They have a long history of organising such events and feel that a new venture for them to try is a GoldWing Light Parade.

One of the Chester Lions members was present at Llandudno on 1st October 2011 when GoldWings North Wales hosted the Llandudno Light Parade. He was that impressed with the spectacle that he has spread the gospel to the rest of his group and as a result they have approached Dave Crowley and I,  to see if they could organise a ‘Chester Lions Light Parade’.

Dave is not only a member of GoldWings North Wales but is also a member of GWOCGB, being active within the local region.

I must emphasise at this point that the Chester Lions are doing all the organising and have requested our joint assistance only to publicise the event within the GoldWing Community.

A Trike from 2007 BLP

They have sought advice from us on several aspects of the parade which we have tried to respond to as best as we could.

Here are the  details that have been agreed and can publicised.

The event is to be held on Saturday 21st April 2012, starting off with a static daytime display of GoldWings within the historic city centre itself. The Goldwings are to be displayed in up to 3 locations within the pedestrianised zone of the city centre.

The main display will be centred around Bridge Street just by Chester Cross. See the map here for location.

This street has many vehicle bays which will be the display area for the Wings. If this area fills up completely a second display area will be in Eastgate Street, the main shopping street just around the corner from Bridge Street.

If the day is blessed with a very strong turnout of GoldWings (and the Chester Lions really do hope so) a third area for displaying more Wings is just outside the Town Hall.

Bridge Street, Chester Daytime display

The Chester Lions members will be on hand to shake buckets and with assistance from the Wing owners take every opportunity to collect money from the public viewing the display.

Local radio is expected to have outside broadcast facilities present at the static display, as well as press photographers.

The static display concludes at 4pm and the area should be cleared of Wings. Those who have arranged accommodation can return and sort out meals etc, or for those on day visits there are plenty of fine eateries within the City Centre.

The main evening event is the Goldwing  light parade which commences with a muster from 7pm onwards in Castle Square, a large car-park just outside the City Centre which is easy to find. For the map to get there look here

The parade will start at 8.15pm from Castle Square and will have police motorcycle escorts for the whole route.

Old Dee Bridge

The parade route will take in one of the outskirts of Chester, Handbridge, and will then cross over the Old Dee Bridge and travel around Chester City Centre on a short circuit before looping round the outside and back into the centre where is it hoped that the main public display will take place, with the Chester Lions members doing a bucket collection.

Again local radio stations will take a big part in the evening with prize competitions. The Lord Mayor is hoping that someone will allow her to ride on the back of a trike in the parade and that someone will donate a seat to other dignatories and prizewinners.

At the completion of the Parade those owners who wish to take part is the Best Lit Bike competition will remain parked up in the City Centre while judging takes place followed by prize -giving at the same location or nearby.

Due to the small area involved for this competition, those rider not taking part may be asked to park their bikes away from the area in other side streets and walk back for this event.

Castle Square Mustering Point

The whole day has the support of the Police, and the  Council.

It is also apparent that Chester Lions are extremely well organised in making arrangements for such events  including road closures and marshalling various aspect of the event.

As the Lions have asked for our assistance to arrange attendance of Goldwingers Dave Crowley and I have been making enquiries locally for accommodation deals.

To this end we have managed to secure camping on the outskirts of Chester and a hotel near Mold, 8 miles outside Chester but on favourable terms.

The camping ground is the Chester Southerly Camping Park, which is situated just off the A483 and A55 road junction. the rates for those who quote ‘Goldwings Event’ are:- Caravans and Motorhomes with electric 2 adults £17.00 Tents with 2  adults  £12.75,  Tents 1  adult   £10.20.  This is a 15% discount over normal rates. They can be contacted at:

Chester Southerly Touring Park Balderton Lane, Marlston Cum Lache CH4 9LB Tel: 01244 671308  – Visit their website here and view a map of their location here

For those who wish to make use of the hotel deal we have obtained  – The Beaufort Park Hotel at New Brighton, Near Mold have offered excellent discounted rates of £60 per couple per room per night for Dinner, Bed and Breakfast, or £35 per solo per room for the same deal. This deal applies to the Friday and Saturday nights BUT this offer is open to those who book before 28th February as the hotel must release the block-booked rooms after that date. Again, the deal is open to those who quote ‘GoldWings’ when booking.

GoldWing GL1800

Torrance, CA: American Honda Motor Co., Inc. has notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that a potential defect relating to motor vehicle safety exists in the secondary master cylinder on certain 2001-2010 and 2012 model year GL1800 motorcycles.

