'82 Goldwing Interstate

Sorry about not posting anything last night, but since we leave in less that 16 hours, things have been getting busier.

Ray has been in Grand Rapids since Tuesday getting the FJR ready for the trip. After working on the Goldwings, we both agree that the Yamaha is Japan's revenge on the American bike rider. They must make maintenance intentionaly difficult to motivate you to use their service people.

Anyhow, this post is about the '82 Interstate.

Of the bikes that made the cut to go to California, this was the first one acquired. Ray had done all of the research and negotiations on all of the bikes. I was just the money man and transport service. I had rented a motorcycle trailer from U-haul (perfect for hauling one bike) and was on my way to the nortern suburbs of Detroit from Grand Rapids to look at the first bike. About three quarters of the way to Macomb, MI, Ray call and told me there was another bike to look at in Dearborn; fewer miles, more upgraded parts and about half the price. So, I altered my course slightly and headed for Dearborn.

This is the bike I bought. The owner only had it for about 1 year. Then witnessed a fatal motorcycle accident and was no longer comfortable riding.

When I got to his house, he had the bike warmed up in the garage, but he looked totally disgusted. He said the bike started right up, but would not start again. He apparently let it warm up at idle and that doesn't run the RPM's high enough to charge the battery. I put my hand down next to the pipes, and they were hot enough to indicate that the bike had truly been running. He went over the history of the bike, as he knew it, and showed me a huge box of parts that he had replaced; the timing belts, all of the cables, all of the hoses, filters and even the hand grips. Even the stereo had been upgraded to one with a CD instead of the cassette deck. He said that the only know issue was that the right hand trunk lid had blown off on the highway ( he admitted to not fastening the latches ) and by the time he got back to it, somebody had run over it and it was trashed. He found a replacement on e-bay, but it was not an exact color match. You couldn't tell it in the garage. In bright sunlight the replacement lid is a shade darker. But overall, the bike was in outstanding condition. I agreed that the price Ray negotiated was very fair and the bike should be in capable condition for a 3,500 mile trip.

He helped me roll it onto the trailer, strap it down, then gave me the huge box of old parts. I'm not sure what you're supposed to do with old hoses, cables, radiators, mirrors and such. Most of the old parts got shit-canned. I kept a few 'high-maintenance' parts and the Honda emblems.

I got away from his house at about 8:00 pm, went around the corner to re-adjust the straps and called Ray to tell him of our good fortune and that the plan was truly coming together.

Here is a shot of the new Radio and instrument panel.

So far, this has been the least maintenance bike we've acquired. The prior owner really did an excellent job of updating the parts and keeping it in ridable condition.

Dan is taking a little different tack on com. equipment than Ray or I. Since Ray plans on keeping the FJR after we get to CA, all of the equipment he is adding will be 'permanent'. On the '84 Goldwing that I will be riding, all of the equipment that I'm adding will be removed and put on my Valkyrie after the trip. What Dan is doing is putting his music and intercom on his 'smart phone'. He has a connection to the 12 volt outlet and keeps the phone inside his jacket. He basically unplugs, gets off the bike and walks away. I've got a couple of hours of disconnecting the GPS and my Chatterbox intercom. (more about those in another blog).

I replace the mirrors on this bike. I tried to tighten the bolts inside the housings, but they were pretty much at their limits of service. Whenever you rode this bike, after about 10 minutes the mirrors would point in and you'd be looking at your crotch for the rest of the trip. I can only speak from personal experience, but my groin area is not that interesting. Looking there for 12 days would really dampen the trip. Anyhow, I ordered a pair of mirrors from J.C.Whitney for less that 40 bucks and they hold their position much better.

The prior owner had upgraded the tires to Avon Venoms, the same tires I have on the Valk, and it rides and holds the road excellent.

One kind of funny aside came from a short trip that Dan and I made to a local Syrup festival in central Michigan. Dan noted that at highway speed a warning light would come on indicating an air suspension problem. It wouldn't stay on, so I just passed it off as a 'curiosity'. A couple of days later I thought about the suspension and decided to look at the service manual ( I had ordered Chiltons and/or Haynes manuals for all of the bikes except the FJR). The '82 suspension is slightly different from the '84 Goldwing. Both of them have air-shocks, but the '84 has an on-board compressor that you can adjust the ride during operation. The '82 has shrader valves (tire inflaters) on the front and rear. The owners manual says the rear should be around 45 psi and the fronts 15 psi. Both were zero. When I put air in the rears, the bike stood up almost 4 inches taller. No wonder the side stand was almost useless. We'll have make a note to monitor the inflation during the trip. Especially once the bike is loaded.

Beth, Dan and Ray should be here in G.R. in a couple of hours, then the frenzy of getting the last minute adjustments begins. My goal is to be out of here by 10:00 am tomorrow and make Fort Knox, KY by the end of the day. Pretty aggressive first day, but we don't plan on stopping anywhere in Indiana and want to get south as quick as possible. The weather for tomorrow is calling for windy conditions with a 40% chance of rain. If we get the rain, the wind could make for some interesting riding. The weather map indicates that once we get south of Indiana we should have dry riding the rest of the trip. But, I only trust the weather man about 3 days out.

Enough for know, more to come.