The End of an Era? - June, 2022

June 30, 2022

Two pieces of news, only peripherally related to me and motorcycle riding to share with the "tens and tens" of subscribers I have here...

Screengrab from YouTube

An article about Japanese bike manufacturers cutting models in order to comply with emissions regulations at home, includes at least one model of the current Goldwing variant.

😞

Since Japan controls 40% of the motorcycle market globally, the trend to the transition away from gasoline two-wheelers may be about ready to accelerate.

As a corporation, Honda Motor Company is going to do what's in its best interest to maximize shareholder value.

If the government in the home country has imposed these restrictions based on emissions (as other industrialized countries around the world are doing...), then it's 100% in their best interest to do so.

Now, if this news actually comes to fruition as those articles claim, and Honda decides that it's not worth the effort to continue building the Wing (or any other motorcycle) because it no longer is in their best interest to do so, then "it is what it is."

I suspect there will be an American company that might continue to build liter-sized motorcycles for touring, but at $40k and up, I really don't see many in this cohort buying them brand new off the showroom floor.

Now, certainly it's still possible to tour world-wide on a much smaller machine; it happens all the time. Plenty of YouTube videos on people doing it all the time.

NOTE: Clarity came later that day; the Tour model will continue, while the non-Tour (missing the trunk) will be eliminated at the end of the calendar year. I'm not exactly sure how this relates to emissions...

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The other piece of news - the end of an era. Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA) will cease operations at the end of 2022.

Zero tears from me on this development.

Now, for *my* story about this organization. This actually predates the return to motorcycling for me, so this is sometime in the summer 2006.

As I was plotting the return to motorcycling, my biggest concern was whether or not I'd be able to hold up 850+ pounds of motorcycle. Having a short inseam means that I really pay attention to manufacturers that claim to have a 29" seat height.

Really?

🤔

Anyway, I headed to my local Honda power sports dealership (whatever happened to the days they were called "motorcycle shops?") and ran into "Bumpy" (not his real nickname). Perhaps a few years older than we were, so I figured we'd be able to have a 'more mature' rider answer our questions.

"Well, you certainly don't fit the mold of a Goldwing rider. Perhaps you and your wife might be interested in these..." as he pointed to an area filled with the Honda Shadow motorcycle.

I sat on one of the Shadow's - and immediately knew "Nope!"

Now, I did note that, along with his Honda nametag, he wore a tag from the GWRRA. I later found out that this particular individual was an officer at some level in the organization.

I stopped looking in Tucson and went to Phoenix (Avondale), where I bought my 2006 fifteen years ago. That's where the story behind this blog got started.

In 2010, the Tucson dealership I went into back in 2006 to try and begin a return to motorcycling went out of business.

So, that was the first strike against the organization. 🎳

Second (and final one...) came not long after we had returned to riding. I had learned via an on-line source that one of the premier non-dealership repair shops was having an open house.

I was still in a learning stage, so my wife and I rode up to check things out.

There were a lot of Goldwings of various vintages, but enough for us to see what we liked and what we’d pass on as far as accessorizing.

Not ten seconds before parking, I got approached quite enthusiastically by a person that I didn’t know. He wanted to use my bike to sell some sort of polish…and he tried to emphasize the point by putting his hand on my motorcycle.

A point learned many decades earlier is to ask before touching anybody or their car, motorcycle, aircraft, animal… Well, this guy must have missed that class.

“Nope, don’t think so - thanks for the offer, and get your damn hands off my bike!”

Well, I found out later this individual is some sort of guru when it comes to this brand of motorcycle, and that we were supposed to be in awe of this individual's presence.

We did our wandering around, looked at the few displays, and saw the attire of many of those present.

Pins and patches and vests, oh my!

These people weren’t friendly. A fair percentage of these folks were older. At the time, my wife and I were in our mid-40’s and quickly figured out that if we weren’t the youngest couple there, we were pretty close to it. 🎳 🎳

Seeing what we needed to see, we left. Don’t think these people have heard of “You get only one time to make a good impression”. I gave them two, they failed both times.

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The story about the end of Goldwing manufacturing has yet to be fully explained, but I suspect we will learn more as the summer proceeds. The announcement of these two items in less than a week certainly reeks of irony. 

The end of an era?  Perhaps.

Some bike preparation activities are taking place for our next motorcycling adventure...soon!

December, 31 2022

As read on another motorcycling forum earlier today, Stu Oltman, technical writer for many magazines earlier this century including GWRRA's Wing World magazine, is reported to have passed away earlier this week.  This is mentioned in order to complete the story I told above about the 'run-in' I had with this 'guru'. RIP, Stu.