GL1000 aka Big Bicycle

[MR TIKI]

Back last summer while left unsupervised I this happened.......

I purchased a 'ride or restore' 1978ish Honda GL1000 naked Goldwing.I say '78ish because from what I could make out it had been cobbled back together from a number of bikes having been a failed/forgotten Bobber project.the guy I purchased it from had converted it back from a single carb to an original set of four,he had also taken off the after market modern dials and replaced them with period 'wing ones and got it kind of running,it turned out it was more restore than ride to begin with.

the pictures show some of the early days fun and games with getting it back to the road.


when it arrived.

it's got some cool parts on it and the rusty bits,thankfully are mostly cosmetic and will or have now be sorted.

the first 'danger ride'and proper test lasted about 10 miles and ended like this.....

and then the work began.

some temporary repairs to the loom while the wiring was being sorted.

[grizz]

Woooopp Woooop

Nice to see this mate.

Bigger than the other one for sure.

Trust you still have it as well.

[MR TIKI]

Sept 8, 2021 19:24:58 GMT grizz said:

Woooopp Woooop

Nice to see this mate.

Bigger than the other one for sure.

Trust you still have it as well.

Oh yes Sir,

the Mutt remains.it's great fun for throwing about town,but we wanted something for going on trips and I needed a lockdown project.

[grizz]

Sept 8, 2021 19:42:37 GMT MR TIKI said:

Sept 8, 2021 19:24:58 GMT grizz said:

Woooopp Woooop

Nice to see this mate.

Bigger than the other one for sure.

Trust you still have it as well.

Oh yes Sir,

the Mutt remains.it's great fun for throwing about town,but we wanted something for going on trips and I needed a lockdown project.

My Lockdown Rezin Rockit build is progressing too.

Loads of support on here.

[MR TIKI]

going through my phone is reminding me how far we've come so far.

Along with a dying battery a dead regulator wasn't helping the cause resulting in the breakdown on the test ride.

I think the crud in the tank and fuel line
was a big part of it too.


I didn't find the baby Ape hangers comfortable and wanted to lower the profile of the bike,as it turned out these weren't any more comfortable for different reasons and didn't stay long.

However,the Texavina seat from Vietnam turned out to be an absolute triumph! Don't get me wrong,the Chesterfield sofa was very comfy,but at inly 5'7 it made the ground a long way down for me!!

[adam73bgt]

Bookmarking this as I've been considering chopping in my (relatively) modern bike for something more retro of late and early 'wings had crossed my mind at one point

The new seat is certainly an improvement aethetically, in my eyes

[PHUQ]

Liking that! Amazing how much difference the seat makes. When I had my Sportster I swapped the "sculpted" seat for a bench one purely for reasons of tartiness and was pleasantly surprised to find it was more comfortable too despite being about half the size, as I could sit where I wanted to as opposed to where the seat wanted me to...

Makes me wish I'd bought a proper classic J again this time around. Might do some chopping and changing next summer.

Watching

[MR TIKI]

Sept 8, 2021 20:29:18 GMT adam73bgt said:

Bookmarking this as I've been considering chopping in my (relatively) modern bike for something more retro of late and early 'wings had crossed my mind at one point

The new seat is certainly an improvement aethetically, in my eyes

😁 I much prefer older bikes,like retro cars you can see what they are for and how they do it.I really like the new seat,both for the looks and especially the comfort.
As a child growing up in the 70's I used to look in awe at the sheer size of Goldwings and wonder what they must be like to ride.the flat four engine has always fascinated me too.

[MR TIKI]

Sept 8, 2021 20:41:26 GMT PHUQ said:

Liking that! Amazing how much difference the seat makes. When I had my Sportster I swapped the "sculpted" seat for a bench one purely for reasons of tartiness and was pleasantly surprised to find it was more comfortable too despite being about half the size, as I could sit where I wanted to as opposed to where the seat wanted me to...

Makes me wish I'd bought a proper classic J again this time around. Might do some chopping and changing next summer.