Situation

The compensating port hole inside the secondary master cylinder (part of the combined-braking system) can become blocked due to (1) stacking of tolerances in manufacturing and (2) sufficient swelling of the primary pressure cup inside the master cylinder. If the compensating port hole becomes completely blocked, the rear wheel brake caliper can drag after the rider releases the brake input. If this occurs, the rear brake temperature and pressure progressively increase. Unexpected braking increases the risk of a crash and continued riding with the brake engaged can generate enough heat to cause the rear brake to catch fire.

Inspection and Repair

Honda motorcycle dealers will inspect the secondary master cylinder of all affected motorcycles in dealership stock or sold to customers (consumers and commercial entities). If an inspection indicates that the compensator port hole can become blocked due to this problem, the dealer will replace the secondary master cylinder. Registered owners of affected motorcycles will be contacted by mail and asked to take their motorcycle to a Honda dealer. The dealer will inspect the motorcycle, and if necessary, replace the secondary master cylinder, free of charge.

Additional Details

Honda motorcycle dealers will immediately receive a transmittal of complete repair instructions. Replacement secondary master cylinders in the U.S. will initially be made available through American Honda’s dealer technical support hotline. Upon approval by NHTSA, American Honda will mail a letter to all registered owners, and also post a copy of the letter on the Honda Brand website: powersports.honda.com. Target dates for website posting are before the end of December 2011, and mail receipt by registered customers should occur before the end of January 2012.

Honda apologizes for any inconvenience this creates, but feels the safety of our customers is the highest priority. Honda encourages every customer to contact their dealer to schedule an appointment upon receiving the SAFETY RECALL letter.

So subject of my first report is the new 1800.

Front end of 1800

Q and I went to the NEC bike show and i took some pictures of it but could not sit on it as Honda had put it behind a barrier on a stand,staff were very helpful and i asked them to send me a brochure to study for any mechanical changes.With Dave Turvey being the first in our club to order one i thought i should get to know it as much as i can for when he comes asking me to fix it.

It has new headlights and at first you don’t they have been changed but then you realise that the chrome finish inside has been reduced so if you are thinking of lighting them up with LED’s it wont have the same effect Dave.

The panel above the headlights also has also been changed and you can see a new two slot arrangment so new chrome will have to be made to fit that, i bet it has already been designed in America.

Side view of fairing

When you move around to the side of the bike you can see it is all new with a two tone colour scheme going on with the new panels and a totally new shape for the radiator area, again more new chrome to be designed.

Some of you who are not anoraks like me will not realise that Honda have gone for an old style Honda logo as well which i think looks ace.

The lower parts of the fairing have been redesigned as well and will have to have different shape fog lights changing from round to oblong.

In this white colour under the NEC showlights the two colours were not easily noticed from a distance but stand out well on the Blue or Red.

 And now to that controversial rear end

New rear end

This has caused the most chatter on Goldwing forums all over and i must admit i can’t see how they thought from the rear it looked OK? The lights just do not seem to match at all and look like they have been borrowed from BMW.

From a side view the panniers flow nice with the new fairing but it will be interesting to see how the aftermarket people decide to make lights for it.The panniers are bigger inside as there is no light bulge into the pannier so you can put even more stuff in there you don’t need.

That rear panel black trim will look good in chrome and i am sure you can sneak some lights into it.

Dave Turvey has about 850 LED’s left over from his last project so i am sure he will get busy making changes to it, don’t forget to post pictures Dave.

Well thats it for my first post, you have no idea how many times it took for me to put the pictures on here and i am still not sure i have done it right but i am sure i will be advised accordingly.For those of you in the club who don’t know me that well be careful what you tell me as it may end up as a blog subject and some naughty peple have accused me in the past of not telling the truth and changing the facts to make a good story.

In my line of work as a sweet taster for a very large chocolate company i have to always tell the truth

The registration is FE07 OKX, so would all Wingers please keep an eye out for it being ridden or offered for sale.

If you hear of a job lot of spare parts coming available suddenly in your area, please let us know and we will follow up on it.

2011 Llandudno Light Parade Patch

Many of you have asked about patches for the 2011 Llandudno Light parade, especially as those available on the day were very quickly snapped up.

If you want to order a patch you can do so directly with Alan from Storm Embroidery. He will take orders for the LLP patches and send them by post for £4.00 per patch plus P&P of 50p (1-4 patches). He does use paypal for transfer of funds.

You can contact him direct on 01226 231054 or Mob 07753246459.

Dave T

Llandudno from the Orme

I am pleased to announce that Chris Phillips, Rides Co-ordinator for GoldWings North Wales, has worked diligently to secure the next great venue for a GoldWing Light Parade – Llandudno on the North Wales Coast.

By a carefully and fully considered approach, he has managed to secure the welcome and backing not only from Conwy Council but also from Mostyn Estates, the landowners of the majority of Llandudno, including the North Shore Promenade. The event is intended as a fund-raising event for the RNLI, who have an active Lifeboat Station in the town.

