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Thu May 01, 2008 9:25 pm

Well, with fuel prices climbing higher every day, I have turned to the motorcycle to get me form point A to point B. It's great for around-town every day driving, but I like traveling out of town as well. Currently, my camper/road trip machine is a 94 Chevy G20 converesion van. It's costing over $100 to fill up lately, and its getting tough to afford. I am thinking of selling it and finding a decent touring bike. My around towner is a 2007 Suzuki Boulevard S50. I don't really like taking it too far because of its iron-ass seat and tiny fuel tank. I've been looking at older (think early 80's-mid 90's) Ventures and Gold Wings. Any reccomendations from people who ride them?

Fri May 02, 2008 6:26 am

Go with the Wing. More parts available and way more dependable. Very easy to work on as well. I bought an '81 with 78K miles on it (that's not even broke in yet for those motors), rode it for a little over 300K and sold it. The buyer is still riding that bike 4 years later with no motor work.

When I got the bike it had the full touring thing going and handled great and pulled great mpg. I stripped it down and the new owner rebagged it. One of my favorite bikes of all time.

The Venture is nice but like I said parts can be a pain. On the road the Wing can be fixed with some off the wall items (mine had a starter solenoid from a Ford in it, cheaper and stronger) whereas the Venture is not so friendly to non-stock type parts.

Sarge

Fri May 02, 2008 9:16 am

My vote would be for a HD Electra-Glide (a. k. a. Geezer-Glide). I put upwards of 75,000 miles on mine with minimal trouble. It had lots of storage, a decent stereo, and rode smoother than silk - no ass pain after a long haul. It was also one of the fastest bikes I had ever owned after I installed a cam, exhaust, and had the EFI reprogrammed.

Fri May 02, 2008 11:26 am

I had a goldwing aspencade many years ago. I've
ridden a lot of different bikes, and as far as comfort,
nothing beat the the aspencade. It was like the delux
version of the goldwing. Adjustable air ride suspension,
all digital gauges, stereo, intercom, cb. It had everything.
I think that it was an '86, but I don't remember for sure.
If you're looking for an older tour bike, I would highly
recommend finding an aspencade.

Fri May 02, 2008 1:31 pm

I've got a '69 BMW R69 and a '60 BMW R60 with 14K miles, sweet bikes and so smooth great for trips. I also have a '69 Honda 750 sandcast that's a blast to ride real throaty exhaust note but getting to be too valuable to leave in a parking lot. Lately I've had the most fun on a '70 Honda CL450 dual sport, lots of grunt, goes through the gears quickly and gives about 32mpg in town, with so many streets torn up it's the best choice for in town driving.

Sat May 03, 2008 7:44 am

How tough is it to handle these bikes at low speeds? Im relatively short at 5'9" and I can handle my 500 pound bike just fine. I read that Gold Wings are around 800+ pounds :shock:

Sat May 03, 2008 8:35 am

I'm 5'7" and I road mine for years. The big thing
is balance. If you ever do tip it over at low speed,
you either need to be strong as hell, or have some
help, to pick it back up (I needed help). I never had
a problem driving mine around town. In fact, I was in
college when I had mine, and drove it all over campus.
Now days the ladies probably prefer sport bikes, but
when I had the aspencade they really liked it. 8) [/i]

Sat May 03, 2008 9:04 pm

I highly recommend the Honda Pacific Coast (PC 800) 800cc Shaft drive, liquid cooled. Has a trunk big enough for a laptop bag and a bag of groceries. I can put my helmet and riding jacket in mine.

Rides two up comfortably.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Pacific_Coast

Sun May 04, 2008 7:48 am

Honda Gold wings can last damn near forever if you do the maintenance. There's an old customer of mine in Atlanta who's had a 1975 GL1000 standard since new and he still rides it today.

