u/RetroTechBro

I was wondering in general if 1980s Goldwings are ever theft targets. My guess is no given they are extremely heavy and basically worthless (in the grand scheme of motor vehicle values).

On the motorcycle sub you always see posts like "You need to have at least 3 different locking devices on your motorcycle, one time I went into the gas station to take a piss and 3 mexicans came up and loaded my bike onto a trailer and drove off in 30 seconds flat".

Its usually dudes on 400 pound, high value modern litre sport bikes though. Like do people steal 800lb Goldwings? You sure as hell aren't lifting it onto a trailer without an entire team of people and even rolling it would be pretty hard, but I don't know how hard it is for an experienced thief to just get on one of these and bypass or force the ignition.

My work has a gated parking lot so I'm not worried about it being stolen from there, I live in the middle of nowhere so home isn't a concern either. I'm mostly wondering about these supposed "30 second thefts" that happen while your inside Walmart getting groceries.

So for context I previously owned a 1982 GL1100 Standard which I ended up selling because I kept having issues with it and parts availability is much worse for the GL1100 than the GL1200+. I was under the impression the 1986 was very similar in design to my prior bike but the more I look at the bike in detail the more I find really all it shares is the basic engine and chassis design.

The bike I picked up is a 1986 Aspencade with 96,000 miles for $1100 off Craigslist.

Owner said its had a lifetime warranty after market stator put in it (for my own sanity I'm just going to assume that's true, the stator has been hard wired) and did the timing belts in 2023. "Me and my buddy tore this sumbitch down" is what he said was done to it, and its got non-OEM fuel lines and various other signs the engines been out, given out good it runs I'm inclined to believe he at least cleaned the cards if not a partial rebuild.

My concern right now is just what problems I will encounter between 100,000 and (hopefully) 200,000 miles?

Right now the issues I've identified with the bike:

* Front forks are completely blown out (finally ran out of fork fluid the other day)

* Very slow brake fluid leak from the rear/front right brake system (lost about 1/8th of the reservoir capacity over 400 miles of riding, and I can't see where its losing it at due to the low rate of loss)

* The front brake gets less effective and a hard handle after a little breaking, I'm guessing this is the same clogged fluid return port issue I had on my 1982, just not as severe (it locked the front brake up on my 82). Planning to fix that while I'm doing maintenance on it.

* Very overfull on oil, as in it reads all the way to the top of the dipstick *while on the sidestand*

* Starter clutch squeels when starting cold (I'm seeing thats usually due to oil issues, probably related to the above)

* Rear tire started disintegrating on me (2017 Dunlop D404) which is why its parked right now while I wait for a tire.

* Air compressor not engaging (right before I left the sellers house he tried to air up the suspension for me, it ran for a couple of seconds then quit, guessing the fuse is blown)

* A few bulbs out in the rear lights.

* Speakers on the radio are blown

* Slowly (about 1/3rd of a quart in 400 miles) losing coolant from somewhere on the top of the motor. I'm guessing theres a leak in the head crossover pipe fittings.

Overall not bad for $1100 I think. I've already got a new tire (Dunlop D404), 10w40 motorcycle oil and filter, some fuses, and a new set of speakers on the way.

Any input on the forks and the brakes? or additional issues I'm very likely to run into?

The forks I'm more or less planning to just deal with not having fluid (my 1982 had blown forks too) as every thread I see on the goldwing forums says they usually just blow right back out when rebuilt but if anyone has counter input I'd love to hear it. The seller said he had rebuilt the forks with his friend, and based on the amount of fluid that was in it I tend to believe him, the forks couldnt have been blown for very long.

The brakes are a bit more confusing, without any obvious place its coming from and with the pedal still being firm I don't really know where to start looking. I've found (at least on my 82) the brake parts on these aren't usually rebuildable, and while I can get new manufacture calipers, nobody makes master cylinders. If the rate of loss doesn't increase I'd honestly be fine just topping it off (I check it daily) but brake systems usually leaks get worse, often rapidly.

I'm more or less just wanting to keep this thing in vaguely safe condition as a cheap form of transportation. Not trying to restore it to show-room quality.