My Gold Wing Remembered

[ÜberDoober]

Of all the bikes I've had the pleasure to own or get to know well, probably the coolest and strangest was the GL1500SE Honda Gold Wing I purchased new in 1993.

After pushing the limits of street riding and taking it to the track in the mid 80's, a few successful seasons of club racing and a few years of play riding motocross bikes, my desire to ride on the street again rose its ugly head. Resurrecting a retired GSX-R 750 race bike and getting it licensed, found me horribly and miserably uncomfortable after 50 miles of riding. Getting up north to the good twisties and getting back was a 300 mile day and I just wanted something I could ride, enjoy the scenery and not need a chiropractor afterwards.

I can't recall how I got on the idea of a Gold Wing. Maybe it was the urge to have something completely different or maybe I saw it as some sort of challenge? At any rate, the bottom line was signed and I was given the keys to my new beauty even though I didn't get the color I really wanted.

I had never ridden or even sat on a Gold Wing when I saddled up my new joy to head home from the dealership. It was huge, heavy as a car and certainly didn't stop like a GSX-R. It didn't take long and I was in love.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/WingTucson.jpg

I got into the whole Gold Wing scene, joined the GWRRA and ended up publisher of the monthly newsletter.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Newsletter.jpg

I took some great trips and had some great adventures. One of my more memorable jaunts was with my daughter up through Colorado and Utah through Zion and Bryce Canyon and back home via the north rim of the grand canyon. I had some big hair then and wonder how I got it all in my helmet? (pic with my kid somewhere in Colorado)
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/WingColor.jpg

I never did a 1,000 mile day but I did have a few over 900. The first real trip I took was up to northern California.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/WingNorCal.jpg

The best trip of my life was up the coast from So Cal to Seattle then on to Idaho, Wyoming and Montana and back through Utah and Nevada.

Those were good times. Due to life getting a little crazy, I had to sell my beautiful bike with just under 90,000 miles on her and nary a scratch. One of my greatest accomplishments in life was that I never dropped the behemoth or even had a tip over.

I miss my Gold Wing but life is busier now and finding time to just take off to New Mexico for lunch or bop over to Long Beach to visit a friend is not as easy as it used to be. Although she's not parked in my garage anymore, I'll never forget the miles and the smiles.

[kelstr]

oh my god i forgot about that dam huge heavy thing :eek:,
and thats wright it was supposed to be white instead of teal green :confused:

remember when you did that IRON MAN event--( 48 lower states in 50 days ) with that really strange guy that did not ever shower and he came from Germany with a K model beamer .

and he had the GPS computer screen up in the wind screen to guide him where he wanted to go ?

that guy was really odd.

[ÜberDoober]

remember when you did that IRON MAN event--( 48 lower states in 50 days ) with that really strange guy that did not ever shower and he came from Germany with a K model beamer .

and he had the GPS computer screen up in the wind screen to guide him where he wanted to go ?

that guy was really odd.

Almost right. It was my friend, Martin Hildebrandt who finished 3rd in the 1995 Ironbutt Rally and I do believe he was on a Honda ST-1100? He had all kinds of gizmos, the most obnoxious of which was a big old clunky laptop on top of the biggest tank bag in the world. He let me ride it part way back from Long Beach to Phoenix and it was so crammed full of stuff and so top heavy, it scared the crap out of me. Here's some info about him from the IBA website: http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/1995.cfm?DocID=10. He did something crazy a year or two after and tried the IronButt Rally again on some vintage 250cc two-stroke.

[kelstr]

boy old Martin is a strange one !!, he really liked the Iron butt ride.

i still did not think he was on a Honda ----but my alzheimer's must be setting in and getting worse :ack2:

he was an interesting guy to say the least :cheers2: