Another GL650 owner

[[i]]

Sold my 78 GL1000 last week, local broker picked it up and getting it shipped to Norway:



Today, picked me up an early birthday present for cheap

83 GL650 Interstate, +13k mi., runs decent, cosmetically 60-70%, PO took a nice tumble that had some nice scratches on the sidecases and topbox, dent on exhaust headers and the swingarm; but rides nice, tracks straight, no wiggle at 70+ mph when I let go of the handlebars.
Tires, forkseals, brakes all in decent shape, there may be a cafe/bobber in my near future.

[chewy999]

Got to say I hated my GL650, but I had it after my GL1100, maybe I was expecting to much. Came to a head when I had to change the rear tyre. Long story short, ended up back at the dealer who had to use a bar on the swing arm to make enough room to remove the wheel! Maybe it was made on a Friday afternoon, but got rid of it soon after.

[[i]]

Got to say I hated my GL650, but I had it after my GL1100, maybe I was expecting to much.

At least you know it's your problem

I'm happy with my purchase, much more so than the GL1000.

[chewy999]

Got to say I hated my GL650, but I had it after my GL1100, maybe I was expecting to much.

At least you know it's your problem

I'm happy with my purchase, much more so than the GL1000.

Never mean to offend, but one of the best things about this world of ours, is that we are all different, with different tastes in everything, and as I said, maybe I bought a rogue model. Sure there are many satisfied GL650 riders, but just explaining what I found.

[duke182]

I loved mine. Until the timing chain guides came apart.
Then I liked itba little less.
But not much.

[[i]]

I loved mine. Until the timing chain guides came apart.
Then I liked itba little less.
But not much.

What was the circumstance?

how many miles?

ridden hard?

maintained properly?

Gotta be a story behind it.

[Sidecar Bob]

Long story short, ended up back at the dealer who had to use a bar on the swing arm to make enough room to remove the wheel!

Talk about butchers. I hope you never, ever let that dealer work on anything of yours again. If the tire is the stock size you should be able to get it between the final drive and the swingarm if you let the air out. If the tire is wider than stock you sometimes have to remove the final drive.

As for how much pep they have,
GL1000 - 80 HP/650 Lb.
GL650 - 65 HP/500 Lb.

Add in your weight and do the math. For anyone under about 200 Lb the ratio should be about the same.

[duke182]

I loved mine. Until the timing chain guides came apart.
Then I liked itba little less.
But not much.

What was the circumstance?

how many miles?

ridden hard?

maintained properly?

Gotta be a story behind it.

The circumstance surrounding the failure was not exciting.
Riding home from work shifted into third, in traffic so only mild acceleration, and the motor quit. determined the cause later after being towed home at the end of a rope. Behind a friends 56 chevy. We sure got some crazy looks.

Dont remember the milage.
Too lazy to go look.
Rode it everyday for 15 months.
Sometimes very briskly but never, ok maybe twice I can remember, in a really agressive manner.
Normal maintainance
But looking back I guess I was a day late giving it what cx riders call the triple bypass.

Really a fun bike to ride.
I'll put mine back in service someday.
I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine

Be sure to check the cam chain adjuster and guides, the waterpump and the stator and rectifier.

Oh yeah, check your tire air pressure regularly.
But thats another story...

[chewy999]

Long story short, ended up back at the dealer who had to use a bar on the swing arm to make enough room to remove the wheel!

Talk about butchers. I hope you never, ever let that dealer work on anything of yours again. If the tire is the stock size you should be able to get it between the final drive and the swingarm if you let the air out. If the tire is wider than stock you sometimes have to remove the final drive.

The tyre was the original, and I'd owned a CX500 and GL1100 (and at the time I was an RAF engineer), so expected the wheel change to be easy. Even the dealer had problems. May be wrong, but seem to remember the problem was a spacer that just couldn't clear the space to allow the wheel to come out, (without a little persuasion)!

[Sidecar Bob]

3 nuts and the final drive is off and there is more room than you could ever need. You would think someone who was supposed to know what they were doing would be able to figure that out instead of prying the swingarm out of line, wouldn't you?

[Missourimike]

You mean the rear tire on a direct drive motorcycle can be changed without removing that big pumpkin? Dang, all these years, I've be doing it the hard way, taking off those 3 little nuts! You learn something new on this forum every day.

[Sidecar Bob]

Even if your tire is narrow enough to fit without removing the FD, you really should at least loosen those nuts and re-tighten them after the axle nut is done up to make sure everything is lined up properly anyway...

[[i]]

Not sure what the big deal removing the rear wheel... centerstand, add another 1" block of wood under each centerstand legs; one at a time, easily get clearance under the bike to remove the rear wheel.

I've removed the rear crashbars from my GL, it was hitting the swingarm as the shock compresses:



Bike feel lighter without the side cases and rear crashbars:



So far I've put about 200 miles on it, 3.96 gal. of fuel used.. considering all the extra weight it still carries:

[[i]]

Anyone know of a suitable rear shock replacement for the OEM air shock?

The OEM rear shock feels like a pogo stick, wishy-washy feel when you hit a bump in corners.. May be great for comfort, but not very inspiring handling when spriting through the twisties.

[Sidecar Bob]

Yeah, but a real bike has somewhere to carry a few tools, a rainsuit and your lunch. If it doesn't its just a poodle bike

And the big deal is that, some correct spec size tires (apparently even the original tires) won't fit between the final drive and the swingarm unless you let the air out of them and some not even then. Same for GoldWings too.

The shock was made to be rebuilt. Honda no longer carries the parts but if your seals are OK you can probably get away with just disassembling, cleaning and re-filling with the correct amount of fluid. Its in the FSM but you may find this easier to understand http://cxgl.wikispaces.com/Rear+Suspension+System (bottom of page). The procedure is identical for the CX650E shock and AFAIK for the GL650 shock too.

There are shocks for other bikes that can be adapted but you will have to go to cx500forum.com and ask (or better yet search first)

BTW: While you have it apart you should consider adding zerk fittings to the Pro-Link so that you can grease it without disassembling it http://cxgl.wikispaces.com/ProLink (see my comments about getting the grease to the bolts)