Watching

I have to agree on the seat,the Chesterfield held me in one position and I prefer the ability to shift back and forth when it suits.

[MR TIKI]

We discovered that while riding the front tyre would occasionally catch the mudguard,on closer inspection tyre was perished and the guard was poorly mounted.

After alot of searching on the interwebs I went with an Avon safety mileage mkII.I like that it has an old school look to it just with added modern compounds and handling.As it turned out the mudguard is not Goldwing and was rather misshapen.it is possibly from a CB750,but I'm not sure. The holes had been stretched to make it go on and with some reshaping I've got it to fit better and clear the new tyre.I'm pretty pleased with the current outcome until I find a suitable alternative.

[VW]

I have some front mudguards that may work on this. I think they came off a 1976 cb750. Looking at pics, they look the same as what this would have had.
They aren't perfect but usable.

[MR TIKI]

Sept 9, 2021 22:00:01 GMT VW said:

I have some front mudguards that may work on this. I think they came off a 1976 cb750. Looking at pics, they look the same as what this would have had.
They aren't perfect but usable.

They sound interesting,when you get the time could you PM some pictures please?

[VW]

I'll sort some tomorrow, they are currently in the middle of the workshop floor!

I have a 1976 cb750f1. I think one was it's original, one was a better second hand one fitted before it's current new one was sourced.
For a niggling feeling at least one has different stays though.
My bike has front and rear stays, but some 750s seem to have one, and pics of gl1000 show one stay.
I'm sure one, if not both, of the spares are single stay.

I'll take some pics and we can take some measurements and see what's what.

[MR TIKI]

More shenanigans with Bike Bicycle...

After the first ride home last year in a recovery vehicle,I flushed the tank,changed the plugs and put engine and fuel system flush through the bike and hit the road again.

Even under power the charge didn't register much above 12v if at all and that very quickly resulted in the second ride home in a recovery van.🙄

Everyday is a learning curve and after thumbing my trusty Haynes manual and consulting my Tame Motorcycle Mechanic a replacement regulator and rectifier were ordered.

In the meantime while waiting for parts I swapped out the bars again for these instead.

And set about trying to make sense of the Spagetti manifesting as wiring.



🤣 I rapidly came to the conclusion that some of it's 9 previous owners had a vivid imagination and/or a keen sense of humour!

Looking back now it was quite a challenge,with the intermittent horn,headlamp fade the sporadic starting to name but a few issues I have to admit I had some darks days.

All that said,I got it running and rideable which speared my enthusiasm to carry on,that and our 14yr daughter asking when we would be able to go on a road trip.

With the charging fixed it was a different beast altogether,more torque,more speed,God awful carberation granted,but it ran....

It smoked a bit on the right side when cold to and rattled on start up,but nothing major.When it got warm it was much happier.

Bookface forums,clubs,books,my trusty Tame Mechanic lead me to believe at least some of the issues were not uncommon and fairly straightforward to fix.
🤣 I even had help from the cat or maybe it just wanted feeding!?


With tinkering and fettling it ran for nearly 500 miles,while I changed the bars several times,cleaned and polished bits and sourced parts which were starting to pile up in the shed.

I was getting used to the size,weight and handling of the bike With the idea that while it was running I would hold off on the bigger jobs like valve seals,gaskets and cambelts until one way or another the needed doing.

One morning back in February I think it was while on a test ride close enough to push it home it went #@%%CabBoOM^€£!?

And that's when the real work began.....

[grizz]

Cats are cool helpers.


Progress is Progress

[waynedear]

Fabulous looking thing, I remember back in the late 70’s being a courier in Manchester, using various Honda 125/250’s, a lad I knew rocked up on a naked goldwing, his new courier steed, never went more than 10 miles from the city, slow as fluck in the rush hours but magnificent.

[lightyearman]

Anything else happen with this majestic steed!?

[LowStandards]

I helped load a very similar looking bike onto a rather shoddy trailer during lockdown, wonder if it's the same one?