Monthly Newsletter
GoldwingDocs sends out a newsletter on the first day of each month to all of our members via email. This newsletter contains the announcement of the previous months' contest winner as well as details on the current month's contest. In addition, it includes news, reviews, information about new additions to the site, and other relevant information.
GoldwingDocs.com September 2013 Newsletter
Tardy...with an excuse This newsletter normally goes out on the first day of every month. I normally spend several days at the end of each month getting it put together and ready to send, and it goes out early in the morning on the first of the month. However...here it is late on September 2nd, and I'm just starting to write it up now, with the expectation that it will go out early in the morning of the 3rd. I do have an excuse however, and it's one that I know each and every one of you will understand: I was busy, spending the long holiday weekend riding hundreds of miles of twisty, hilly roads in some of the most scenic countryside in America. And the excuse for not preparing this newsletter earlier? Well for that, we have to go back in history a little ways. In June of 2011, I wrote about my wife taking the MSF Beginner course and getting her motorcycle license, and about her beginner bike, a Virago 250, which she by then had really outgrown. We were looking for something bigger, fast enough to keep up with my GL1500, and with some storage for her. Trike Lady mentioned a Honda PC800 Pacific Coast, a somewhat rare 800 cc V-Twin. My wife LOVED the looks of the bike, and it seemed to fit the bill, albeit a bit heavy. Fast forward to exactly a year ago, August 31st, and we were the new owners of a 1989 Pacific Coast. My wife loved it, took it for a couple short rides with me following behind - and we quickly realized that due to my wife being of short (5'2") stature, this bike was going to have to be modified to fit her. So began the winter project that lasted, well, a bit beyond winter. What was originally going to be a simple winter refresh, with new tires, fluids and a few minor fixes, escalated into a major rebuild. I had to tear into the bike to reach the engine (no easy task) and fix some leaky cam plugs in the heads. I put new, shorter shocks on the rear, and raised and shortened the front fork legs. A new custom-fitted cut-down Corbin seat, a Utopia backrest, a HID headlight from goldwinghids.com, some auxiliary LED driving lights from superbrightleds.com, heated handlegrips, new steering head bearings, countless pieces of old, cracked or weak bodywork repaired, new tires, Dyna Beads, new louder horn, a J&M CB and intercom system, TPMS, RAM mount for her phone, and then the major project: new handlebars. The idea was to find new handlebars that extended the grips back and up about 6 inches, for my wife's shorter arms. The problem was, there are no such handlebars - and boy, did I look! I realized I was going to have to fabricate a solution. However, the PC800 won't accept any old handlebar - it has special mounting brackets welded onto the base, and peculiar angled parts that fit specially into the plastic handlebar covers. My solution was to cut the handlebars partway down, bend and insert some bar welding stock into the cut ends, and weld them in place. This worked great! Of course, I had to cut and splice an extra six inches of wire into every wire in the handlebar harnesses, as well as replacing the clutch and front brake lines and throttle cables with custom extended versions that I had to have made up. Hitting fast forward once more, we reach two weeks ago. The Pacific Coast is still in a state of relative disassembly, with many wires still to be pulled and terminated, and the majority of its bodywork still living in our front room, where it had taken up residence for almost a year. My wife and I had plans to spend an extended Labor Day long weekend celebrating our anniversary by staying in a cabin in Hocking Hills, Ohio, and riding our motorcycles around the incredible roads in the area. My wife made a declaration: "I am NOT riding my 250 Virago in Hocking Hills. I want to ride my new bike. Get it finished!" A weekend of 15 hour workdays, plus 6+ hours every weeknight after that (see, I told you I had a good excuse), and I managed to get it finished. I had a last-minute panic where I discovered both a clutch issue and a fuel issue - the fuel issue turned out to be a cracked petcock vacuum line, and the clutch issue was fixed with a master cylinder rebuild. I took it out for its first full test ride, fully reassembled, at 11:30 pm the night before we were to leave for Hocking Hills. It worked! The trip was great, the twisty, hilly Hocking Hills roads never disappoint, and apart from one very quick but torrential downpour today on our way home (we waited it out, under an underpass), we enjoyed fabulous, sunny riding weather. The bikes performed wonderfully - my GL1500 of course, being a Goldwing just runs without complaint endlessly. The PC800 ran like a champ - my wife loves the fact that she can now accelerate fast enough to keep up with me. She admits that she needs a little slow-speed practice in order to get used to the heft of her new bike. She kept calling to me over the CB as she carved through turns, "I LOVE this bike!!!" We got more than a few "baby Goldwing" comments. I was somewhat miffed that her bike seemed to get a LOT more attention than mine! One of the best features that we both love is that CB. For the first time, we can now talk to one another without screaming back and forth at stoplights - something we've both really missed since she graduated from the back seat of the Goldwing. The J&M CB is not cheap, but it is a quality piece of equipment, and works perfectly. So, I apologize for both the tardiness of this newsletter, and my relative absence from the GoldwingDocs site over the past couple of weeks. I think you'll agree, it was all for a good cause! Oh...and if you want to see some video of us riding the twisties in Hocking Hills, check this out: Riding behind my wife in Hocking Hills
