Have you taken a look around Craigslist/Gumtree/Kijiji/Facebook Marketplace lately? Used bike prices have gone nuts. Stark raving mad. I see people selling used motorcycles for well over the MSRP of a new bike, and I see the ads disappearing, so Iassumethey’re getting their asking price.

Maybe they aren’t. But even if those money-crazed madmen are reducing their bike prices to slightly more reasonable numbers before they sell, anyone who’s shopping on the used bike market knows it’s almost impossible to find a good deal these days. With dealership stock running low the past two years, the supply/demand curve has driven up the price of used machines, and dealerships themselves are contributing to the problem. I know of at least two local dealers who have their own salesmen scouring the used listings, buying bikes to re-sell in their shops with inflated price tags. The days of finding a decent-running machine for $1,000-$1,500 appear to be long-gone.

However, if you’re willing to spenda bit more than that, you can find yourself one of the best deals going on the used market today: A vintage Honda Gold Wing. While these machines were at the top of the price list in their day, they’ve come down drastically in price the past few years, and a bike likethe 1983 GL1100 seen hereis now one of the most affordable machines available, practically speaking. They’ve done a complete flip-flop on price, and if you’re looking for a good used bike, you could do much worse, as they’re still a machine with lots of history, and still reliable if well-maintained.

A muscular start

These days, people view Gold Wings as basically a bike for touring long miles, or a bike for hauling a pillion (especially if you want to haul a pillionand做长英里)。情况并非总是如此。当the original Honda GL1000 debuted for 1975, the flat four-cylinder looked like it came from a weirdo muscle bike. It strayed drastically from the standard Japanese format of parallel twin or inline four engines, like something you’d see on a stolid Euro-built tourer, but with extra cylinders grafted on. It was a massive engine for that era, but it wasn’t built for drag strip runs like the Z1 900.

Although it looked like a brute of a bike, that engine was made for serious work, not hoonish thrills, and the styling backed that up. The original GL1000 seemed to carry on the lines of great British luxury motorcycles like the best of Brough Superior or Vincent. It wasn’t boring-looking, but it wasn’t an edgy design either. It looked like a bike you’d run hard all day, in comfort, and that’s what it did.

As buyers discovered how reliable a tourer the original Gold Wing was, they started adding windshields and bags, through the aftermarket at first (Vetter made a lot of money here, but so did other companies as well).

成功的穿着

Honda saw how popular the aftermarket fairings and luggage were, and started selling its own dressed-up version of the Gold Wing when it went to the GL1100 model in 1980. First there was the Interstate tourer, and Honda soon added the Aspencade. These bikes came from the factory with options that would have seemed like science fiction only a few years earlier. Air suspension! Factory stereo! A CB radio, even, to help you dodge the county Mounties!

As the engine grew, so did the rest of the bike. Honda still sold a stripped-down naked version, but the GL1100 never quite had the same muscle bike look or reputation as the GL1000. The Interstate weighed around 680 pounds dry, depending which year of production you bought. The Aspencade topped 700 pounds. Even the non-faired Standard model weighed almost 600 pounds before you added fuel.

However, at this point, riders were buying the Gold Wing because it represented the very pinnacle of motorcycle touring, and the added weight (and expense) of all the accessories was just the price you had to pay. The GL1100 was the model that booted the Gold Wing series into the market position it still holds today, more than 40 years after its introduction, and used prices remained high for many, many years due to the bike’s reputation, but also due to its mechanical reliability. Now, those prices have changed.

Smashing out the miles

当the original Gold Wing debuted in the mid-’70s, Japanese motorcycles were still building their reputation for reliability. Some of those older classics—the GS series, the XS series, the CB series—all developed their own following based on their sturdy engines, but the Gold Wing was tops of them all. These days, it is nothing to see one for sale with 100,000 miles on the odometer, or maybe more, and still running.

However, while the engines and other hard bits are very sturdy, these bikes are getting older, and that means the bodywork may be a bit banged up on a used example. Worse, important electro-mechanical components can require you to remove that bodywork and even the engine for servicing. Basic work on anything in the heads isn’t bad, since they’re hanging out in the breeze, but woe betide you if you must access the charging system at the back. As with many other machines from the ’80s, these are becoming more and more suspect as time goes on, and no mechanic will want to deal with it without charging you a lot of money (at least you have guys likeSteve Saundersto help you through this, with excellent Gold Wing resources available online).

That’s partly why you see so many of these bikes dumped on the used market cheap now, as opposed to the higher prices of yesteryear. The amount of added labour costs to maintain these bikes, when compared to simpler bikes of the same vintage, makes them less attractive to many buyers. Add in the, errrrr, “fatherly” styling of the ’80s GLs, and you’ve got a supply/demand curve that’s the inverse of the rest of the used bike scene right now. Supply of these reliable machines is high, since so many were made and are still running. Demand is low, since they’re complicated to maintain, their once-pleasing aesthetics have fallen out of favor, and they’re kinda big and heavy.

That means you can still find one in the $2,500 range, or even less, if you’re willing to do some wrenching. And when you do find one, you can do wondrous things with it, as seen below …

A low-mileage find

后告诉你那些便宜,high-mileage ‘Wings on the market, here’s something else—a not-so-cheap, low-mileage example.

The bike in those photos is a 1983 Honda GL1100 Interstate, for sale in Florida with only 10,948 miles on the odometer. It’s a one-owner bike, and un-restored. Alas, asking price is $7,900, so it’s not for your average cheap-bike-buyer … but at least if you bought yourself a mangled-up GL from the ’80s, you can get a good idea of what it looked like originally, in this photos! And if you really do want to make an offer on this machine, contact the owner at the adhere.

However, if you’re not looking to spend $8k on an old ‘Wing? Check out this linkhere, or apply similar search parameters to Craigslist or whatever: Search for a Gold Wing between $500 and $2,500. It’s amazing what’s available in that price range, such asthis clean-looking ’82 modelat a dealership in Wisconsin for $1,995. It might need some fettling, but it should take you back and forth across the country as long as you ensure the mechanical systems are in good shape beforehand. Not bad, for a couple of grand!