As an ex-parts manager for a Honda dealership back in Atlanta, I'd recommend the 1984 GL1200 Interstate, Aspencade or later models. Not the 1985/86 "SE" or "Limited" models, too much factory electronic stuff. Find one that doesn't have all the add-on chrome crap, light bars, etc. Later model GL1500 and GL1800 models have reverse.

The 1983 GL1100 was actually one of the best Goldwings ever made, I'd recommend it too.

Sun May 04, 2008 8:00 am

MRshotglass wrote: How tough is it to handle these bikes at low speeds? Im relatively short at 5'9" and I can handle my 500 pound bike just fine. I read that Gold Wings are around 800+ pounds :shock:

Once you learn the technique you can pick up the biggest Wing all by yourself. Walk up to it backwards. Grasp the bar and a grip on the back and walk it up with your legs. Takes some work to get it right tho.

Sarge

Sun May 04, 2008 10:45 am

Kelley wrote: Honda Gold wings can last damn near forever if you do the maintenance. There's an old customer of mine in Atlanta who's had a 1975 GL1000 standard since new and he still rides it today.

As an ex-parts manager for a Honda dealership back in Atlanta, I'd recommend the 1984 GL1200 Interstate, Aspencade or later models. Not the 1985/86 "SE" or "Limited" models, too much factory electronic stuff. Find one that doesn't have all the add-on chrome crap, light bars, etc. Later model GL1500 and GL1800 models have reverse.

The 1983 GL1100 was actually one of the best Goldwings ever made, I'd recommend it too.

My dad has a GL1100, had it since new, and it was the last of the naked ones. Only has 28k miles on it, but he babies it (first new motor vehicle for him). Great bike, but too big for my tastes.

Sun May 04, 2008 11:52 am

My friend has a Triumph Rocket 3.
Huge bike! 2300cc. 3 cylinder. 245 rear tire.
He's 6'4" 260 or so. First bike that he didn't look like one of those monkeys riding a mini bike at the circus.

Mon May 05, 2008 6:02 pm

What kind of range do touring bikes usually get on a tank of fuel? My bike has a tiny tank and only gets about 100 miles to a tank. Thats one of the main reasons I don't like taking it too far. I would love to get at least double that.

Mon May 05, 2008 9:49 pm

Depends on the bike and the tank. Some can do as much as 300, maybe 400. Most common is around 200 if I remember right. Had a bud who towed a small trailer behind his turboed HD. In the trailer was another tank with a fuel pump. When he got low he hit a switch and it filled the tanks up again. He could actually go 1000 miles before running out of gas. No wonder his nickname is LongRider. I rigged my Magna with an extra tank on a long ride once. Could of gone about 250 on the tanks but the stock seat even with gel and sheepskin limited me to about 150-160 before my ass would kill me.

Sarge

Tue May 06, 2008 5:06 am

My ZRX has around a 5 gallon capacity, I weigh anywhere from 160 to 175 lbs, depending on how well I've been eating. I average 180 miles before hitting reserve.

Goldwings have larger tanks at around 5 gallon for the older models IIRC, andI think the GL1500/1800 models are larger. Also, some of the true sport-tourers have pretty big tanks, Kakwasaki Concours for one, Kawasaki ZZX1200, Honda ST1100/1300 for another. In fact, A buddy of mine said that when the ST1100 came out, it had an 8 gallon tank, which he said ( I don't know if it's true ) that he could cruise @ 100MPH for 3 hours. Good mileage and luck, if it's true. But the fuel capacity and the reported Factory mileage at the time supported the math.

Since it's more of being a part of the environment instead of riding in a car, You're also more subject to crosswinds, headwinds, rules of the road, road condition, traffic, How much YOU WEIGH personally, and so on that affect any mileage. This is true for city and/or highway. It might take me 3.5 fillups to ride my ZRX to Atlanta from Clearwater in perfect riding conditions, It may take 5 on the way back. The thing is to establish your personal average by riding on the highway with full riding gear and record your weight also. Run through a few tankfuls. Then you can better estimate when you'll need to stop for fuel at any given time.

Good luck. We're all counting on you.