Member Pictures: One of the most popular yet most overlooked sections of the GoldwingDocs site is the Member Picture Gallery. This section allows users to upload pictures of their bikes, trips, whatever - and share them with everyone else. We have over 6,000 images uploaded by various members, and they are searchable. Looking for a great picture of windshields? Type "Windshield" into the search box and see what you get. Any user can leave comments or questions on any of the pictures. BUT WAIT!!! We've got something NEW and exciting for the Member Picture Gallery: A daily Image Update Email! Visit this page and you can see all of the pictures added recently, and a "subscribe" button. Click on the button, and you will now receive an email, at most once a day, when new pictures have been added to the site. If no pictures have been added that day, you will not receive an email. I think it's a great way to keep on top of all the fantastic pictures people are adding to the site each and every day. Of course, if you don't want to receive the email anymore, just click on the "unsubscribe" link in the email, or visit the Image Update Email page and click the Unsubscribe button. Does your wife, or small-statured friend want to learn to ride? (shameless plug) Now that my wife is loving her PC800 Pacific Coast, she's selling the 250 Virago on which she learned to ride. It's fantastic for a beginning rider, easy to ride and light. I modified this bike to fit her, as she is quite small (5'2"), so it would suit someone of that size. It's in the Cleveland area - if you're interested, take a look: Yamaka Virago XV250K For Sale Until next month, stay safe and keep the shiny side up! |
||
Have you forgotten your User ID and/or Password? Click here to visit the password reset page, and then click Submit to reset your password. |
Looking to buy a new (to you) bike, or parts and accessories? We've optimized our Classified Ads page to streamline its operation, and ensure the results are fast and accurate. There are thousands of Goldwing and Goldwing-related ads, from all over the world. If you're looking for a new bike, or maybe parts for your old bike, check us out first! |
|
Featured This Month on GoldwingDocs.com: | ||
Bank Angle Sensor Tests The GL1500 and GL1800 have a Bank Angle Sensor inside of them as a safety feature. When banking normally into a turn, they are not triggered. However, if the bike leans over without the centripital force encountered in a turn pulling toward the bottom of the bike (i.e. it falls down), the Bank Angle Sensor is triggered, killing the ignition and stopping the engine immediately. Member "bjatwood" documented an unplanned Bank Angle Sensor test on his 1998 GL1500SE recently, and was pleased to announce that his Bank Angle Sensor is operating normally, and the test was a success. Member "T=Trouble" also mentioned a recent successful completion of an unplanned Bank Angle Sensor test on her 1993 GL1500 Aspencade. Member "Mariner" attempted a Bank Angle Sensor test on his 2003 GL1800, however was unable to attain the sufficient angle required for the test to succeed. Have you tested your Bank Angle Sensor lately? If so, step up to the plate and help others by documenting your test: Bank Angle Sensor test |
Auxiliary Driving Lights More lights. Goldwing owners seem to like nothing more than to light up their bikes like a Christmas tree. A lot of the time these lights are for decoration, or serve the same purpose (more or less) as "safety chrome." When it comes to four-cylinder Wings, a lot of the time they have to do without, simply because their electrical systems don't have the excess capacity to run auxiliary lighting - particularly the type of lighting that takes lots of power to run (i.e. halogen driving lights). Fortunately, LED lights are becoming brighter and brighter, while sipping modest amounts of power. This month we review a new product from SuperbrightLEDs.com that quite literally blew us away. Not only is it of extremely high quality, it is unbelievably bright - and costs less than half of comparable lights from competing companies. I think you'll like what you see, especially when it's lit up with these lights: SuperbrightLEDs.com Driving Lights |
|
Goldwing GPS Input Device We're very proud to announce that the Goldwing GPS Audio Input Device is featured in the January GWRRA Wing World Magazine as part of their "Cool Gifts for the Holidays" section, and we've been doing our best to make sure we have kept up with large influx of orders. It is far and away the most popular product we have ever offered, and the tons of positive feedback we continue to receive really makes us happy that we're making something that people really like - and use. What is the GPS Audio Input Device? It's an American-made plug-and-play device that lets you hear the audio output of your GPS, cell phone or radar detector over your GL1500 or GL1800 intercom - so that you can hear the spoken instructions from your GPS or cell phone in your headset. It's a simple plug-and-play device that can be installed in minutes, and does not permanently modify any bike wiring. It's been receiving rave reviews - check it out today! Do you already have one of our GPS Input Devices? We've had quite a few people who want to buy a GPS with audio output that they know will work with the GPS Input Device. Take a couple minutes to help out your fellow Goldwingers by posting your GPS make and model on this forum thread. GPS manufacturers don't commonly specify audio output jacks as features, so it can be hard to decide which model of GPS to buy, unless you know beforehand what you're looking for. |
