1978 GL1000 GVWR

[bacchus451]

Hey all,

I'm purchasing a 1978 GL1000 in the coming days and am wondering if anyone has any idea what the GVWR on this bike is, or what your experiences are with carrying a lot of weight on the bike. I ask because myself and my wife are not small individuals, and I'm curious as to if we're going to make the Goldwing hate its new owners.

Thanks

[virgilmobile]

I hope this answers your question...

[bacchus451]

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for, although it is woefully low for the two of us unfortunately. Are there any sort of things that I could do to up that vehicle capacity? Probably better springs/brakes/tires?

[virgilmobile]

The tires are the stickler.You can only put on one size and they do have a limit for safety.
The bike really can't be redesigned to increase the load capacity by much.

Probably time to do like the Wing Admin......Get her a bike too...

[Fred Camper]

Honda was pretty conservative in terms of GVWR, I see plenty of users with bags and two up. Yet north of 400 lbs does not seem wise to me.

[portugeezer]

I'm not recommending this but I have had well over 400lbs on mine. There is a guy who lives somewhere in my town who is seen riding all over on a CB 750. This guy is huge I'm guessing over 400lbs. On top of that his wife or girlfriend who believe it or not rides on the same bike with him looks to be somewhere around 300lbs! I see this guy riding around every summer. The bike looks stock to me. Just sayin'

[virgilmobile]

It all boils down to the safety load limit of the tires...There stamped on them...
It does not include the 650lbs of the bike either or weight distribution.
You could overload them for a short slow drive and be reasonably safe ....but I have had overloaded truck tires separate from the case at 50mph.

[Solina Dave]

Hey Virgil, I hope you're dealing with your flood damage rebuild well. I'm thinking about you.
I'm going to resurrect this antique thread for a quick question, since my bike's way down in the shed and packed away, and I don't want to go to all the trouble of uncovering it to check the info. on the label. If the bike weighs 601 lbs. dry, would the official GVWR that one may apply to some legal document be 961 lbs. (601 +360)? And is that likely what's indicated on the label?

Thanks.............Dave

[SnoBrdr]

Hey Virgil, I hope you're dealing with your flood damage rebuild well. I'm thinking about you.
I'm going to resurrect this antique thread for a quick question, since my bike's way down in the shed and packed away, and I don't want to go to all the trouble of uncovering it to check the info. on the label. If the bike weighs 601 lbs. dry, would the official GVWR that one may apply to some legal document be 961 lbs. (601 +360)? And is that likely what's indicated on the label?

Thanks.............Dave

You'd really have to subtract the 5 gallons of gas, the almost gallon of oil and the coolant from that 360 lbs.

Maybe 50 lbs ?

[Solina Dave]

Of course. The fuel, oil, and coolant would be part of the 360 lbs., as would the fairing and bags, and gear.With all that stuff onboard, I'll have to go on a diet to stay legal.

[virgilmobile]

Short of looking at the tag or possibly the title,the closest thing I can come up with is this image from Google.This 78 list GVWR at 1010 lbs.
About what I expected.I think the 77 was 1000 lbs GVWR
My 88 is 1270...tires..front 600,rear 853.

[Solina Dave]

Thanks for the image Virgil. That kind of settles it. My '78 GL weighs 601 lbs. dry. If as the image indicates, GVWR is 1010 lbs. that gives me 409 lbs. of legal load. A full load of fuel, oil, and coolant weighs 45 lbs. My Krauser side cases weigh 50 lbs. with rated load, and the top case is 16 lbs with rated load. The mounting hardware is about 10 lbs. The Windjammer SS fairing with lowers is roughly 40lbs. That's a total of 160 lbs. With 409 lbs. available, I'm left with 249 lbs. That's about what I weigh, so I'm lucky that I ride solo. A few things in the fairing, and a 20 lb. duffle bag on the back seat, and I'm good-to-go.

Come on spring .................Dave

[dingdong]

Nothing to worry about.