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 January 2021 Newsletter
Goodbye and Good Riddance! And as this newsletter is being transmitted to you, the dumpster fire known as 2020 is over! Welcome to 2021! So many of us have sacrificed so much of our lives this past year. Many used their motorcycles as an escape, while others hardly left the house. Many trips, gatherings and conventions were cancelled. Judging by our online survey, the majority of GoldwingDocs members rode less this year than other years. Myself, I definitely rode less, and used my extra time at home to pursue some other pastimes. I picked up on something I have done on and off since the 1980's - making music. I managed to actually put together enough this year to create an album. I posted this question to our members. How did 2020 affect you? Did you find a way to make positive changes? See what others had to say, and let us know how you've survived 2020: 2020 Retrospective Dogs and Motorcycles I love dogs. I understand dogs. They make fantastic companions, protectors, family members. But dogs really, really don't like motorcycles. Except for chasing: they love to chase them! That's fine, except dogs and motorcycles really don't mix. Hitting a dog with a motorcycle can have very serious consequences. Dogs are pack hunters, hard-wired to understand things like intercept angles, and are extremely skilled at chasing - and catching - a motorcycle moving in a straight line. There are specific techniques used to avoid dogs on a motorcycle. See what our members have to say on the topic, the recommended technique to outrun a dog (no, it's not just "get on the throttle"), and read their experiences with Dogs Chasing Motorcycles. GL1500 and GL1800 LED Retrofit When I first got my GL1500, there were quite a few burned out backlights all over the bike: dashboard, radio and handlebar controls. I decided to go over the entire bike and replace them all with LEDs. I documented the process: GL1500 Handlebar Backlights, GL1500 Radio Backlights and GL1500 Dashboard Backlights. Longtime GoldwingDocs member wingpilot08 wanted to do the same thing to his 2008 GL1800, for the same reason. He utilized pretty much the same method I used on my GL1500 - discrete component LEDs to replace each of the bulbs. Last month we featured his process of replacing the lights in his navigation panel with LEDs. This month, he's documented the process for those who might want to also tackle the job of replacing radio and handlebar lights. The benefit is bright new backlights that should never burn out ever again. Read on: Adding LEDs to Radio and Handlebar Controls Knee Replacement Surgery and Motorcycles This topic keeps coming up, I suppose as more and more members are getting to the point where it is something they have to consider. It's no secret that the Goldwing is a large, heavy bike. Putting it up on the centerstand can become a challenge when your knees are no longer functioning as well as they once did. Advanced deterioration in your knees can mean that you're no longer capable of holding the bike up safely at a stop. Does knee replacement surgery mean that you can ride again? Or are there issues that preclude riding? What about a recovery period? Member Big Bob had his left knee replaced at the beginning of the month, and asked for help and advice from others who have gone through the same experience. Our members helped out with their own experiences. Have a look through their comments and advice: Knee Replacement Surgery Thanksgiving Detroit Mural Trip Longtime member detdrbuzzard has had a tough year - after an injury to his foot, the doctor ordered him to stay off motorcycles, so his GL1500 and ST1300 have been sitting at home unused and unloved. Of course, his little CT70 doesn't really count as a motorcycle (or so he says), so he's been riding it far and wide while his foot healed. On the day after Thanksgiving, he took his ST1300 out for a long ride visiting murals all over Detroit. He photographed his bike in front of many of them, and shared them with us - the result is a wonderful pictoral of a day spent riding through what looks like a deserted city. Thanks to detdrbuzzard for allowing the rest of us with our wintered motorcycles put away to live vicariously through his daylong ride: The Thanksgiving Day Ride Best Washing Method? Before we get started, I want to first say that you should never, ever, EVER do what is being shown in this picture here! Pressure washing your