||
7 Volt Regulator If you have a GL1000, GL1100 or GL1200 Standard Goldwing with mechanical (not electronic LCD) temperature and fuel gauges, you've had this problem. Or...you will. It's only a matter of time. You'll start noticing that your temperature and fuel gauges are reading off the scale - the temperature is in the red, and the fuel shows full. The only thing is, the bike isn't overheating, and you know you've only got a quarter tank left. Or...even worse: your bike is operating normally, and suddenly your temperature and fuel gauges just turn off, and look like the picture to the right. How much fuel have you got left? You'll have to guess! What's causing it? A faulty, worn-out 7 volt voltage regulator. Behind the fuel and temperature gauges is a special voltage regulator that turns your motorcycle's normal 12 volts into the 7 volts on which these two gauges run. When it starts to fail, it typically starts doing so intermittently. Left in a failed state, it can cause damage - allowing a full 12 volts into your temperature and fuel gauges, destroying the delicate coils inside! That gets expensive, requiring the replacement of the entire center gauge cluster! What's the solution? For almost five years, we've been manufacturing a modern, solid-state 7 volt regulator to fix this problem once and for all. Hundreds and hundreds of Goldwing owners all over the world now have operating fuel and temperature gauges thanks to our 7 volt regulator. If you've got this problem - or you know someone who does - check out our 7 Volt Regulator and get it fixed! |
||
Product Reviews New, powerful, high-quality inexpensive auxiliary driving lights get the thumbs-up in this review: SuperbrightLEDs.com Driving Lights I've had the Tire SafeGuard TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) on my bike for a year now, what do I think about it now? Tire SafeGuard TPMS Texas is hot - and who knows this more than user TXAggie87? He tries out the Veskimo Chilled Water Cooling Vest, and declares it a winner. User dingdog put a set of Avon Venom tires on his GL1500, and absolutely loves them! The Chatterbox Duo Bluetooth headset gets panned by one of our members as being unusable in real-world conditions in this new review. We've got a member who thinks that his Garmin 2455lm is a great alternative to more expensive GPS units, and it lets you pre-program your routes. The G-Max 3/4 helmet is an affordable helmet, great for summer, according to our member reviewer, who says it is more comfy with less weight, and fantastic visibility. |
Organized Goldwingdocs.com Rides Are you interested in organized rides in your area? Let us know what you think, either by taking the survey, or adding your comments to the forum thread. Have an idea or suggestion for organized rides? We'd like to hear about it! Do you enjoy organized rides overall? Would you be interested in knowing when organized rides are happening in your area - regardless of who is running them? We want to hear about this as well! |
|
Regular GoldwingDocs.com Features: | ||
How To Articles Want to do some of your own maintenance but scared to take your bike apart? You're going to like this: We have tons of world-reknowned How-To Articles articles - the largest collection of Goldwing How-To Articles on the Internet! Even if you think you might not be capable of working on your bike yourself, our illustrated, step-by-step instructions make it easy - even for the beginner. Check them out today! We've added lots of new ones, and more are being added all the time. - Improving spark plug performance - How to replace your dash lights with LEDs - How to rebuild your front forks - How to prevent cross-threading fasteners - How to make your own ethanol-free gasoline - GL1100 alternator conversion GoldwingDocs Classifieds Looking for a deal on a Goldwing, parts or accessories? Have you checked out our Goldwing Classifieds section? We have literally thousands of Goldwings and Goldwing-related accessories listed, primarily by private sellers from around the world, updated twice a day. If you're looking for a new-to-you bike, or something to add to your existing Goldwing, you should check us out first! GoldwingDocs Message Forum If you haven't visited our Goldwing Message Forum lately, you owe it to yourself to check it out. With tens of thousands of messages posted by thousands of helpful and friendly people, you can just about guarantee that you will find the information you're looking for, or find an interesting topic to chat about. Stop by and just say hello, we'd love to hear from you! GoldwingDocs Vendor Database The GoldwingDocs Vendor Database is a great place to search for sellers of Goldwings, parts and accessories. Not only do we have a huge, user-maintained database of vendors, but each of those vendors is rated in several categories, with written reviews from other Goldwing owners. Both traditional bricks-and-mortar vendors and Internet vendors are represented. If you want to check up on the reputation of an online vendor, or simply look for a Goldwing-friendly shop nearby, the GoldwingDocs Vendor Database has got what you need! GoldwingDocs Member Pictures The GoldwingDocs Member Picture Area has over 5,000 pictures, all uploaded by GoldwingDocs members. There's nothing that Goldwing owners love more than to show off their bikes - so take a few minutes and upload a few pictures of your pride and joy, to share with the world! You can search through all of the existing pictures, or just browse to your heart's content! |
This newsletter is sent on the first day of each month.