One of my first bikes was an 1100 Goldwing. I liked it, but I wanted some of the new technology and so I bought a 2000 BMW K1200lt. Then I got into Adventure riding and bought a few ADV bikes, then I really wanted my wife to ride with me and she could not get on the tall ADV bike I had, so I decided to get a Goldwing. I wanted a 1500, but had $0 to spend. Then I saw an ad on CL for 2 Goldwings, a 1984 GL1200 Aspencade and a 1989 GL1500 for $600. They were in rough shape, but complete. The 84 had a "poor boy" conversion, but the alternator was missing. The 1500 was all there, but ugly. Lots of cracks in the plastics, and 175,000 miles.
I only got the title to the 84 1200, but she had paperwork for the other bike. I got the 2 bikes both running and rode them down the road. I never liked the 1200, just too ugly and the 1500 was going to require too much work and the title became almost impossible.
I went to a Honda dealer across the state and bought a 1996 Goldwing SE, white/silver, in perfect condition and rode home happy.
Now I have an Ugly 1200 and a useless 1500 parts bike. I miss being able to hit the gravel roads and having a bike that if dropped is no big deal. I wanted another ADV bike. But, I am getting older and parts of my body are failing and so big ADV bikes and Big adventure is not happening. So, the idea came to make the 1200 into a ADV bike.
By ADV bike I mean a bike that I can ride anywhere I want, gravel, dirt, forest roads and still do 80MPH through Montana and Idaho.
This will never be a BMW R1200GSA, or ever go around the world like Charlie Boorman or Ewan McGregor, but I do want to ride with my friend that has a Honda CB500X. We like to go off the beaten path sometimes.
On to the bike. It is a 1984 GL1200 Aspencade that is now stripped of everything I don't want. You will see in the pictures that I have retained the rear rack and it will stay. I want to have someplace to tie down gear when we travel. This will not be a cafe racer style, more work less play.
I wanted to run something more aggressive for tires, but the options for tires were limited due to the 16in front and 15in rear. So, I installed the whole front end from the GL1500 on the 1200. I will be doing the rear too when I get the time.
As of now I have it running, I need to do some tinkering to get the carbs running a little better, maybe some SeaFoam. The tail lights are just zip tied on, the shelter needs a lot of work, and I need to replace the headlight with something legal. It is just a spot light off my truck. The 2 LED lights are what is working right now. I am also running the handle bars from my old CB500X and some E-Bay masters. For rear shocks I am using 2 coil spring shocks off 2 Gl1500s. Its a bit stiff right now, but I want to add some weight to the back like if it was loaded for camping to see it it is still too stiff.
As the title says, I am not sure where this is going yet. Anyway, this is the start of it.