motorcycle forces high-pressure washer into electrical contacts, and flushes critical lubricating grease out of mechanical components. It's an excellent way to create long-lasting or permanent problems that can't be easily fixed. Member patbrandon1 wanted to know what everyone considers their best, top of the line motorcycle wash or soap product. Our members definitely have expertise in this area! If you'd like to see the many recommendations, or perhaps add your own secret method, check out: Christmas Gift Motorcycle Washing Soap GL1500 Blackout! Member Mammoth in the UK has a problem. After riding his GL1500 to work earlier this month, he realized one of his tires was a bit low. He used the onboard compressor to air it up. That worked great, with the compressor working with no issues...until everything stopped dead. The bike lost all power, and he was been completely unable to get it to power up afterwards. He put the key in, turned it, absolutely nothing - as if the battery was completely disconnected. Find out what caused Mammoth's complete blackout, how he traced down the problem, and what he did to fix it. Valueable information for your own bike: Wing has Blacked Out, Won't Start Cold Weather Coolant Leaks Right on schedule, as the cold weather arrives to those of us storing our bikes for the winter, GoldwingDocs members start reporting problems with coolant leaks. It's a pretty common and universal issue: you've put your bike away for the season, the temperatures drop, and then you happen to noice a few drops of green coolant on the floor underneath your bike's engine. What's leaking? How do you fix it? New member and new GL1500 owner Sassy noticed his bike leaking a bit of coolant, and posted asking what the problem might be. Have coolant leak issues of your own? Want to know how to fix it - or if it needs fixing? Check out: Cold Weather Antifreeze Leak Can You Use Heated Gear? I love my heated gear. I have a Gerbing's heated jacket liner, pictured here, Gerbing's T5 heated gloves, and Gerbings heated insoles. They allow me to extend my riding season by months, far longer than I would be able to ride without them. They also provide added safety: cold wind can quickly strip heat from your body, leading rapidly to symptoms of hypothermia. This is not only distracting, it affects your ability to think and make judgements. A rider who is shivering and cold is not paying full attention to his environment while riding. Plus it just makes for a far more comfortable ride. Would you rather be freezing and shivering, unable to feel your fingers, thinking about how good it's going to be when you get to the next rest stop, or would you like to be comfortable and warm? I remember well the bad old days of shoving my hands into the engine of my GSX-R while riding to try to thaw my fingers. There are plenty of battery-powered heated garments, but for power and longevity (and price) you just can't beat bike-powered heated gear. The thing is, electric heat requires a fair amount of power to run - and motorcycles typically don't have much power to spare. GoldwingDocs member ducktruck wants to run heated jacket and gloves for both his wife and himself on his 2005 GL1800. He's wondering if that is going to be a problem for the bike's electrical system? Having had heated gear on my GL1100 and my GL1500, I have some experience in this department, and the answer is: maybe. Have a look at the original question as well as the answers from our experts: Several Questions on Heated Gear Emergency Brake Problem Member zeoran is rebuilding the front calipers on his 1999 GL1500, and wrote a post entitled "Emergency Brake Problem." I thought that was a bit odd, as the GL1500, like most motorcycles, doesn't have an emergency brake. I read the post and realized that he was actually saying that he had a problem with his brakes, and that it was an emergency! He took the caliper off the bike and disconnected the hose, draining the fluid...before using the fluid to push the pistons out of the caliper. He now had a caliper with two pistons firmly wedged in it, and no way of getting them out. There are actually a couple good ways of solving this issue, and he managed to use one of them to solve his problem. Something you might want to know for the next time you rebuild your calipers: Emergency Brake Problem! Simple and Inexpensive Voltmeter GoldwingDocs member Albikes wanted to put a voltmeter on his 1995 GL1500. This is understandable: with our bikes so utterly dependent on their complex electrical systems, it's imperative that we are alerted of pending electrical failures before we are stranded. A voltmeter is the single best way of doing this. He found a small voltmeter online for under $10, and with a few dollars worth of glue and sealant, had himself a brand new voltmeter, visible here in blue. Interested in adding a voltmeter to your bike, of any year or model for only a few dollars and a little bit of your time? This same method will work on pretty much any bike (or car!). Check out: Alternate (Simple) Voltmeter Installation GL1000 Cranks But Won't Start New GoldwingDocs member wgatesh from Mexico has a 1976 GL1000 that has been parked for more than two years. He got it started and running - but then it started making a sound as if it was running on only two cylinders, and finally quit altogether. Since then, it hasn't started again - he can crank it over, but the engine refuses to start. All the clues to the source of the problem are in what I have written here. When you get ahold of a Goldwing that has not been run for a number of years, there is one, very important thing you must do before attempting to start it. Failing to do this can have serious consequences - which wgatesh has now just learned, the hard way. Have a read through and see how he's working through the issues with this bike - and what he might have done to prevent it in the first place: GL1000 Cranks But Won't Start Changing Your Own Tires? Now that we're into the winter maintenance period, many people are thinking about new rubber for their bikes. Usually this means pulling wheels off and taking it to a shop to have the old tire taken off, and the new one put on. But did you know you could do this at home, yourself, with only a few special tools? You'll need a bead breaker, rim protectors and some large tire irons. Our big bikes need big tire irons for sufficient leverage - those little spoons just won't do the job. 38 Dollars got me a set of decent tire irons at Harbor Freight. Learn the Prybar-Lip-Manipulation method to easily slide the rubber on the rim without having to resort to using a ton of lubricant. Check out our step-by-step tutorial showing the shortcut that means you have to get the tire bead over the rim only once, instead of twice: A New Method of Demounting and Remounting Tires on Rims Other Minor Winter Maintenance So there might be some other projects on your list that you could tackle during the down season. Some minor maintenance perhaps, like what I was doing to my Pacific Coast here in this picture. OK, perhaps this was a bit more than minor maintenance! I always figure that people know about our vast resource of tutorials online, but time and time again we will have members post a question asking how to do something - when we have one of our step-by-step tutorials covering that exact procedure! So when contemplating your winter maintenance this year (or perhaps just looking for ideas?), don't forget to check out our How-To Articles! Hundreds of Goldwing Parts for Sale The huge number of used (mostly GL1500 and GL1800) parts that I bought a couple of years ago continue to be added to the site for sale. I split my time between photographing and adding new products, and filling the orders that people place. There are still literally hundreds (probably thousands - I haven't even opened all of the boxes yet) more parts that have yet to be added to the site, and I'm working my way through them as I can. So if you are looking for some parts for your Goldwing, check back regularly to see what's been added. You can see the store here: GoldwingDocs New and Used Goldwing Parts Replacement G8MS-H30 Relays for GL1500's Goldwings, particularly GL1500's and GL1800's, are filled to the brim with relays. These electromagnetically-actuated switches are used to switch all kinds of circuits, from headlights to radios to even the starter. However, they are a mechanical device, and after some time they will fail. If one of the many relays in your GL1500 has failed, or if you'd like to have a few on hand to carry around just in case one does (to avoid being stranded!) - and you'd like to take advantage of our quantity purchase, now is the time to buy them for less than half the retail price you'll pay from Honda. Check out our GL1500 relay store page: G8MS-H30 Relays Of course, we still have our other products as well: GL1000/GL1100/GL1200 7 volt regulators, and our ever-popular GL1500/GL1800 GPS Input Devices.
