My brother Steve has been living/riding in denial for quite some time. I recently asked him, in light of a new bike purchase, if he was still feeling that way and he answered with a resounding YES!
It all started when he threw a leg over my 2003 Gold Wing. I had no idea that it would change the course of his motorcycling journey and I don't think he did either. But sooner than not, he was looking at used Wings. He wasn't ready to give up the H-D Street Glide but was now really liking the idea of long rides (mostly 2-up with his wife, Becky) being on a luxo-tourer. I remember conversations about the Wing being for old guys, that the styling wasn't that great and that he could never see himself riding or owning one (hence the denial). In the end though, the Gold Wing is an amazingly competent machine and was made for the open road. Every motorcyclist should at least test drive one sometime in their riding career - be forewarned though!
Even with the touring prowess of the Gold Wing, it is a big bike and wasn't well suited for the range of riding I wanted to do so ultimately, I moved on. Maybe there will come a time that I will have multiple bikes in the garage but currently, that isn't an option. What I really wanted a bike that would handle rough roads, or dirt roads, and also handle touring (and not feel like a barge in low speed situations). I actually dropped my Wing once when I was traveling with my wife and we were going to do a u-turn. We both were alright and the bike was unfazed but it did factor into the equation as I considered other bikes for the future.
The short time that Steve and I were both on Wings. The pic below was from one of our numerous forays into Western Wisconsin.
The one motorcycle camping trip we did where we were both on Wings was to the Americade Rally in Lake George NY in June of 2013.
The next summer, we didn't do a trip at all and I sold the Wing and replaced it with a leftover 2013 V-Strom. The next motorcycle camping adventure was with Steve and Becky on their Wing and me on the V-Strom. It was the summer of 2015 and we did a 3,000 mile trip out to Colorado with stops at the Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Park.
We also met up with college friend, Calvin Hofer on that ride. Calvin lives in Grand Junction and joined us for a day of riding.
My Gold Wing chapter of this story is over but Steve's will continue. More on that next time!
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