My Bike, Always has been, Always will be

[heli_madken]

Long story sorry!

Back in 1975 I saw an article on the first generation Gl1000 in a bike mag. There was the famous cutaway view of the engine and transmission on the centrefold and I was gobsmacked, it went straight on my bedroom wall. I made my mind up that I had to have one. It took me several smaller bike purchases and saving some money before I could buy my dream bike.

So on a beautiful late summers day 25th August 1978 I collected my Gold Wing, registration number YJP 198T. Riding her home I felt 10 foot tall. I still have the service record and owners manual -

20250729_144657.jpg

20250729_144811.jpg

Over the next few years I commuted to work, went on camping trips and generally loved her to bits. I havent got many pictures of the bike but here it is in 1981 wild camping/trial riding in Sundon Chalk Pits down in the south of England -

fd9b6971-679d-454e-bbf6-887616cef978.jpg

And in 1982 up in Scotland working on a friends house, excuse the horrible seat they where all the rage then -

20250729_150614.jpg

By 1982 she was starting to look a bit old fashioned. New bikes had arrived with a completely different look - Comstar wheels, black engine, no chrome more modern colour schemes etc. The new VF750 caught my eye. I have always loved technology and the anti dive forks, air suspension and particularly the digital elements of the dash just blew my mind. So I part exchanged for a new bike having done around 28,000 miles. I had paid £1995 in 1978 and the bike was now worth £1100 -

20250805_132208.jpg

My god what a mistake that was. My VF750 didnt suffer from chocolate camshafts like others it was an issue with the tensioner. Happened after only 2000 miles and was back in the shop. Took 5 weeks to fix, mechanic told me the tensioner spring guide was nothing more than coat hanger wire and had just bent. Got on the bike which sounded fine drove onto the main road and the same thing happened straight away so back in the shop, man was I furious. This happened two more times before I got shut with less than 4000 miles on the clock.

[heli_madken]

in 1989 I was sitting at traffic lights and watched as my bike rode past me, I tried to follow but could not catch up. This sparked a longing in me having realised the bike I sold was still going strong. It was heading towards a place called Maghull near Liverpool and the next day I actually drove around trying to find it.

Fast forward nearly twenty years, married, kids, work etc all in the way but I never forgot my Gold Wing. In 2005 the UK government introduced digital services related to checking a vehicles annual taxation status and roadworthy certificate (MOT). I remember waiting for the services to come online and keying in the registration to find she still existed! taxed and MOT'd with just 54k on the clock I was really excited. Frustratingly all my attempts at contacting the UK licencing authority (DVLA) over its location did not work so although I knew the bike still existed I was no further forward in finding her.

Checking the bikes status became a regular thing but I could not do anything other than watch the miles being added and see some stupid MOT fails for simple to fix items which kind of worried me that she wasnt being looked after. The Tax checking facility showed when the bike was last sold and over the next few years up to 2017 I saw her change ownership twice.

A divorce, meeting a beautiful woman and re-marrying slowed down my quest but by 2018 with the bikes 40th anniversary approaching I renewed my search. To my horror in early August when I searched the bike had been taken off the road (SORN - Sworn as Off Road Notice) and was no longer taxed or MOT'd. There could be two reasons for this either the bike was about to be restored (which I hoped would be the case) or had broken down and was about to be scrapped. Her last ever MOT showed she had now done 72,736 miles.

With the rise of social media I had often looked for the bike and regularly looked through classified ads hoping to spot her being sold but now I was on this with a vengance writing to every UK or EU Gold Wing forum I could find asking if anyone knew of her whereabouts.

By 2019 with no further news or any method of checking the bikes status I think I was starting to give up and my wife suggested I just buy a GL1000 as a conselation prize sort of. So I found a beautiful 1977 example and did a post on the bike here - viewtopic.php?t=66882

I did some work on the bike to fix various issues then set about trying to make it look the same as my bike. I changed the colour from black to Sirius Blue (at the time I thought this was the colour of my original bike) and fitted Krauser panniers. At one point I even fitted a Vetter fairing which I had tried in 1979 but like previously it didnt stay on long (not sure why I fitted it hated it the first time) -

20200921_144454.jpg

I didnt give up after all, constantly asking anywhere I could about the bike (I honestly dont know how the owner missed all the messages some are still online, Google YJP 198T to see) and constantly scanning 'for sale' sites. To my dissmay she sold again in July 2020 despite all my checking I had missed her again. At this point she was taxed as a historic vehicle which does not need an MOT certificate which gave me hope that she was going to be put back on the road.

Again I went back to constantly scanning for sale sites but nothing came up. That is until two weeks ago. I went through the usual routine one morning of entering YJP 198T in google, pressed enter expecting nothing then WHAM a result. She had frigging well been sold again on 7th June just a few weeks earlier on an auction site and I had missed her! Sold for just £1090($1451) with 74,122 miles on the clock, so only covered 1386 miles in the past 8 years -

https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/ ... 2&pn=7&g=1

I was totally downtrodden to begin with then rallied a little. Firstly I had pictures to look at, the first time I had seen the bike in 43 years. Looking at the pictures she looked sorry for herself but amazingly I could see things that I had done to her when I did a tidy up in 1980, notably the black painted rings around the top of the fork stanchions. Secondly I realised I had a contact possibility with the new owner by working with the Auction site so I emailed asking them if they would pass on my details.

