Naked Voyager 1300 in the Desert

To be honest, although I suspect it won't be bad at all, I don't really give a rat's behind what the gas mileage will be. This one is going to be a hoot...

First fire and trip down the street:

A Runner!

Oh, hey desertrefugee! I was curious if I'd see you over here! (Cue Forrest Gump wave]

I'm liking the video too. I'm mostly a stock guy 99% of the time, but that Voyager does sound pretty mean. I'm definitely keeping an eye on this one.

Lol. Thanks Lucien. The truth is, I have this thing about six cylinder motor cycles. It’s the howl. KZ1300s don’t exactly fall into your lap every day…especially at the price I got this Voyager for - and it's got six cylinders. Oh by the way, I’m not much of a fan of the stock Voyager. So I ended up with an un-Voyager. It’ll be fun until I let it go. I suspect there is a buyer out there somewhere for this thing.

I really enjoy seeing the variety of other bikes that members have!
Desertrefugee - your Voyager looks good, but I’d like to know about your CBX, what work you’ve done to the engine, that fabulous paint job, and your riding impressions. CB750’s always interest me - they are such a milestone bike - and nearly everyone has some special memory of them. I sure remember the first time I saw and heard one!

Bill - your black Gold Wing looks superb. Something that always fascinates me is the shape of fuel tanks on bikes. It’s amazing that metal can be shaped into such complex forms. The tank on that Gold Wing is beautiful, especially with the classy striping.

Stan- from what you’ve said previously, yourGold Wing is a work horse of a bike. How many miles has it covered? Is the engine original?

Hey Jim, thanks for the kind comments. I've had the CBX for a couple of years and picked it up from the ORIGINAL owner who had just sold off his collection of four (4) of them. This was the last one he let go and had been his baby although it had been sitting for over 10 years and was a bit ragged.

I haven't changed a thing except blasting the cam cover and installing the NEVER USED IN THE BOX RC Engineering cans. He had a crazy upswept straight pipe setup on it. Paint was done 20 years ago (and is still like new) in Daytona Beach by a fellow named Gilmore out of Chicago. Bike has only 22k miles and needed nothing except carb cleaning, valve lash adjustment, cam chain adjustment, fixed a few oil leaks and LOTS of cosmetic freshening. I put a clutch in it and did the CBX clutch basket mod. Brass swingarm bushings replaced the PLASTIC OEM ones. Actually a lot more mostly boring stuff. But, underneath the road grime, was a special, much-loved, well-preserved specimen. Unmolested except for the period mods - which will never change as long as I have it.

The riding experience is typical of 70's era bikes. It's a bit twitchy, top-heavy and tempermental, but a blast to ride. Not for the mechanically faint of heart. I'm into the carbs again for the third time in two years. They simply do not abide sitting around. Stinking idle jets gum up if you look at them sideways.

By the way, on the Goldwing "tanks". Goldwing gas tanks have been under the seat since the dawn of time. The ABS false tank houses electrics, radiator overflow and hides the airbox.

Happy Trails!

Jim, first - let this 2020 bring more joy than still here the 2019!

I got my GL1100 with low mileage. As I have more than one bike, all the mileage does not accumulate with ne bike! Different bikes serve different experience and purpose. There is no one universal serving all purpose. If I had to choose - might be a Goldwing.

I am not sure how many km I put on it. It's in excess of 10k. The mileage really does not matter. It's the paces, the work. Snow, rain, low oil, bad tires, heavy load in extreme rain on highways, two passengers in all of these, luggage compartment size, I rode it with a passenger in hurricane that left trees uprooted and I had to lean the bike against the wind to keep on the road, with a passenger. We had to lean on the tank to keep low profile not be blown off the road in rural streets by the ocean. Yep, I pushed it and it delivered. When sober, and when not.

This 1983 GL1100 A just keeps on going. I did the cylinder head gasket as it was leaking - due to the previous owners negligence. There are a few glitches, but it's an old bike!
It's very comfortable!

Here, carrying a KZ1300 crankcase. Thank you GL 1100!