport touring bikes. They are great. The H-4 is almost indestructable and sounds like a turbine engine when you giver. Weight is the only downside but I love my GL. It is even comfy enough to ride 800-1000 miles in a day. If I could have 2 I would cafe one out and remove every once of non essential weight and keep the other as a 2-up touring ride. I only have one so far so it is my 2-up long distance ride at the moment.
 
I have always loved the Nudie Wings.

Just a side note, but last week I ran out of gas on the Harley. While sitting on the side of the road waiting for a buddy to bring me a gas can, 15-20 Harleys rode right by me. 2 seperate cats on Goldwings stopped to see if I needed help. Both guys offered me a ride to the nearest gas station.

I like Goldwings and their owners even more now.
 
The harley guys were worried their bikes would catch whatever your bike had and would be stuck too ;D Ha ha. AS for the big fat pig comment. MY First gen GL probably weighs the same as a KZ 1000 and that weight is a foot lower to the ground becasue of the tank and engine design. I bet my bike feels a 100#'s lighter than a KZ, In fact I know it does, I have ridden both. I work with a guy who has a 79 KZ1000. It is much more top heavy than mine. But yes a crotch rocket it ain't, but for a big girl, she handles very well, goes like stink and you can ride her all day and not get too tired.
 
Maritime said:
Not Fun to Ride??? Mine is an F'n Hoot. Now it is a big bike but it hauls ass and will actually corner quite well. The first generation 75-79 came only nak'd from Honda and were designed to be large sport touring bikes. They are great. The H-4 is almost indestructable and sounds like a turbine engine when you giver. Weight is the only downside but I love my GL. It is even comfy enough to ride 800-1000 miles in a day. If I could have 2 I would cafe one out and remove every once of non essential weight and keep the other as a 2-up touring ride. I only have one so far so it is my 2-up long distance ride at the moment.
Click to expand...
Sorry didn't mean to insult- thanks for all the info, is there any advantage to one year over another if you are going naked? MY CB550 is so easy to work on, timing belts and water cooled sounds complicated. It was my thinking that you could build one that looked cool yet still could ride 2up or long distance.
 
No Insult taken, I should have used some ;D they are a little more complicated than an air cooled but built indestructable if you keep the oil changed and timing belts fresh. All of the first gen GL1000 75-79 and some of the second gen GL1100 80-84? came nak'd from the factory, if they have bags and fairings they would have been added as aftermarket. They were originally designed as sport touring bikes but after people started bagging them Honda changed directions and went full blown huge touring with the Aspencade up tto todays Big Wings, although they always kept hte handling if you want to puish them. They eventually offer the valkiry as the naked goldwing.

First gen up to I think 77 had spoke wheels, which look better as a cafe, have a little more top end power than the 78-79. I read an acticle that Honda only used 60-70% of the engines performance potential for these bikes so there is a lot of room to hotrod them if you wish.

Check out www.NGW.com and you will see what these bikes can be. I stripped mine of a bunch of excess crap and put it back to almost factory, but if I had the cash I would do a frame up custom build and remove as much weight as I could and do a fork brace, steering damper, upgraded brakes and shocks and go from there. I may get there one day because I don't think I will ever sell it.

Cheers,

Maritime
 
first, i love the naked-oldwings. i'd love to have one some day.

second, it's interesting to read that they were designed as sport-touring bikes. i had heard that there wasn't really any touring in mind when they were designed. i want to say that the low center of gravity, and the nakedness, was because they were designed more as a drag bike originally. then people started putting bags and fairings on them and honda realized they had another market and started doing it themselves. and from that the modern touring goldwing was born. is there anything documented anywhere (other than someone throwing out a theory) as to what honda's intention for these bikes was?
 
There is a site with the history of the design, I read it a long time ago when I was offered my wing for $1000 on the road. My first reaction was I don't want a stupid goldwing, I'll get one fo those when I retire.... Then I did some Googling and discoverd the 79 was not originally what a goldwing is to most people today. They were designed to be big long distance bikes with performance and good hadling, Then like you said people started vettering them up and honda jumped on the wagon and offered them from the factory that way. I will see if I can find the link to the article, it was from 76 ish and interviewed the bikes designer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom