help...new owner

[wbwick]

Purchased a 2000 gold edition 1500 with 19k miles. sat for some years, just got it back running frm the shop.
Found a great shop in Mechanicsville va as well.
I am Learning at everystep. Absolutely the heaviest and biggest bike I have ridden.
looking for a How to Book.....Like chiltons etc... love this site,
Live in Mechanicsville VA

[NVSB4]

First, welcome to the forum.
Either the official Honda Service Manual or the Clymer manual are the way to go. Both are over 700 pages.
You can find the Clymer really cheap on Amazon here ($35).

[wbwick]

First, welcome to the forum.
Either the official Honda Service Manual or the Clymer manual are the way to go. Both are over 700 pages.
You can find the Clymer really cheap on Amazon here ($35).

thanks, just ordered one. was 30.00

[tfdeputydawg]

/How-To-Articles-GL1500.asp

[WingAdmin]

Honestly, between the two, I would go with the Honda service manual. It contains far more detailed information, and a lot less inaccuracies. There is a tradeoff, wherein the Honda service manual glosses over some procedures that it would expect a competent mechanic to already know, whereas the more consumer-oriented Chiltons is targeted more to the home DIY'er. That said, Chiltons (and Haynes) are also famous for glossing over hopelessly complex tasks, while going into great detail over the simplest things: i.e. two pages dedicated to the removal of a spark plug, but then a single paragraph instructing you to split the engine case.

[harvey01]

wbwick,

Welcome to the website from Varina, VA. I am not riding this late in the year but would love to get together with you.

I agree totally with Wing Admin on the choice of the Honda Manual. Yes it is more expensive.

Also now that you have gotten that Wing running, you have to decide what to do with it for the winter. If it is going to sit for more than a week or so you need to treat the ethanol gas so you are not having the carbs redone in spring.

And I would love to hear about this shop in Mechanicsville.

[NVSB4]

Honestly, between the two, I would go with the Honda service manual. It contains far more detailed information, and a lot less inaccuracies.

Agreed, but you can't get the one from Honda for $30 and the Clymer is still detailed enough to get the average non-mechanic out of trouble.
Anything else of course, we turn to you.

[thrasherg]

I realise you didn't ask this, but I would strongly recommend changing the tyres! If you had a competent shop check it over they will have checked brake lines and fuel lines (Anything rubber dries out when not used and will split) but people often overlook tyres, if they have tread they use them.. Like the others I always buy the genuine Honda manual, found lots of mistakes and errors in cheaper manuals (Not saying the honda manual is perfect!!) but any manual is better than nothing.. Congratulations on the new ride and you will soon get use to the weight, once moving you don't notice it, so you learn to get better at controlling the bike at slow speeds (where you do notice it)!! I like to practice slow riding in traffic jams just to improve my riding skills in general and get more comfortable with the weight of my bike..

Gary

[PastoT]

Well a hardy welcome to the site and your new to you wing. Congrats! Yes she may be bigger and heavier than you've had previously but you'll adapt to it with a bit of riding and parking lot practice. My 1800 looked humongous when I first got it, and now it actually feels a bit small and is as nimble as anything I've ridden (and I don't do the DQ and Crispy Kreme rides... LOL). I found what worked for me is the Honda manual on CD, I just loaded it up to my tablet for portability and waited to buy a used hard copy later. I have both now and there is something to be said for a hard copy if you like to flip through and just browse the information, but in the shop it can get grimy pretty quick.

[wbwick]

Find a fair and seemingly honest shop in Mechanicsville "seasoned Cycles"
Got a quote. ..they called me in to show me what and why.
Charged me less than the quote in the end.
Clean shop.
Nice people.