82 goldwing- The Non-Project

[1140customs]

I bought this bike because I needed a bike that wasn't a project and would carry my wife and I easily. found this one for $1k. "running and riding". It did run (roughly) and I rode it a few miles before buying it and hauling it home. rusted off exhaust, and ALL the extra lights, but it seemed like a worthy candidate with a few maintenance items taken care of and pulling all the extras off.

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Removed all the fenders, fairings and bags. installed ebay headlight. welded on some cheap ebay mufflers. removed the air adjustment system and tapped the fork tops and installed an air valve for adjustment (the rear shocks had been replaced with aftermarket by PO). installed the black plastics that came with in the mountain of parts that came with the bike. moved all the controls as far in on the bars as I could, cut about 2.5in off the bars and installed new grips. changed the timing belts. adjusted valves. THAN checked compression and found #1 cyl almost no compression. pulled head off and found this:

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ordered and installed new valve, checked over carbs and we have a runner! I've put about 100 miles in it and i love it! I did find that the random rear shocks the PO installed are 14" ( 2" over stock?) probably to support all the extra weight he had on the rear. makes it ride a little funny with just me on it. I did some research and have a used set of 11.5" shocks from a sportster 1200 ordered so I'll see what that's like when they get here.

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[5speed]

looks great. I went with progressive series 12's on my 82 standard. not a fan of air ride suspensions. I have zero complaints on the progressives.

[1140customs]

ya I looked at progressive but I've got to many projects and not enough money . I plan to do the progressive springs in the forks when I can. I figured oem harley shocks can't be that bad.

[5speed]

ya I looked at progressive but I've got to many projects and not enough money . I plan to do the progressive springs in the forks when I can. I figured oem harley shocks can't be that bad.

oh can I relate. lol
I would think they would be good shocks.

[1140customs]

well I've got the harley rear shocks on and have put over 300 miles on this bike. getting ready to ride to Barber Vintage Festival in Oct.
Here's the best pic I've got of it lower. That's my brothers vf700 sabre.

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I'll try to post a flyby video here..https://youtu.be/GJTYOb_SMuI

[1140customs]

A few things i've been working on. finished and test my luggage rack. (it's not actually tilted, don't know why it looks like it is in the pic)

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made a mount to mount a charger/voltage meter.

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built some little foot mounts to keep my feet from slipping off the head when cruisin .

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[1140customs]

also reworked my phone mount to be a little less intrusive.

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[pidjones]

Moving right along! We will be at Barber on a chauk mettalic 2021 Spyder RT Limited. Next you might look at correcting the "three yellow wires" connector from the alternator. Too small and unprotected in an area that sees road water and battery fumes. When resistance goes high, the connectors heat up, melt the plastic and short to each other. Taking out the stator! Common problem from the 1000s through the 1200s. At a minimum, clean tighten and pack with dielectric grease to keep water out.

[1140customs]

This the connection you where talking about? Right in front of that battery? Looks like they've been solders and covered with heat shrink by someone in the past. Posting from my phone so the pic may be tilted

[wingrider]

Looks good to me!

[toomanybikes]

ya I looked at progressive but I've got to many projects and not enough money . I plan to do the progressive springs in the forks when I can. I figured oem harley shocks can't be that bad.

Re: the HD shocks, I'm thinking of doing the same on my '81 1100. Assuming the mounting bolts are not the same sizes, could you re-use the rubber and sleeves from the GL shocks? Are the out mounting rings(?) the same diameter?

[1140customs]

The shocks on the bike were already aftermarket shocks. It looked like the PO had modified the bushings to make them work. I managed to press them out and reuse but not really happy with them. It would be nice to find or make something better.