I received a fork brace from Traxxion Dynamics. The Goldwing front suspension is in need of some help, especially if you are a rider that pushes the envelope and demands sure-footed handling. The brace is very well made and finished, and fits perfectly around the top of the sliders. It is straight across between the forks, and does not interfere with the front section of the front fender. The factory fork cover does not fit over the brace, and I used a dremel tool on mine to cut the factory one into two pieces to make it fit. When I’m satisfied with the fit, I will have them painted black and that will be that.
LIMNCS
That’s an odd collection of characters, but the meaning is perhaps equally odd in the motorcycle world. When it seems like every motorcycle owner wants to add more chrome goodies to their bikes, LIMNCS members are moving in the opposite direction.
Less Is More No Chrome Society members are dedicated to erasing the chrome fetish that some bikers have and that accessory manufacturers are only too happy to satisfy. I’ve painted the caliper covers on the Goldwing black, and will do the same to the engine maintenance covers and the lower front cowling as well. Take a look in the Goldwing photo gallery, especially the first picture and the last one. There you will see a LIMNCS member at work.
Goldwing seat updates
I sent my seat to Bike Solutions to have the stock seat modified by reshaping and replacing the factory foam with better quality foam. From removal to return of the modified seat, the process took longer than I had hoped, but that was not their fault. My seat didn’t get to the shop before they left to attend Americade and the Honda Hoot, so they handled it when they got back. They offered to ship it around the country to try and get it back to me sooner (which they did not have to do) but I had another bike to ride so it wasn’t necessary . It was handled the Monday after they returned and I received it three days later on Thursday. You can’t do better than that.
I’ve now reinstalled it and there is a definite difference between it and the factory seat. John asks that you give it some break-in miles (as do most all custom seat manufacturers) so I will do just that. Hopefully I will be able to take some longer rides to get the break-in miles out of the way.
I also made a seat cover from a beaded automobile seat cover I bought at walmart for less than $10. I bought some 50-lb test fishing line to re-weave it and it fits the Goldwing seat perfectly. I used some parachute cord and barrel adjusters to hold it in place – with the barrel adjusters I can move it to other bikes easily. As there are companies selling beaded bike seat covers for upwards of $35, I thought that spending about $12 plus an hour or so was a pretty good deal. I’ve used it on different bikes and when it’s hot you really notice the airflow. Remember sticking and sweating on a hot car seat? Same thing on a hot bike seat, but no more. This will definitely improve the comfort on a long ride when it’s hot outside; fresher and more alert on a motorcycle is definitely a plus.
More Goldwing updates part 2
After reassembling the bike, I went for a short ride to check out the changes. The power connector for the GPS works just fine, no surprise there. Mounting the GPS on the dash does prevent a lot of vibration, but I will have to experiment with the various mounting arm lengths to get the right position. Because it is closer to you and lower, it needs to be tilted up more and that makes the sunshield less effective. The audio cable works fine and the stereo XM radio sounds really good.
Now for the really important mod, the turn signal cancel mod. Going down the road at about 45 mph, hit the right turn signal button and it blinks 10 times and cancels. OK. Stop at an intersection, hit the turn signal, and make the turn – the signal cancels when the bike is upright again. OK. The previous functionality is still there. Now, going down the road at 45 mph, hit the signal button. But when it has blinked 7 times, briefly hit the foot brake. It continues for 10 more blinks and then cancels. PERFECT. Now for the real world test. Going down the road at 45 mph coming up to an intersection, hit the turn signal well in advance. Now, apply the brakes as you normally would, turn signal still blinking. Stop, and release the brakes. Turn signal still blinking. Make the turn, it cancels when the bike is upright again.
JUST THE WAY IT SHOULD WORK.
More Goldwing updates
Well, I spent a good part of Sunday disassembling, soldering, drilling, and reassembling the Goldwing. I removed the speaker grilles and panel and the top shelter in about 10 minutes. I never really set out to be good at disassembling the bike, but when you’re particular like me and you want things just so, that’s just part of the deal. First, I replaced the power jack for the GPS with a barrel-style connector (center pin positive, housing negative) as it’s smaller and less noticeable when the GPS isn’t plugged in. I also replaced the aux input cord with a longer cord so that I could connect the stereo output from the XM radio into the sound system.