It was a Sunday so I knew I would not get an answer straight away then it suddenly dawned on me that somebody may have bought the bike to sell on. So I searched on GL1000's for sale and WHAM again there she was for sale on eBay. I think I pressed buy before the page fully loaded.

I live in a remote area of Scotland but unbelievably the bike was only 125 miles away in Scotland also. I contacted the eBay seller and he confirmed that the bike was a non runner so I set about organising transport.

And after 43 years and what seemed like a longer few days wait for her to arrive here she is after all this time -

IMG-20250806-WA0011.jpg

Looking a bit tatty, I think I got here just in time looks like the previous owner had given up back in 2020 judging by the receipts that came with the bike.

Now for a moan that will probably get me in trouble. My intial assessment of this bike is that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with her. But she has been bodged to hell and back, some of them being quite dangerous. In my view if you are going to own and take responsibility for a classic vehicle then you have to look after it properly. if you cant do it yourself get someone else to look after it. If you can do neither then damn well buy a modern bike or car. I dont see the point in owning something that has managed to survive for decades then let it get into this state. I saw the same thing with my 87 Range Rover that I am currently restoring.

[heli_madken]

Enough with the moaning.

Now that I have the V5 (Title) document I can see more of the vehicles past. 17 previous owners, which I guess is about right for a 47 year old bike. It changed ownership in 2006 then again in 2008 but interestingly seems to have stayed in the same town Skegness as the MOT's where all completed by the same garage. She was then sold in 2020 and moved to Edinburgh which is not that far from where I live.

Looking around the bike I can see a few things that I did. In 1980 I fitted a Piranha electronic ignition system, you can still see evidence of where it was mounted -

20250807_094330.jpg

This scratch happened just a few days after I bought the bike, some jealous idiot, it upset me at the time, did not look as bad then -

20250807_095726.jpg

Question here, does anyone know what colour this is? Take no notice of the side panels only the tank is original. I thought it was Candy Sirus Blue but this colour is a lot lighter than the RS Bike paint version I bought to spray my other bike. The only other colour blue listed in the UK for this year is Candy Grandeur Blue which I cant find a picture of anywhere.

I am going to do some assessment over the next few days, none of the bills show that the PO bought new cambelts so they must be at least 5 years old so I will take a look before I do anything and wont run the engine for any length of time before they are replaced. The engine feels like it has good compression just using the kickstarter and the bores look to be ok using an inspection camera. Electrics are an absolute mess but I am getting an ignition light at least.

Sadly it isnt the original engine and looks to be an earlier one from the 1976 model year as it has a 2000---- serial number. This is dissapointing but I guess likely considering the bikes age.

My plan is to do a complete restoration right down to a bare frame. As far as engine is concerned I will take the heads off for a decoke and better look at the bores but wont split the cases unless I have to.

This will have to wait though as I am still working on my Range Rover but I will show progress here.

Thanks for letting me tell my story bit long winded I know sorry.

[Rat]

Great story, thanks for taking us along.

Someone smarter will tell you the colour

Gord

[gregforesi]

I know that color.
It's the "43 years of blues" blue.

[Track T 2411]

Great story! I'm glad it has worked out for you! Happy wrenching!

[Fred Camper]

Wow, perseverance paid off. Glad she found her lover.

[heli_madken]

Thanks everyone, after a bit of assessment and fixing some wiring issues I was able to get her started for a few minutes and sounds fantastic. Issue with the starter solenoid so not able to get a compression test done but the way the bike started and ran I am not overly worried.

Another lucky break as that the PO had the sense to leave the tank completely full so the tank is in great order.

Looks like this is going to be mostly a cosmetic restoration, cant wait to get started.

The exhaust is a Motad, it is undamaged and will polish up nicely but I am undecided about going back to an original exhaust. CMSNL do a new version but costs three times what I paid for the bike even ebay versions are extremely expensive in the UK so some head scratching to do.

[Fred Camper]

Stick with the Motad, good system and not as prone to rust.

[cfairweather]

Great story and I hope you get a lot of enjoyment restoring it.

[Whiskerfish]

Fantastic story of perseverance and dedication!!! Glad for you!!

[3KidsinAustin]

For all of us that have been unsuccessful in tracking down a vehicle that we've owned earlier and regretted selling, it is so satisfying to see a happy ending. Nice job,.and you have a fun project ahead of you.

[heli_madken]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I know I am very lucky to have found my bike, I am still finding myself staring for considerable lengths of time. I have so many happy memories tied up in the bike I guess its mostly about being 19 years old and not a care in the world, good times

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

I'm really late to this wonderful story of perseverance and recovery.

It reminds me of a deep, authentic version of what many classic vehicle sellers count on in pitching their wares: nostalgia.

The cool part of your story is that it's the culmination of a long quest to be reunited with the exact vehicle that sparked your passion decades ago. A similar Wing didn't cut it for you.

Thank you.

[theailer]

Wow! A really gripping story, thanks for sharing it with the rest of us.