[trike lady]

I post to many forums all types of Wing and trike knowledge and two lesser known forums tend to post very bad information. It is nice that the posters here have knowledge of Wings and you can get a good answer.
Let me relate this incident to you all. A gentleman I was to put new wheels and tires on his GL-1500 Trike it had a driveability issue, he was on another site where another Wing owner had a problem similar to his and he followed the direction that individual was given, his trike went from bad to worse to being towed to Honda on a trailer. The suggestion posted caused a big mess to the fuel system, in which the carbs had to be cleaned, rebuilt and synced; the fuel tank drained and cleaned and all the fuel lines replaced, filter replaced and the vacuum operated petcock replaced. The gentleman was set back close to $3000.00 to have his Wing running properly, he said if I find out the real name of the poster on that site who suggested the method, I'm going to send him the bill for the repairs.
I've discovered one thing on Goldwing Forums, there are people who know Goldwings and those who don't. The people here know Goldwings.

 

[Two Wheel Wing]

I know what a Goldwing looks like, where the oil goes in and out, how check and add air to the tires and where the oil and air filters are.. There, I have given you all I know about Wings. I'm not a wrench guy and anytime I tell someone something it JMHO..

But you are right, there are a lot of nice folks on here that know A LOT about Goldwings and I would trust their suggestions and advice. Glad we can be of help.

If you need any help with identifying your bike, oil, air or filters I can help...... JMHO LOL......

 

[budoka]

You are very gracious Trike Lady, and yes there are some real wizards on here, of which I don't consider myself to be in that lofty group. I do have access to some technical information from the dealer site that I like to share when it can help, assuming of course I can understand it myself

 

[trike lady]

The gentlemen went back to the forum where he found the lousy or costly information and from what he has gathered the person is someone with way too much time on their hands, possibly unemployed, a tinkerer and not a true Goldwing tech.
He is going to speak to a lawyer, since he now has the person's first name and where they live, to see if he has any legal grounds to seek compensation for the bad information and costly repairs to his trike.
The trike owner is 70 years old and doesn't have a lot of money the bad information hurt him financially.
After what this gentleman went through, I would certainly avoid that poster handing out bad information and would avoid the posters advice like the plague and anyone who believes this person is a genius, I hope they have deep pockets and they contain money, as they will need it.
budoka & Two Wheel Wing, you would be people I would come to for assistance.

 

[budoka]

I hope your friend has some good luck in getting soem compensation from this bozo. The best thing that anyone can do now is try and prevent it from happening again. Without being slanderous, expose him where he posts and he'll go into hiding, if he hasn't already.

 

[trike lady]

budoka,
I really fell for this gentleman and I honestly hope the lawyer can do something for him, I really believe he needs to let his lawyer contact the owner's of the forum where he located the bad information and to remove the person's privilege to post on their site. Many times people who provide bad information, change their handle and begin posting bad information to other sites with the new name or they lay low and reappear on other sites. Who knows the person that provided that information may be lurking around this site as a 'Visitor' and just looking for their next victim who is 'Green' and seeking an answer to their question or problem. They could also be a person who signed onto this site or another years earlier and never posted much and then they realize they screwed up and suddenly appear and ride in 'triumphantly' as the 'Goldwing Genius' with all the answers. I may not have all the answers, but I do have an associate who is retired from a Honda dealership and has been working on Wings from 1975 to present. I wish I could get him involved in helping others on these forums. You talk about good information, you'd have it.

 

[Chopin]

I am proud to say that I have never given any mechanical or technical advice here. Period.

 

[trike lady]

chopin114,
You're one of the 'Good People' and I respect that, I have also not seen bad advice given on this site either, I believe the posters here know their limitation and they'll only make a suggestion through experience and would never provide misleading or detrimental information to someone seeking advice. I may not know everything but I have an associate who is retired from Honda and has worked on all Wings from 1975 to present and he can recite the Goldwing and the repairs in his sleep. He is one of the few Goldwing Specialists and retired last year from a very large dealership.

 

[Buzzy]

Ok, I gotta chime in here.
I agree, this is by far the best GW site I have found. There is no BS here and all the folks are straight up and helpful.

But here is my take on the gentleman's problem. Now I don't have all the details and I don't know just what information was posted. But if someone goes to a public forum and takes advice from ANYONE and then goes blindly repairing his bike based on what one single person told him to do. And without doing further homework and researching it further before "tinkering" with his bike?
I am sorry but even if the guy gave the advice for the sole purpose doing harm to the guy, it is still the "gentleman's" responsibility to make sure what he is doing is the right thing.
This is why there are Shops with certified Honda tech's. If you don't know what's wrong and you can't get several answers to a question that all point to the same answer, then don't try to fix it your self. And if you do try to fix it, be prepared to take responsibility if you screw it up!