On the Goldwing’s dash below the key and above the gas filler cap is a rectangular logo, which I removed. I modified a circular RAM base to fit there, made a backing plate for strength, and bolted it in place. I am hoping that the GPS will vibrate less there than when attached to the RAM mounts on the handlebars. Time (and a quick ride) will tell.
Now for the more serious mod. I removed the instrument cluster and the triple tree cover so that I could get to some wires for the turn signal cancel unit. I found the wires, cut away a little insulation, and soldered a wire to each of them. I routed the wires down to the left side of the fairing. I also found the wire I needed on the stop light relay under the seat and soldered a wire there. I also ran that wire up to the left side of the fairing. The fourth wire was in the turn signal switch connector, which is in the left fairing. Now I have all four wires I need. I verified that the stop light wire was correct with my meter, as it reads 0 volts until the brake lights are on, then it reads 12 or so. I connected the wire from the stop light relay to the coil on a small relay through a diode to prevent feedback. The other side of the relay coil connects to one of the wires from the cancel unit. The other two wires connect to the NO contacts on the relay. Why would I do all of this work, you ask?
The Honda turn signal cancel design is going to get someone killed, and I don’t want that to be me. The turn signal cancels in two ways: after completing a turn, the signal will cancel; or it will cancel after a set amount of time (speed based). I put my signal on well in advance of the turn so that drivers behind me have plenty of notice that I’m turning. If you put the signal on and the cancel unit decides it’s been blinking long enough, it will turn them off. NOT GOOD, especially when you’re waiting to turn left on a two-lane highway and now you realize that you’ve basically stopped in the middle of the road with no signal to indicate ANYTHING. This mod resets the countdown timer when you are braking, and if the brakes are on, it is being continually reset. It will only count down when the brakes are released so you can indicate your turn in advance and not have the turn signals mysteriously stop blinking.
One less thing to worry about while riding, and there is plenty to be aware of while you’re on the road.
VTX handlebar swap
My friend Mark came over yesterday and we swapped my handlebars and riser on the 1800 Neo. Mark had given me the chrome riser block from his Retro, and I had the VTX logo filled with red paint. The bars are from Flanders and are black, the grips and stock Harley Davidson black rubber grips.
I had already removed the left grip so we were ready to start. First, loosened the screws hold the switch housings and the screws hold the clutch and front brake reservoirs. We left them snug but not tight, just enough to keep them from turning on the bars as we worked. We loosened and removed the nuts holding the risers to the triple tree, and pulled the bars out and forward of their usual position so that we could remove the switch housings from the bars. Then we replaced the bars and measured the distance from the end of the bars to the reservoir clamp and wrote the measurements down.
Then we removed the old bars again and put the new bars in place, putting the nuts on finger tight for now. Then we removed the screws from the reservoir clamps and clamped them on the new bars, closer to the end than they should be. This was just to allow us to get both reservoirs off the old bars, we will position them properly later. Now, the old bars and risers can be set aside. We used our measurements and set both reservoir clamps where they should be and tightened them down snug, but not fully tight.
VTX turn signals
I finally got around to wiring and installing the custom Tradewinds turn signals on the front of my 1800 Neo. I am using parts from a 1800 C model and an aluminum adapter that I turned on a lathe. I sent them all out to be chromed and have finally assembled them , installed them on the forks, and wired them using the plugs from the Neo signals. They just plug into the harness and they work perfectly.
I like the look of the Tradewinds housings, so I have them for front and rear turn signals and driving lights. The driving lights mount on the Cobra engine bars, but I am thinking of changing to a different and less noticeable clamp.
The Tradewinds products are not cheap, but the quality is second to none and Tony is great to deal with.
new parts on order
I just received some 3/16″ black neoprene rubber to be turned into a front fender mudflap. There are aftermarket fender extensions available, but there are a number of reports of cracked rear fenders after the extensions were installed. Some folks surmise that the extensions are catching too much wind and putting more pressure on the fender mounting points than they were designed to take. I’m going to make a fairly flexible rubber mudflap that won’t catch too much wind but will be curved enough to help hold at least part of it’s shape while moving. It should keep mud and road debris off the lower cowling and for a lot less money than the other extensions.
