Oh god, I thought, here we go again. Months of searching for a decent motorcycle had led me to a 1976 Honda GL1000K1 in deepest Kent. The owner had claimed a spotless condition for the year (this was 1988) but that the engine was running funny. I'd heard it all before, of course, but was desperate for some, almost any, wheels again.
For once the description matched reality. The bike did look in nice shape, with many stainless steel bits, including silencers and guards, and did run a bit funny. A sort of clattering noise from the top ends of the flat four. I offered £350, claiming that the engine obviously needed a new crank.
The somewhat despondent owner accepted this ridiculous offer (the bike had only done 48000 miles, nothing in Wingspeak. I motored the mammoth slowly home, ever aware that I might be adding to its engine disintegration. Nice and easy motor to work on, I found, the problem soon revealed to be nothing more than the belt that drove the camshafts. Once replaced with a new unit the motor was as quiet as you'd expect from a watercooled Honda. I congratulated myself on picking up a bargain, for once - it can be done if you refuse to buy the old dross many owners try to pass off as pristine machinery.
The Honda was deemed eminently suitable to do about 10000 miles of touring on the continent the following month. Preparation was an oil change, new spark plugs and a polish up. The bike did pick up the dirt at an incredible rate, for some reason, and after the tour was in an absolutely filthy state but cleaned up OK. Once loaded up with enough camping gear for an Himalayan adventure, I found that the stock shocks were down on their stops and the bike wallowed mightily as soon as the clutch was let out.
My friendly local breaker was persuaded to swap these for a set of S & W's off a GL1100 for a very reasonable thirty notes. These shocks were excellent, tightening up the rear end and allowing massive loads to be carried without bottoming out.
At 650lbs without luggage the Wing is a hefty beast at the best of times. A lot of that mass is concentrated in the engine which places it low down, so once rolling the sheer weight of the plot was not so irksome as expected. The triple discs were only marginal, especially when overloaded with myself and gear. The riding position did not encourage craziness on the throttle, about 80mph was the most that could be comfortably maintained - the chassis was just about able to contain the mass at these kinds of speed.
Problems on the tour included the beast falling over in the ferry, taking four other bikes out with it. The Wing was scratched, the other bikes were more seriously damaged. In France I ran out of fuel once and did my back in pushing the Wing half a mile to the nearest petrol station. In Germany the back wheel started to break up, three spokes going twang. We hobbled into Hamburg, where it took the Honda dealer over a week to sort the wheel out. Spoked wheels on Gold Wings have a dubious reputation.
In Italy the clutch started to slip above 5000 revs, not especially worrying as there was plenty of torque, power and speed below that in top gear. I just prayed that it would last out Spain and France on the return trip, which it did. In Spain fuel economy began to slide off, going from a reasonable 46mpg to 38mpg by the time I was back in France. I blamed the fuel quality but by the time I was in the UK it was down to 35mpg!
The clutch is hidden down the back of the engine and proved difficult to remove. It needed a new unit, or newish one in this case as I acquired one from a breaker. I carefully balanced the carbs hoping that this might be the cause of the fuel consumption’s demise. Didn't make any difference. The power seemed just as widely spread and useable as ever, so I rode the bike back and forth to work every day, suffering the appalling economy.
It wasn’t until 66500 miles that signs of massive bore wear were evident. Smoke poured out of the silencers on the overrun. Whipping off the heads wae easy enough as the engine could be left in the frame. Sure enough, the pistons were badly worn but the bore looked okay to me, so I put in a new set of (standard) rings after doing an engine strip.
The cams and valves all looked good, I cleaned off the slight deposits of carbon and put it all back together again with nice new Honda gaskets (I had read enough about pattern parts to know to avoid them). The smoke had disappeared and fuel improved to 41mpg, almost acceptable for such a large and heavy mammoth. Another 6000 miles of commuting and the odd, heavy weekend blitz went by with little complaint from either myself or the machine. Sure, she would not handle like a YPVS but I could glory in the relaxed and laid back way that miles were covered.
Wet weather riding was also generally OK. There was so much mass that the bike felt firmly planted on the ground. It was obvious that if the tyres did let loose, they would do so in a big way. I found this out when I had to come to a very rapid halt to avoid slicing some young lady in a Fiesta in half. The front wheel locked solid suddenly (the discs are typical period pieces re: feel and wet weather lag), sliding away from under the bike. The Wing skidded on its engine bars (essential accessories) and whacked the Ford with both wheels. I slid down the road on my leathers.
There was no damage to the Wing and only a few scratches to my leathers. The poor lady was in hysterics as she explained she was a learner who had borrowed hubbie’s car, she didn’t have any insurance to cover what looked like a write off... she wondered if I'd be prepared to cough up for the repairs, it was after all my large and clumsy motorcycle that had fallen over and hurtled into her car? I managed to restrain myself but I think she got the general idea of what I thought of her request. Chalk one up to the massiveness of the Wing!
At 72850 miles there developed yet another engine noise, a sort of explosive whirring that was eventually traced to the water pump. Yet another visit to the breakers solved that. I didn't see much point fitting new parts to an otherwise ancient engine. The chassis had been well looked after, grease applied to the bearings and shaft splines, paint kept free of rust and chrome polished - from a few yards away the bike could easily have passed for a five year old. The stainless exhaust was a necessary improvement as the chrome stock system only lasted a couple of years before turning into a rust bucket.
I laid the bike up over January and February, it was just too cold and nasty for riding a naked bike and I hated big fairings. Come spring the Honda behaved badly until I removed all the crud out of the carbs and fitted a new set of spark plugs. With over 80000 miles done, the smoke out of the exhaust syndrome came back with a vengeance.
This time it wasn’t just the rings but the bores, pistons, small ends and crankshaft main bearing shells that were shot. The expense of new Honda bits added up to more than the breaker wanted for a 50000 mile GL1000 motor (£375), so that was an easy choice to make. Unfortunately, this engine did not run half so well as the old one in its prime. There was a lot of vibration over 4000 revs and fuel was drank at an incredible 32mpg even when used mildly. Turned out the camshafts were well worn, so they were replaced with the ones in the other engine. The result was better but still not good enough.
Wings obviously have limited appeal. They are not that fast, don‘t handle on the edge and look rather strange. They make neat long distance cruisers, are comfortable and up to about 75000 miles very reliable. After that they become less tenacious, although there are many bikes that have done well over 100000 miles.
Some people demand big money for them but, to my mind, there are few in a nice enough condition to justify those prices. I reckon paying more than £600 is throwing money away, but then I have always been a mean sod. I sold mine for £650 with all the spare engine bits. I've just bought a lovely GL1200 for £1750, I now reckon I'm addicted to Wings.
Cliff Wilson