“Nothing Sacred” GL1200

I have had this project on the back burner for way to long, three years now, and now it is hanging around my neck like the proverbial albatross. I have to admit, even though I have been charged by my uncle with creating a cool custom out of his Goldwing, it has been a little hard to get my head around chopping a super clean Goldwing, the last of its kind. You see the 1984 GL1200 Standard was the last Goldwing produced by Honda sans fairings.

That being said, “Nothing Sacred”  is going to be a low down combination of Muscle Bike/Minimalist Bobber/Old School Superbike when it is finished. The plan is to strip her down to the bare essentials, give her a sexy new rear end, add a conventional gas tank, and a mean as hell stance. Lets call her a GL1200F.

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The pressure is on now, as I’ve made a commitment to ride her to Flagstaff, Arizona in July for my family reunion. I have stripped the bike down to the rolling Chassis with the power plant. It is time to start chopping the frame up to allow fittment for the new fuel tank and the shorty rear subframe.

Like I said, this is one clean Goldwing with 42,000 miles on the odometer. She has never been down and all the pieces that have come off are in pristine condition. I need to sell all the take off pieces to fund the build. Check out the link to my Google+ page and take a look at the available parts. All the prices are Negotiable so don’t be afraid to reach out and make an offer on any parts you may need to dial in your own Goldwing. I also have tons of parts from other  Goldwings, all the way back to first generation Wings.

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What beauty feels like?

Kind of a touchy feely topic for a down and dirty motorcycle blog? Maybe, but the attraction to mechanical beauty is far more emotional than intellectual. There are tons of builders out there, each with their own perspective on what is beautiful.

Thinking about building custom bikes brings all kinds of images to mind.  Should it be super shiny and sparkly? Should it be down and dirty, purely functional? The combination of the shape of the frame, the way light plays on the fuel tank, the visual impact of the engine and the fit and finish all have an influence on the attraction to a mechanical form not easily defined.

Designer Richard Seymour looks at the way we perceive beauty in this compelling TED talk. http://goo.gl/55BlgG  Inspiration for an aspiring custom bike builder.