BIKE OF THE MONTH

The story of our current Gold Wing starts with the making of my (Bob’s) personal “bucket list” in about mid-2007. I put a number of things on that list, including attending a Wing Ding, which Linda and I had never done before. The thing about that particular list item was that we didn’t own a Gold Wing or belong to GWRRA at the time! Oops! Details! Details! Now, that’s not to say we didn’t own a Gold Wing before. We Did. Linda and I bought a brand new, off-theshowroom-floor, dark blue 1984 Interstate when we were living in Minneapolis, MN. We rode other motorcycles before, but never a Gold Wing. After one nice long weekend ride up along the north shore of Lake Superior with friends the seed was planted. Our friends were riding an ’82 Gold Wing and we were on a Suzuki GS1000G with a Vetter fairing and soft bags. After that ride, Linda noticed that when we were tired and wanting to stop, our friends were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to keep riding. When we got home Lindasaid, “What kind of bike was that the Yorks were riding?”“A Honda Gold Wing”, I said. “We’re getting one”,she said! “OK Honey”, I said. (What a good wife!) We rode that bike from 1984 to 1995 and then sold it to help finance a new car.

Bob & Linda Schultz’s 1987 GL1200 Aspencade

Not knowing how serious we were going to be about getting back to riding, and not wanting to spend five figures on a bike to find out, I decided to start a search for a really great condition GL1200. The bike suits us well, plus I can do almost all the maintenance and repair myself, as I had done previously on our ’84. After about six months of searching, I found it. In Tucson, Arizona! Yup, I said Arizona! After much conversation with the current owner and about two dozen high resolution digital pictures later, the deal was made, and the shipping was arranged. It had just 79k on the odometer and came with all the previous owners’ service records and receipts. The bike arrived at our doorstep on December 12th of 2007. Here she is upon arrival. It was in great condition, as well it should have been considering the previous owners. One was a retired Army helicopter pilot and another was a retired Air Force mechanic! Since I’m ex-Navy, I guess it’s officially a “U.S. Military” bike. It’s had a life of great care, and it never left Arizona until I bought it. The body panels were all spotless, paint was bright, the chrome all clean, and hardly any rust was visible anywhere on the bike.

It was in great condition, as well it should have been considering the previous owners. One was a retired Army helicopter pilot and another was a retired Air Force mechanic! Since I’m ex-Navy, I guess it’s officially a “U.S. Military” bike. It’s had a life of great care, and it never left Arizona until I bought it. The body panels were all spotless, paint was bright, the chrome all clean, and hardly any rust was visible anywhere on the bike. We fired it up, rode it for about a month, and then I stared the “tear down”. Yes, I said tear down. I took the bike nearly entirely apart to do a complete inspection and upgrade of anything that it might have needed. At one point, the only thing left on the frame was the engine, the upper fairing, and the fuel tank! I installed Progressive Suspension springs in the front forks and the rear shocks, new wheel bearings in both wheels, and replaced any and all rubber parts that looked worse for the wear. Here’s a shot just before the rear shocks and rear wheel came off. By early 2008 we were riding what looked to be a brand new GL1200. Oops, but still not GWRRA members! A quick online sign-up solved that problem. We were a bit late signing up for Wing Ding 30 in Greenville, SC, but did get signed up and also got a very nice motel to stay in. So, now all was in place to check off this particular item on my bucket list!