Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Wing Ding

Des Moines was host to the 32nd Wing Ding over the last few days. It's a meeting of 8-10,000 Gold Wing riders . I worked at the UPS Store booth and got to meet hundreds of the riders and their significant others. They came from as far as New Zealand, Germany, And Hawaii. All the states were represented as well as a number of other countries. It was a great time, even for a Triumph owner. Got to ride the Can-Am Spyder, try on all the helmets I've wondered about, pick up a few goodies and get a close look at how nuts some of those guys are about their bikes. The bikes are not really my cup of tea but the folks are great.

Everyone I know that has a Wing loves it. Including some who thought they would hate it but got it because their wives/girlfriends liked the passenger accommodations.

Sound like you had a great time, and yeah... GW has a HUGE and loyal following. But ummmm... what did ja think of the Can-Am Spyder? I'm hearing they're a lot of fun!

Couldn't handle the matching his 'n her's plaid outfits favored by many Wing'ers. Square dance anyone?

Don't like the Gay Pirate HD look either.

Matching plaid

A friend of mine rides a wing he likes it. Only thing was when the alternator went had to take 1/2 the bike apart to get to it.

I liked mine for the highway and they really do handle the curves better than most people ride (including me). But I hated it around town. So when the long distance travelling ended, so went the GL. In the early days, stators seemed to fail relative to the number of accessory lights - and we've all seen those rolling Las Vegas editions. If it does fail, the labor WILL set you back a paycheck.


The wife used to nap at 70+ on our Aspencade, and now she wants me to get another.

BTW, I still won't do plaid!

Coming from the land o tartan , not once did the wife and I wear any on the G wing we rented coupla weeks ago. I gotta say I was quite impressed with the wing ,after riding it for a coupla days .other than the foot position and the lousy gas milage .it was super comfy . comfy enough that we spent 12 hours riding one day . I prefer my yami couch tho .

They are a real nice bike and great for the longhaul trips. However they fail to produce the rush I get from my Trumpet. No exhaust note to speak of, super smooth, heavy and not easy handling at slow speeds. I can buy a pair of Speedmasters for the cost of one of those Wing things. Or better yet...a Speedie and a Scrambler.

I'm not a goldwing guy, but this is freaking impressive...
Goldwing on the Tail of the Dragon

~Brent

Cool vid Brent. You could hear him scraping all sorts of things on the road.

It also reminded me of a story I heard years ago.

Apparently the Goldwing owners club were out for a ride and the lead bike went around a bend and lost control and promptly crashed. The following riders went around the bend and saw their buddy lying in the middle of the road leaving them with two choices, run over their mate or lay the bike down.
As they all had fully comp. insurance, got through the club with a discount., they lay the bikes down. Thus THEY were now lying in the middle on the road with the rest of the pack coming up fast and facing the same choice. Like a line of dominoes, the whole pack ended up laying their machines down instead of running over a friend, which meant that all the expensive plastic bits were totalled, and due to the cost of replacements all the bikes were written off.
As I mentioned earlier, they were all insured through the same company and the total claims for all the damaged bikes, helmets etc, and injury claims, virtually bankrupted the insurance company

Of course, it could just be an urban myth, I'll let you decide. I don't know

Or, for two-up touring, there's this one

Road legal in the UK