Also, a late addition to my over-the-road-toolkit is a Pocket Tire Plugger by Stop-N-Go. It’s a very compact kit that allows you to patch a hole in a tubeless tire without removing it from the wheel or even removing the wheel from the bike. Since two of the primary three reasons for being stranded on a bike are a flat tire or a dead battery, I’ve done what I can to cut those risks down. Now, I can patch a flat tire and pump it up using the Cyclepump Adventure 12v pump. The battery meter will help me to ensure the battery and charging systems are in good shape and hopefully to spot a problem before it turns a ride into a hike.
The third one is running out of fuel, and the Goldwing has a pretty hard to miss fuel gauge, so I can’t blame running out of gas on anyone but myself – and since I don’t intend to push the Goldwing around I WILL be watching.
And the projects continue…
I decided that the battery tender pigtail coming out through the left-hand side panel opening wasn’t neat enough. Since there is a power distribution/fuse block behind the side panel there isn’t enough room to tuck it back inside, so I moved it. I drilled an elongated hole and brought the lead into the left-hand passenger cubbyhole. Yes, the cubbyhole isn’t completely weather-tight now, but the hole is very close to the size of the wire, and it’s protected by the seat. The advantage is that it’s completely out of sight except when it’s needed.
I purchased an LED voltmeter from Digital Meter to help monitor the battery condition and decided to install it in the right-hand panel, below the lock for the panel pocket. It will be wired directly to the battery (fused, of course) so that it will operate even if the bike is off. Anything less than about 12.5 volts with everything off is indicative of a problem, and anything less than 13.5 volts while moving is also indicative of a problem. Early warning of problems is easily worth the cost of the meter. It works great and is easily readable.
I removed the top shelter to run the wiring for the voltmeter and to try and improve the shielding over the cruise control actuator. I hadn’t planned on becoming good at removing the top shelter, so I really hope this will be the last time for a while. I riveted on a ground lead for the shield and soldered a ring terminal on the other end that fit under one of the bolts holding down the electronics. Ohmmeter showed a good connection to frame ground. Also, I wrapped several of the wire bundles in heavy-duty aluminum foil. Hopefully, both the good ground and the wrapped wire bundles will cut out the cruise control noise from the audio system.
Weather permitting, I will reinstall the top shelter tomorrow and see if I’ve fixed the audio noise problem. I sure hope so, ’cause if it’s still there it’s going to the dealer under warranty.
And the projects begin…
I finally decided to tackle a project I had been avoiding but needed to accomplish that involved removing the top shelter on my Goldwing. It isn’t simple, but if you are organized and careful it isn’t too bad. Since I’m writing this afterwards, I would say that removing the top shelter should take 15-20 minutes after having done it once.
I removed the top shelter and the first task was to run 12v wiring to power my Garmin 2610 gps. I know there is 12v power available at the left pocket, with plenty of current available, but I wanted to be able to turn the gps on without turning on all of the accessory circuits as well. Also, I needed uninterrupted power for an LED voltmeter that uses such a small amount of current that I will leave it on all the time. It will be nice to use at the voltmeter to get an early warning of battery problems before you wind up stranded. Installing that is another project, I’m sure that’s a surprise.
Second task was to adjust the slack out of the cruise control cable. I tied string to the 8 and 10mm open-end wrenches so that I could retrieve them if they were dropped and I marked the top of the adjuster barrel with a sharpie pen so I could easily count the number of turns. I had read several posts about this adjustment and the consensus was that 3-4 turns was about right. I decided to try 3 turns and that was right for my bike. Before the adjustment, the speed would drop 6-8 mph and then climb back to the set speed.
Third task was to put a shield over the cruise control actuator. There is a medium-pitch sound in the audio system when the cruise is active that changes pitch when the cruise is maintaining the set speed. Basically, this makes the audio system unusable when the cruise is active – on a long trip this is exactly what the audio system is for. I made a shield out of thin sheet aluminum and cover the edges with self-adhesive weatherstripping since the edges are sharp. There are a lot of wire bundles around the cruise control actuator and I don’t want my shield cutting into any of them – nothing good could possibly come from that.
I positioned everything and buttoned it back up, hooked up the gps, and headed out to test my wrenching. The gps works well and will be a useful addition on a long trip. The cruise works just as it should, engaging and maintaing the set speed without any noticeable drop in speed. Why this can’t be adjusted properly I don’t know, as the volume of forum posts indicates it is a common problem. However, I was only 2 for 3. The cruise still causes noise in the audio system. Maybe my ground connection on the shield wasn’t good, or maybe I should wrap the audio system wire bundle in heavy aluminum foil to provide additional shielding.