While the seller titled this auction as being for only a 1986 Honda Gold Wing, it actually includes three motorcycles; there’s also a 1978 Gold Wing and a 1983 Yamaha Venture included. All three bikes are listed for sale here on eBay. Bidding is starting at $1,200 and there’s no reserve. The bikes are located in Warren, New Jersey.
I’m pretty sure after some research that the orange and blue bike is the 1986 model Gold Wing, which would make it a GL1200. By this point, Gold Wing fairings were getting larger and more luxurious, although I couldn’t find any reference to this fancy paint job being a factory one.
GL1200s featured a larger version of the flat-four engine fitted to earlier Gold Wings. This bike was driven into the garage a few years ago and the seller feels all it will need is a battery and fresh gas.
This 1978 model GL1000 K3 Gold Wing comes with all the parts to make it “full dress.” This will have the original 999 cc flat-four. Like the orange and blue bike, this one was also driven into the garage a few years ago and supposedly needs just a fresh battery and gasoline to run.
This is a 1983 Yamaha Venture, the brand’s answer to the Honda Gold Wing. It features an 1198 cc V4 engine and was developed over 500,000 miles of engineering testing according to this brochure.
The Yamaha was in the middle of being repaired (bad starter) when the seller had a heart attack and is now going to sell it all. Do these big touring bikes appeal to you? Let us know what you think in our comment section below!
First the orange and blue bike never came that way thank the heavens for that, and it also has had an external alternator added. There is plenty of info out there on how to do this rather than fixing the original alternator. The problem is you have to pull the engine out of the frame to do the repair on the original. The1978 would make an excellent parts bike for my 1977 goldwing as there is a lot of interchangeable parts. I’d be interested in both goldwings but theyre to far away and I don’t have any where to put them. The Yamaha I no very little about them and would not be interested in it.
There’s a ton of this stuff out there, and I’m stuck with one too. Nobody wants them, just too costly to repair. Great bikes, love riding them, but stuff like the external alternator, they did that, because the stock alternator requires engine disassembly, any major component really, and it’s a pain. It’s why these end up sitting, just like mine. I had an offer of $500 bucks for my ’81 Interstate. I should have taken it.
Hi Howard I get what your saying, I’ve taken advantage of buying people’s cast offs and repairing them for my own use all my adult life. I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute to pull mine apart and do my own repair. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a spare engine / drive line sitting around ready to go in if you had a failure. Eventually I’ll find one up here in Alberta that I can part out. Right now mines running quite well and I stay on the maintenance myself. Ive had my bike into a shop when I first got it for an insurance inspection and the young guy first sneered at it because it’s old and then condemned it saying the frame must be bent because the wheel wasn’t centred in the forks, not knowing that there is a procedure for setting the wheel in to insure proper caliper clearance. I even showed him in the book that that was normal and correct but he wouldn’t sign off on it. I was forced to take the bike to another shop and pay again for another inspection. The point is for someone that can’t do there own work not only is it expensive but there are not a lot of bike mechanics out there that know how to fix this old stuff. That’s why your bike is only worth $500.00.
I live in a remote area, and you’re right, one shop wanted $80 bucks an hour to trouble shoot my carbs. I wasn’t impressed at all with the shop, or his mechanic.( that told me black spark plugs are normal) I thought, oh, you’d like that, spend a week at $80 bucks an hour.
Each carb has 7 (the models I’ve worked on) jets/air passage jets to pull and clean. Pulling a GW engine is not that much worse than pulling a Beetle’s engine. It’s just very time consuming to work on the engine. Just like an aircraft, “SPESHUL TEWELS” really make life easier. And I’ve got a tool chest full of ’em. I usually stare at one for 20 minutes trying to remember what it’s for and which bike/plane/boat it goes to.
Where’s “Wrong Way” on this??
Even if it’s only two years of sitting you can count on cleaning up the fuel system. In non running condition I’d give $500 for the ’78, maybe a bit more for the ’86 due to needing a repaint to make it sellable. As for the Venture it would really only make sense to part that out since there’s far too many parts that where used for only a couple of years making replacements scarce. Besides, just like the Goldwings, in non running condition they’re a dime a dozen, I bought one for $300 not long ago. $1200 total for all three is about all they’re worth if you love to do your own wrenching. If you don’t you can spend that getting one in running condition and ready to hit the road but you still better like to turn your own wrenches!
