New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

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heli_madken
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New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#1

Post by heli_madken »

Took delivery of my new bike today, fully restored and beautifully completed
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To say I am chuffed is an understatement, rides fantastic I love the turbine like whine the engine makes under acceleration and so smooth.

The bike has only done 500 miles since the rebuild so I am still treating her very gently.

I could do with a little advice on a few points, firstly only occasionally I get a heavy clunk when the clutch is taking up load, not sure it is anything serious as the gears and clutch otherwise work really well.

I have exactly the same problem I had on my K2 forty years ago, the starter button isnt brilliant, I remember ultimately it failed and I ended up using an instrument cluster off a KZ, are there any remedies?

Whilst I wouldn't admit to being a 14st weakling I havent got a hope of getting the bike on the centre stand. I recall the technique was to put all your weight on the centre stand extension whilst pulling up via the grab rail. Although this bike hasnt been lowered its almost as if the centre stand is too long. Any advice, are there any paddock alternatives?

Lastly does anyone know of a disc lock that fits the front discs?

Thanks for any help, Ken
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wingrider
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#2

Post by wingrider »

Congratulations on a fine specimen! Very nice!

My guess is the clunk you are hearing is normal....but without knowing when it happens, it is only a guess.

Someone else can help with the starter button... mine was long gone and a very bad replacement was fitted. My solution was not exactly oem.

They do take a bit of finesse to get up on the center stand.... I found it worked better to try to push down with your foot more than pulling up with your hand seemed to work the best.
2002 1800 Wing
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1978 1200 EFI Wing with Motorvation Coupe Royale sidecar
1977 1200 Wing cafe/bobber project
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Pony Ruiz
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#3

Post by Pony Ruiz »

Wow! Nice! Enjoy!
oh yeah and
Ride Safely!
1978GL1000 naked - kinda sadly gone. no bike at the moment.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." Albert A. Bartlett.
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Lucien Harpress
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#4

Post by Lucien Harpress »

Ah, the ol' "Honda Clunk"....

Both my wings do it, 1000 and 1200. Some have said it's wear on the driveshaft... return spring? Something? A spring somehow on the driveshaft. In any case, unless it gets real worse very fast, it's harmless. Just a quirk of the machine (which looks VERY nice).
1997 Valkyrie- Light Cutomization, but Too Busy Riding
1980 KZ1300- Bike's Haunted
1976 GL1000 (Yellow)- It Runs (Poorly) and Doesn't Leak (Mostly)
1974 Velosolex 3800- Better Than Walking
1972 CB750- Broke the Chain And Ate the Motor
1969 CT90- The Most Fun You Can Have on 90ccs.
1965 CA77 Dream- Needs a Full Teardown, but Complete

All advice I give is only valid until an expert corrects me.
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#5

Post by pjlogue »

For putting the bike on the center stand, I tend to put my weight on the stand arm while pulling up and back. You can kind of use your right leg as a pivot point for your arm to help with the pulling up and back on the grab rail. I have found the GL1000 much easier to put on the center stand than my CB750K-6 even though the 750 is much lighter.

Beautiful bike by the way!

-P.
82_GL1100
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#6

Post by 82_GL1100 »

The bike looks great and it sounds like they did a nice job on the restoration.

When I got my 82, my main ride was a 700 lb sport-tourer from a different manufacturer. I'm an average-sized guy, and could put it up on its center stand barefoot. I could barely get the GL1100 up on the center without getting a hernia.

As noted, technique helps, but the stand is not one of the engineering highlights of the early Wings. It is ugly, heavy, intrusive, and extremely difficult to use. Since you have a nice resto, my mod wouldn't work for you. I cut off the arm, down to about 2.5". No more barked shins, no ugly foot sticking up by the muffler, and saved some weight. If I really need to get the bike up on the center-stand, I use a 3-way lug wrench (similar to this: https://bbh.bostwick-braun.com/productdetail/450139) as the replacement arm.

As to a disk lock, I've used the Kryptonite Series 2 lock for years and have been quite happy with the product. (https://www.kryptonitelock.com/en/locks ... cycle.html) They now have a couple of upgraded locks that look interesting as well. After the first time that I tried to ride off without removing the disk lock, I added the fork lock reminder stretchy cable. It has saved me several times over the years.
82 GL1100 Standard 44k miles 83 wheels & forks
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Lucien Harpress
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#7

Post by Lucien Harpress »

The thing about center stand usage is that it's best to stop thinking of it as "lifting" the bike. It's waaaay too heavy to do that. Instead, either focus on pushing DOWN with your leg (which will lever the bike up), or taking the two point of contact (foot on center stand, hand on grab bar) and prying them APART. Either way, let your legs do a lot of the work.