If this were me and I listened to what ONE man had to say and then went and damaged my bike doing what he said? I would honestly feel the only person to blame is me for being so naive to thing this guy knew what he was talking about.

And I know for a fact that the numbnuts that gave the advice has nothing to fear because you can't sue someone for giving bogus advice on the internet.
What this guy needs to do is lick his wounds, get the bike fixed, and move on. He learned a valuable lesson and will be better for it.

Now maybe there is more to this story than you are telling us but sounds to me like the guy needs to accept his mistake and move on.

 

[trike lady]

Buzzy,
You're right on what you said, I haven't seen a copy of the post that states what the method or product was that was used to cause the problem and in what quantity. I am sure the gentleman may be holding facts back from me and Honda as to what caused the mess. I have yet to have one client with a trike tell me the whole truth on how something happened. It's like one person who came to me with a problem with the trike rear end and he told me how it happened, and then I got the real truth from someone else who said he took the trike off roading.
I told him good luck with the fight, I believe it's a lost cause. I told him next time you have a problem, bring it to Honda and pay a little more, its worth it in the end.
Buzzy, you are right this is one of the better Goldwing Forums, I've been on some that are a waste of time and people just throw information around that can be worthless.
I come from a family of mechanics and machinists, and I build trikes I am also a certified motorcycle mechanic.
I appreciate everyones input and I hope 'Pops' learned a lesson, I wish he'd have brought me the trike before it cost thousands, while the problem was still small.
Thanks Everyone.

 

[joe in calif]

There are those that just don't know what they are talking about or maybe what they posted did work for them, but because it worked for them doesn't guarantee it will work for you. And the guy who posted the reply said he had a SIMILAR PROBLEM, not the exact one. Unless it was something really stupid like put molasses in the gas it will make it flow easier and give you better mileage, or if you pop a wheelie it will cure the front end wobble. But than again you have to use common sense in what others tell you to try. I feel sorry that the guy had to spend a lot of money to fix the problem but I doubt that he can have the poster pay for it.

 

[Buzzy]

Buzzy,
You're right on what you said, I haven't seen a copy of the post that states what the method or product was that was used to cause the problem and in what quantity. I am sure the gentleman may be holding facts back from me and Honda as to what caused the mess. I have yet to have one client with a trike tell me the whole truth on how something happened. It's like one person who came to me with a problem with the trike rear end and he told me how it happened, and then I got the real truth from someone else who said he took the trike off roading.
I told him good luck with the fight, I believe it's a lost cause. I told him next time you have a problem, bring it to Honda and pay a little more, its worth it in the end.
Buzzy, you are right this is one of the better Goldwing Forums, I've been on some that are a waste of time and people just throw information around that can be worthless.
I come from a family of mechanics and machinists, and I build trikes I am also a certified motorcycle mechanic.
I appreciate everyones input and I hope 'Pops' learned a lesson, I wish he'd have brought me the trike before it cost thousands, while the problem was still small.
Thanks Everyone.

Well what a coincidence, I too am a Machinist! Been a machinist down here in the oil patch for 26 years. Currently, I am a CNC Programmer and Manufacturing Engineer. Just wish I had time to tinker with some ideas on some Mod's for the Wing but kinda tough when I work 70+ hours a week!

 

[trike lady]

joe in calif,
I wonder if someone didn't tell the original writer with the problem and then this gentleman followed the directions filled the bike with Av gas (Aviation gas) and some odd ball aditives or maybe suggested dumping the entire contents of the bottle into a full tank of gas, I know he won't 'fess up and tell me the truth on what he read and then followed through with. I told him "Be careful on where you seek advice". Trust me I know someone who thought putting Av-gas in their GL-1200 would help and they got this wild idea on their own and a short time later they had more problems.

 

[trike lady]

Buzzy,
My father when he was alive was a diesel mechanic in the Marine Corp during WWII, after the war he worked for Pan American Airlines as a mechanic and then was later trained as an aviation mechanic and worked on aircraft engines. One of his brothers was involved in printing press operations and repair, another was an excellent automobile mechanic and another was a machinist.
I have many of my ideas for new Goldwing products and some trike products drawn up the old fashioned way with paper and pencil drafting and I hope to one day bring some of them to market in limited quaniities.
I became involved in trike building in 2001 when a friend bought an easy to install trike kit and couldn't do it himself. At the time of all the "Chopper Madness" and many bike shops were trying to make a name for themselves, however they forgot a group of people who wanted something else and it was through there requests that I began to build trikes. I saw that trikes were going to be the wave of the future and that choppers were a passing 'Fad' and to all those who laughed at me and that building trikes was 'Silly', I'm building while they're trying to figure out where their next dollar will come from. I have skills some of which are dormant and trust me if I could find some inexpensive machine shop equipment, I'd probably make small quantities of my designs.

