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07 Dec 2006, 5:56 am / Stressed
I have ridden many different types of motorcycles, or I should say many different name brands of bikes in my almost 45 years of riding.
Every bike I have owned has hit the 100,000 mile get up & go limit on the odometer. Some bikes have had much more than that though.
My goldwing has over 250,000 miles on it now. I love it to death. However, it has failed me one time too many now.
Many Harley riders ask me, why do you ride a goldwing when you own an e-glide? To me it's not the name brand I prefer to be on, but the comfort of the ride on a cross country trip.
The e-glide is great for tavern to tavern or local runs, but the vibration is a killer for long distance riding. The 75th anniversary AMF bike is a knock out killer looking bike after the late hubby fixed it up, but my ass and legs can't take the vibes.
So I ride my wing. In it's glory heyday, it rode like a cadillac. So smooth, you could play a tape & it would never skip esp. over the railroad tracks. Now I'm lucky it plays, period.
And don't think goldwings are cheaper to fix or parts are easy to get. That's pure hogwash....oops wrong terms.....but it's true.
Older wings are like older harleys. They don't want to sell you new parts they want you to buy new bikes.
And today is Pearl Harbor Day. My bike was made in Marysville, OH. If one more person tells me that all Harley parts are made in America today, they will be picking their teeth up off the street!!
I met a guy two years ago at Laughlin River Run. He was bragging about his brand new FLHTC that he bought at Las Vegas Harley. He bought it because the salesman assured him that there is not ONE part on his new motorcycle that was made in Japan, or China, and that the whole bike is American made, so he paid big bucks for his all American made motorcycle. He's the one still to this day who can't understand why I don't ride my AMF instead of my Goldwing. Guess he doesn't know anything about the AMF motorcycle, who owned them at one time....
So here I sit, moaning and groaning, because after 16 years of goldwing riding, and so many miles later.....bike packed ready to go from Las Vegas to Seattle......it takes a crap on me...and totally dies as I hit I-15 southbound (route with least amount of snow), yes the long way but I hate snow.
I go one whole year without working on bike, except you know the basic wrenching, and lo & behold the day of trip.....it dies by the Southcoast Casino on the hwy.
If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have NO luck. But I did make a new friend, who stopped to help, from San Jose, CA. And now I have a storage bill I have to pay every month until I can go back & get the bike.
I could have put bike in shop & waited. But I had to be here within 28 hours to run a flu clinic. So bike sits, and I sit also....
I'm thinking of selling it. I can make good money just by selling parts off of it. Because I know how much those parts cost. I've lost 4 side covers since I've owned it, the right one I've lost 3 times, twice on I-405 in southern CA. Not that I lost them, yeah they fell off, and as I was running into traffic, damn semi-tractor/trailers run them over to the tune of $300/each.
Yesterday I went to Bent Bike in Lynnwood, WA, to look for new/used bike parts, like an alternator, and found a piece of plastic in my bike color which is rare these days to find anything in that color, for the left rear saddle bag. Just a small little part, very worn in & scratched to hell, for a measely $65. Hmmmm, I'm pretty sure that little part cost that brand new. Not that I needed that part, but it was the thought that counted. Not to put Bent Bike down, because they do have some really great prices on new parts there, I just couldn't notion paying new price for old piece of plastic.
I am still bitching because my friend Rich from LV, still calls me up telling me that wings aren't as valuable as harleys, yet I'm sure he's never had to replace lots & lots of plastic on his bikes ever. Over the years & one really bad bike accident, I have doubled paying for parts what I paid for a brand new bike. The plastic is what makes the goldwing different, and it's the plastic alone that is so damned expensive. On my fairing alone there is a skinny short piece on side of it that costs $100. Just a teeny little piece of plastic. Take a look at my bike, it looks like a plastic motorcycle! And plastic isn't cheap.
The bike originally came with a $2000 neon package. I bought it used. The guy before me only put 3,000 miles on it & added the neons & the air horns....one good accident blew the transformer for the neons and that took care of me ever replacing them again. Just one 3" neon tube cost me over $100/bulb. I had 14 bulbs of different sizes & colors on it. As for the airhorns, I don't need to sound like an 18 wheeler going by.
And like any other nice looking motorcycle, I can't forget the murals on there either. But the guy before me had them painted on, and I just left them on. There's also the non-original extra tall windshield with the dolphins etched in that.
I am glad it broke down now, because I'd never have gotten as far as Seattle anyways, due to my dislocated hip pain. And as long as the pain is still here, and the hip is now healing my wing can sit in storage & thank god I'm not torturing it to death on snow/ice with no garage up here to store it in yet.
I want my bike to last forever. I don't want to spend another cent into fixing it up. If I say this 100 times do you think it will come true? I'd like to think so, but it's just like any other motorcycle, one day I will have to shoot it to put it out of it's misery.......until that day I will just ride it ....like I stole it....to death do us part......
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