1983 Honda Goldwing Aspencade split brakes


Information and questions on GL1100 Goldwings (1980-1983)
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Britcheflee
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2023 2:38 pm
Location: Camino, CA
Motorcycle: 1983 Honda 1100 Goldwing Aspencade

1983 Honda Goldwing Aspencade split brakes

Post by Britcheflee »



I purchased a 1983 Honda Aspencade for a very reasonable price. It came with the rear master cylinder missing. I thought nothing of this thinking that getting a replacement would be no problem. Well, I now know what I am sure many others here have discovered that the split brake system requires a specific, and hard to find, master cylinder. I am in the early stages of restoration however at some point when I get it to go....I need it to stop. I did get a rear master cylinder from what I now know is a 1982 and quickly came to find out that would not work on this bike. So my questions are: Is there an aftermarket master cylinder available which provides the pressure to work this split system - what are the chances of finding an original master cylinder nowadays and, finally has anyone just taken out this split system and gone back to the single master cylinder to rear and front caliper as they had for many years prior to this split system. Also - how many years did they use this system? Would a rear master cylinder from a 84 85 or such work in this case?


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crazzy450z
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 8:45 am
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Motorcycle: 1983 GL1100 Aspencade

Re: 1983 Honda Goldwing Aspencade split brakes

Post by crazzy450z »

Many people (including myself) have removed the split system. You will need a different front master cylinder as well. I used a front master from a vf750 and the rear from a 82 GL. The best is to also replace all lines with braided at this time as well. And remove all the unused hard lines.
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gsp4711
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:54 am
Location: United Kingdom
Motorcycle: GL1100A

Re: 1983 Honda Goldwing Aspencade split brakes

Post by gsp4711 »

You will also need to determine a route for the pipe from the rear master cylinder to the rear wheel. On the split system this runs via the proportional pressure device (under the left side of the machine just below the swinging arm) which you now would need to bypass.
The feed to the front brakes on the earlier bikes had a splitter located across the forks mounted below the bottom yoke. An alternative would be to run two pipes from the master cylinder or loop over from one wheel cylinder to the other.. The supplier of the braided hoses that I used has these options available.
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