On a cool spring day while driving to work, I noticed this sand color goldwing on the lawn in my neighborhood with a for sale sign on the windshield. I continued down the street thinking if I should turn around, I have always wanted a goldwing; however I thought that it might be closer in time when I would retire. I also noticed that it was an older bike and I have always been interested in older bikes, this one really caught my eye. Well needless to say I turned around and went back to see the bike. It was just as I expected, the bike was still in good shape. Now here is where it gets interesting, I have not owned a motorcycle before much less a goldwing. I have been on smaller bikes, but until now never a bike this big. Now it is time to give this bike a test ride and I am not sure I really want to do this with no experience. So I did the best thing I knew, I phoned a friend (WOW sounds like an episode of "Do you want to be a Millionaire") to take the bike for a test ride since he has owned many goldwings over the years, I figured he had much more experience than I did. Well the rest is history, the bike needed work the carburetors needed cleaning, and they were really messed up. I asked the gentleman who owned the bike, why he was selling it. He told me he could not handle the bike anymore. He was in his eighties, not very tall and was hardly over one hundred pounds. I really think he just wanted to get rid of the bike and I'm glad I was in the right place at the right time.

On April 3, 2001 I purchased the1987 Goldwing Interstate GL-1200. The bike had 14,300 original miles on it. The bike was garage kept by the previous owner and he had records to show me that the bike was well serviced.

Type of Riding that I Enjoy

Some of my most memorable rides have been through the Smoky Mountain National Park. On a trip in October of 2005 to North Carolina-Tennessee I was able to ride the more famous roads in the Smoky's and make those memories happen again. I was also able to ride many of Tennessee and North Carolina's more scenic roads such as The Tail of the Dragon, Blue Ridge Parkway and the Devils Triangle. I also had the chance to travel to Natchez Mississippi to do some biking on the Natchez Trace. The Natchez Trace is one of those places where the foliage is so thick that the road can make you believe you on a mountain road somewhere in the United States.

Complication Restoration

Since my purchase in 2001 I have started the long road of restoring the bike. These older parts are getting harder and harder to find. Some parts even Honda stopped making, so you have to look for these parts on the Internet. EBay has helped me to find many of those parts that the local dealer could not get from Honda. The local dealer doesn't have many GL-1200 parts to start with, so parts are few and far between. I also have changed almost all the lights to LED's on the bike to help give a little relief to the alternator. In October of 2008 I noticed that my volt meter was showing ten volts. So after looking into this further I determined that the stator had failed. I had gone to my local dealer for a second opinion about the stator; this was a common problem with Honda from 1975 to 1987 on the GL1000, GL1100 and GL1200. The motor has to be removed to replace the stator; this was poor designing by Honda. With that being said the bike only had 25,000 miles on it, so I knew it was the age of the bike not mileage on the bike. I figured since the motor had to be pulled out I would take advantage of this and replace not only the stator, but I would have them change the timing belts, the water pump, thermostat, all the motor seals, voltage regulator, starter, all the fluids and I also change the front tire and brakes. I felt more confident now that the bike was road worthy.

I Enjoy Bikes Shows

Since 975 I have enjoyed being involved with showing cars and trucks. In 2004 I decided since I had started this restoration project I wanted to see how the bike could compete against other classic bikes.
The shows I really enjoyed attending were the Goldwing District Rallies. Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana were a few places we attended. The joy for me was meeting people that had the same common interest and to see how they would take care of their bikes. Through it all what I did notice, the classic bikes really get attention and people always had a good story to tell about the old bikes. These are the type of things that keep me interested in the classics

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