I had a 1979 Goldwing when I was 16.
I have owned a 75,78 and 81 since.
The parts for Goldwing’s are plentiful and not that expensive but like has been said you need the tools and be able to do you’re own work.
I’m only 51 but my left hip likes to go out riding motorcycles so I don’t ride anymore.
I sure do miss them though.
Now I drive my 98 bmw convertible which isn’t quite the same but you do what you have to do as you get older.
I’m 56 and starting to feel 40, my Goldwing doesn’t move much these days and I’m on a 1982 GS450t
Very light, easy to push and keep upright, with dual sport tires it can get me a good way back into the woods. If I dump it over I can pick it up with one hand! 7k miles on it this season, a whole lot of fun to wrench and ride. This ones going to stay with me!
I put almost 6,000 miles on last year on the GW in Wisconsin and the UP, but after moving to Colorado, maybe 100 miles ( It came to Colorado in the back of a Uhaul truck) Just a whole different type of riding here, and a dual sport would be much more in order. GW’s don’t do well on gravel roads. I’d trade my GW in a second for a dual sport, but it doesn’t work that way.
Been keeping my eyes open for a “project grade” Kawasaki KLR650 for the last couple of months, it really would make the ideal bike for me now that I’ve moved on from the heavyweight macines. They seem to hold their value quite well and anything older than ten years is quite scarce to find. Money isn’t so much the issue as doing my own work, the bikes I keep get gone over with a fine toothed comb that way I know exactly what I have and be confident I can easily repair something in the middle of nowhere if needed.
Picked this running GW up at an insurance auction for $25. They are getting very cheap and parts are plentiful from folks who have just given up on trying to keep them running. I bought a full set of plastics (fairing, rear compartments, etc.) off another bike for $50. As mentioned above, once they sit for any time, count on going through the carbs and the starting/charging systems were not designed for easy repair (I guess Honda thought it would last forever). Quick search will bring up quite a few bikes (most inop) around $500. So, while on the surface it looks like a decent deal it’s really above market for non-running bikes.
It’s been interesting watching what’s been happening with used bike prices. When times are hard you can pretty much expect to be able to find great deals, that just makes sense since toys are sold off in favor of keeping the bills paid. Now that we’re seeing people with a few more dollars in discretionary income the deals are getting even better, people are opting for newer ones with a perceived notion of better quality. With fewer and fewer of us around with the knowledge and willingness to work on these older machines it’s a buyer’s market!
You guys are getting way better deals then us Canadians last time I checked 80’s goldwings were going for $1500.00 to $3000.00 up here in Canada nice ones go for $4500.00. And not that many for sale.
Hmm, you don’t say. I think I just found a market for my bike. I like the GW’s, but honestly, I think the Venture was a better bike. I knew a guy with one, could dust a GW, and put a ton of miles on it. A used one like this, I’d run from.
canadainmarkseh — Early 80’s GL1100s that are running/driving bikes here are being listed for $1500 +/- but don’t seem to be moving until prices are dropped to the $1,000 range. Am watching several decent bikes that have been listed at $1500 for over 3 months without being sold. I have 6 complete bikes that I’m watching that are inop in the $300 to $700 price range and have seen multiple inop bikes listed for free up to $200 over the last couple of months. I actually think they’re pretty decent bikes but with them approaching 35 years old the inherent issues combined with the number of folks willing to spend the time/money to resurrect them is shrinking so the law of supply and demand applies.
I’ll just leave this here: https://annarbor.craigslist.org/mcy/d/ride-it-home-1980-honda/6709343588.html
Why racer99 what part of the country are you in? I was looking just yesterday and the only ones I saw for sale in my area that were $500.00 and less were incomplete POS’s everything else was $1500.00 and up. When I bought my 1977 GW five years ago I payed $1500.00 and it was the cheapest bike up for sale at the time and it needed a clutch to make it a runner. The guy wanted $2200.00 and the most I could get him down was to the $1500.00 up here I will say that prices are directly related to the time of year do to our much shorter riding season.