 

[blk93wing]

Being a truck mechanic by trade, I generally do all of my own work as I see some not so well trained people in my own field and refuse to pay someone more than I make for my own trade. But at times I do 'bite the bullet' if I can't handle it, which is very seldom or I just can't compete price wise. Any advise that I will post on this forum will always error on the side of caution not knowing the training level of the end user. I have read some posts of members looking for some help and can generally tell if they are in the ballpark, but just lacking a general location to look to find their problem, where a fuse or relay is located.

Everyone who does decide to work on their own bike not knowing the basic mechanical aspects can not depend on others to solve their problem over a forum. For a pro, it's the power of observation that makes or breaks them. We can throw out ideas of where to look or what we have run across before. Sure each piece of machinary may have a common problem, but that may not be the root of your problem. Don't fall for 'snake oil' fixes. Think putting in the cleanest, freshest oil, fuel, air, coolant and any other fluid into your goldwing and nothing but. If in doubt about any information, get a "SERVICE" manual for proper instructions on how to fix your goldwing!! Note that I stressed SERVICE manual, not OWNER'S manual. The owner's manual came with your bike when it was new, a service manual you must buy if you intend on working on your bike.

I better get off my soapbox now, but for the better part of what I have seen, there are many members with a lot of knowledge of goldwings and I don't see any that would mislead anyone on this forum.

 

[marcsvette]

I am proud to say that I have never given any mechanical or technical advice here. Period.

I too am proud to say that I have never worked on my wing unless it was adding some farkel the better half bought. Now I can report on my experience with those farkels or tell you how glad I am to have a Maintence contract and what they do to the bike when it's in the shop.
I have way to many other things to do like Horses.

 

[Chopin]

I too am proud to say that I have never worked on my wing unless it was adding some farkel the better half bought. Now I can report on my experience with those farkels or tell you how glad I am to have a Maintence contract and what they do to the bike when it's in the shop.
I have way to many other things to do like Horses.

If neither Marc nor I can enlighten you, we can at least encourage you.

 

[trike lady]

blk93wing,
I have never seen bad or misleading information on this forum, it has been found on another forum where he found the information. I believe there is a different group of people here.

 

[L2R]

To all,
An interesting read here.

I was glad see Buzzy speak up. This can easily backfire and eventually ruin what what have here. I feel for the guy that got burned on bad advise but if a lawyer comes into this world and starts suing, you won't find anyone offering "good" advise either.

Ultimately, the owner is responsible to decide what is to be done with his bike and whether to trust others on the net. checks and balances are here. I believe if someone here posted something that would harm the bike, others would chime in quickly. I too, would like to see the posting and can't help but think others would have warned him as well.


I have been a member of the sabrehood forum for 2 years, they have pics and videos of "anything" you want to tear down or mod that can be done to the bike. If someone came in with some screwy advice, they would run him off in short order. I believe those here would do it as well tho' maybe more politely.

I too am a tool&die maker/moldmaker, I owned my own shop for seven years and now a manufacturing engineer for a large automotive company. We spend considerable time technical writing work documents with pictures to show others how to perform tasks.
To see the time and effort others spend to post pics and help others is AMAZING. I would hate to see it ruined.

Trike lady,
Great to see your enthusiasm and creativity. Offshore, cheap labor has taken many of our jobs but they cannot compete with our ability to create and innovate. Good luck with your ideas. I spent a week designing and building a lift for my wing and love it. I did this on in 3 days so not too pretty but functional. I am going to make another this winter that will work for bikes, atvs and my riding mower. And hang it on the wall when not in use.

 

[Chopin]

blk93wing,
I have never seen bad or misleading information on this forum, it has been found on another forum where he found the information. I believe there is a different group of people here.

trike lady: I am new to the Goldwing since Nov. '09. I personally haven't needed " mechanical " advice yet . I was looking for contacts and to that end I have been richly rewarded. I have the " service manual " for the 1800 ,not so much for my benefit as the for the benefit of those who don't. Time and experience, I hope, will up my status from " reporter " to " repairman " .