(But that being said, of the 4-cylinder Goldwings, the GL1000 is by far the worst.)
1997 Valkyrie- Light Cutomization, but Too Busy Riding
1980 KZ1300- Bike's Haunted
1976 GL1000 (Yellow)- It Runs (Poorly) and Doesn't Leak (Mostly)
1974 Velosolex 3800- Better Than Walking
1972 CB750- Broke the Chain And Ate the Motor
1969 CT90- The Most Fun You Can Have on 90ccs.
1965 CA77 Dream- Needs a Full Teardown, but Complete

All advice I give is only valid until an expert corrects me.
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flyin900
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#8

Post by flyin900 »

Nice example of a great model and year.

Honda still offers an OEM replacement right hand switch to fix the issue, as the plastic internal holder that keeps all the electrical bits together falls apart with age. The early Goldwings are very prone to this switch and the starter button internals disintegrating on the original switches.

The replacement switch is about $120 Canadian, so use that as a guideline price wise. If your handy with wiring it is doable yourself. The down side is the wiring is run through the internal holes inside the handlebars and down to the large bundle of wires on the left side of the shelter area. So it takes a little fishing of the wires and some wiring skills inside the main bundle of wires.

Here’s a couple of pictures of a new OEM Honda switch I bought and repainted to match the rest of my switches on the 1976 I restored a few years ago.
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Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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Jonesz
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#9

Post by Jonesz »

Here is a bit of a how to on the center stand technique:
https://www.youtube.com/v/isSKOI259GI?g ... rel=0&hd=1

Great looking bike by the way! Very nicely restored and/or maintained. You must be very proud of it.
Jonesz

1983 GL1100 Aspencade named "Freki" currently undergoing change to a standard. Sold
1999 Valkyrie CT 1500 goes by the moniker "Valerie"
1978 Gl1000 "Loki" new project going to be a Cafe Convertible
1979 Suzuki GS850. Sold
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Graham Cracker
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#10

Post by Graham Cracker »

Beautiful machine! Enjoy the rides.
Mark

1975 GL 1000 Candy Antares Red
1976 GL 1000 Sulfur Yellow
1977 GL 1000 Pearl White
1978 GL 1000 Candy Limited Maroon
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pidjones
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#11

Post by pidjones »

Beautiful! I had a '77 in the same trim. If it had your handlebars, I might have kept it. The stock Honda bars killed my back. Your "Eurobars" are the same as I've added to my ladt two builds. BTW, it appears that they have not run the wiring through the bars, so replacing the right-hand switch assembly should be easy. The throttle tube can be used with the new assembly. Since you have lower bars, you may even have enough wiring slack to slide the whole assembly off the bar end. Mind routing of cables and wires if you pull any out. The FSM (you can find pdf copies online) has diagrams of proper routing.

The clunk is most likely the output shaft damper working - it keeps from breaking things by giving a spring-loaded shock absorber in the driveline.
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"Love 'em all.... let God sort 'em out!"
Ex 2006 GL1800 - the Black Pearl SOLD! to make room for:
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Whiskerfish
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#12

Post by Whiskerfish »

The pic above is probably 90% of your drive line clunk. I call it the "half rotation clunk" if you search those words there are many discussions.

For the center stand issue. With stock shocks they sag over the years and force you to lift a lot more than it was originally setup for. Putting a piece of 1-2 inch thick lumber under the back wheel will assist greatly. Just make sue it is not under the center stand also or that will defeat the purpose. One hand on the handlebars the other on the grab rail. Right foot on the center stand apply modest pressure then raise the bike to vertical. Rock it gently left and right so you can feel when both pads of the center stand are making contact with the ground. Once you are sure of that then you do the pull and push.

As you reach the zenith going over the top of the center stand you want to increase your lift slightly and slowly let it down onto the stops. A lot of bike that have been "thrown" up on center over the years will do damage to the center stand support.

The whole evolution does take some strength but it is also a lot of technique.
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2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
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Shadowjack
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#13

Post by Shadowjack »

My '77 has a driveline clunk as well. I've never worried about it all that much.
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CYBORG
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#14

Post by CYBORG »

On the idle issue, what RPM set at? To high cause a clunk when engaging first gear. Idle RPM should be around 1K-1.5K
1978 custom GL1000
1977 custom with 1200 engine
1985 gl1200
EdK
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Re: New Bike - 1977 GL1000 K2

#15

Post by EdK »

Rock it gently left and right so you can feel when both pads of the center stand are making contact with the ground. Once you are sure of that then you do the pull and push.
This was the key for me.
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1978 GL1000
1987 Shadow VT700
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