Enjoy the holidays and do your best to stay well! Don't forget to check out the GoldwingDocs YouTube Channel! See you next month... |
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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. Also check out our New and Used Goldwing Parts Store! If you're looking for a new bike, or Januarybe parts for your old bike, check us out first! |
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Goldwing GPS Input Device The Goldwing GPS Audio Input Device continues to be 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 (including F6B) 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. |
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Replacement Goldwing GL1500 G8MS-H30 Relay The Goldwing GL1500 G8MS-H30 Relay is a relay used for quite a few different functions in the GL1500. The GL1500 is filled with relays - there is a box full of them, next to the fuse box! These relays are mechanical devices, and have a limited life. When they do fail, critical systems can be affected, leaving you stranded! It's always a good idea to carry one or two spare relays with you. We have these high-quality relays in stock, at less than half the price that you can buy the equivalent OEM relay from Honda! |
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Brand New 7 Volt Regulator for Four Cylinder Wings 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 thkat 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! |
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Newest Product Reviews Start it up: Hulkman Alpha A85S Jump Starter Unboxing and In-Depth Review (VIDEO) Back it up: Reverse Lights for your Wing Shine on: Cerakote and Vapor Blasting Replacement fuel hose: 5mm Cloth Braided Fuel Hose Strap your cargo - a video review of Rokstraps Stay visible: a review of the Feniex T3 Flasher A video on: Rivco Air Horns Shine on: The Last Coat Ceramic Coating Tool Porn: Knipex Adjustable Wrench Our very own GoldwingDocs 7-Volt Regulator gets a review! Tie down your bike with Canyon Dancer Handlebar Cup Tiedowns Adventure with Tiffani with her fantastic new motorcycle book Get rid of bungee cords forever: ROK Straps Move your bike around with Center Stand Dollies? Be heard, wirelessly with the LEXIN 2pcs LX-B4FM Motorcycle Bluetooth Intercom What's that? Another Oscilloscope? the DSO150 Digital Oscilloscope A great option for mounting your phone: the RAM Mount Quick Grip Handlebar Mount A unique idea for a phone mount: the RAM Mount GDS Dock Handlebar Mount A somewhat disappointing mount: the RAM X-Grip Handlebar Mount Clamp hoses and much more with the ClampTite Tool |
Pictures? We Love Pictures! Do you have pictures of your bike you want to share? Of course you do! And we want to see them! We have one of the largest collection of Goldwing-themed images on the Internet, with over 11,900 images, and it grows every day. Visit the Member Picture Gallery, view some of the great pictures, and add yours to the collection! The newest pictures uploaded each day are compiled into a single page, and if you like, you can have these pictures sent to your inbox waiting to greet you every morning. Check it out: Image Update Email |
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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. - How to Add LEDs to a GL1800 Radio and Handlegrips - How to Add LEDs to a GL1800 Navigation Panel - GL1500 Rear Brake Master Cylinder Out in 30 Minutes, Easy - How to Open a GL1500 Trunk with a Jammed Latch - GL1200 MPH to KM/H Quick Fix - How To Install an Electric Solenoid Fuel Shutoff Valve - How To Install a Fused Power Distribution Block - How to Fasten Cargo to your Bike (with VIDEO) - GL1000 Custom 3D Printed Cockpit - Torque Wrenches: How to use them, when, and why! (with VIDEO) - How to remove the GL1500 lenses from light housing - How to Restore old hard rubber parts - Cleaning up GL1500 Turn Switches - How to Make Your Own GL1500 Digital Gear Indicator - Adding Aftermarket CB Radio to GL1200 - How to Replace GL1500 Relays (with VIDEO) - How to Solve your Intermittent Engine Not Starting - How to fix broken plastic bodywork (with VIDEO) - Installing 4 Inch Replacement Front Speakers in GL1500 - How to replace discontinued GL1000 Carb Intake Boots with GL1500 parts - How to use a Ford F-250 Starter Solenoid on a GL1200 - How to repair broken plastic tabs - GL1500 Forks/wheel/tire on a GL1200? YES you can! - Homemade Regulator/Rectifier for GL1000/GL1100/GL1200 - How to Access the GL1500 Relay Box with a Motor Trike Kit - How to replace throttle shaft seals on GL1000/1100 carbs 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! And don't forget to check the GoldwingDocs New and Used Goldwing Parts Store, where you will find hundreds of parts and accessories for your bike! GoldwingDocs Message Forum If you haven't visited our Goldwing Message Forum lately, you owe it to yourself to check it out. With hundreds of thousands of messages posted by tens of 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 11,900 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! |
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