The date was chosen as 1st October 2011 for this display.

Prom and Cenotaph

It is at the end of the season as far as the majority of GoldWing events are concerned. It also is three weeks after the Scarborough Light Parade, hosted by Yorkshire Wings of GWOCGB, and it was a suitable date for the Conwy Council to be happy to back it.

Llandudno has many positive features for holding a Light Parade.

The town is away from main routes across North Wales so as not to cause any traffic issues, but close enough to arterial routes in North Wales to make travel to the resort easy.

The town is compact enough for a light parade to be able to keep together without serious hold-ups associated with other venues, and without the necessity for a road closure.

Goldwings on Llandudno Promenade

The suggested route for the parade through the town centre does not require a large number of marshals to ensure the route is easy to follow.

The event will run from the Friday evening with Saturday seeing a static display of GoldWings on the promenade from 11am to 4.30 pm.

The Evening will start with a muster of GoldWings on the Promenade at about 6.30 followed by the Parade leaving the Promenade at 7pm.

At 7.45 pm the Goldwings will re assemble on the Promenade for a static light display which finishes at 8.45pm.

If the Wing can't get up the Orme there is another way..

Accommodation has been secured at a GoldWing friendly hotel in the town, with nearby secure overnight parking. There is a two night package which has been secured with the hotel for Dinner Bed and Breakfast, with evening entertainment, at a favourable rate.

Negotiations are ongoing to try and secure a camping area for those hardy souls who really do want to camp in October.

For the most up-to-date information please see the Llandudno Light Parade Website

Chris, who is the Event Chairman for the light parade, will be available to deal with enquiries in the near future when all the fine details have been finalised.

My thanks go to Chris for arranging this and being the Event Chairman, and to Nigel for all the work done to ensure the web-site is sorted out quickly.

Dave T

Set up at a biker event

Having recently decided to purchase my first GoldWing and feeling very proud of myself in owning the flagship of Hondas touring bikes, I got to thinking to myself, how do I go about preserving the gleaming chrome and paintwork of the bike, given that I am an all year biker.

I was chatting to a friend of mine regarding my fear of winter and the salt on the roads that comes with the winter months.

I was relaying my fears that the winter gritters spreading literally thousands of tons of salt on the roads and what it would do to my prized possession.

Deep cleaning a bike

This is when he suggested to me a company called All Year Biker that deep cleans the bike prior to treating the bike with ACF50 an anti-corrosion spray that is used by the United States armed forces to protect their military aircraft and helicopters against corrosion.

So I set about searching the internet for this bike treatment and coming across the website for allyearbiker.co.uk.

I found the site to be of great interest to me. It explained the treatment that they give to the bike in great detail.

Getting into tight areas

There is also a short video on the site of how the process is actually done to the bike. On reading the reviews and seeing the video on the end results of the process it did not take me long to decide that this is what I wanted for my GoldWing.

So I went further into the webpages and got the booking request. Finding that a motorcyclist was hosting an event in Chester on the 4th December 2010, and seeing that there was places available for that date at Chester, I then made the booking for the event.

The cost was £60 for the ACF50 anti-corrosion treatment paying by PayPal.

All part of the process

The person who has the franchise for All Year Biker operates from Durham. Due to the adverse weather on the East Coast of the country in recent weeks, the event was cancelled for the 4th December, but was rearranged for Saturday the 11th December.

My time slot to attend was 11am. So it was up early for breakfast, get the bike out and change into my motorcycle gear and off to the short ride to Elton where the event took place.

Arriving at the venue, there was one bike nearing the completion of the treatment, so my GoldWing was next.

Looking clean

The All Year Bike operative was a man called Roy. He was very presentable and polite, he explained in detail what the process involved and the chemicals that was used regards the treatment he was going to subject the bike to.

He started by pressure hosing the loose dirt salt and grime off the bike. He then sprayed the wheels and heavily oiled parts of the bike with special adapted brushes into all the inaccessible parts of the bike.

He then pressure hosed off the chemicals that was applied.

A really well cleaned and finished bike

He then sprayed on a very thick coating of foam deep cleaning agent to every area of the bike, leaving it to stand for five minutes for this foam to thoroughly clean every nook and cranny imaginable on the bike.

This foam was hosed off with water to reveal a very clean looking bike by this time. The next process was to blow dry the bike with a warm air blower, dispersing all the water from the bike.

The bike was then masked off to protect the brake disc and tyres from the over spray of the ACF50. Roy then commenced to treat the bike with the ACF50 with a pressure spray gun treating the whole of the bike.

The final treatment was a special formulated wax polishing of screen, chrome and the bikes paint work. The wax was formulated as not to damage the windscreen or glass on the bike..

I would truly recommend anyone to have their bike treated by All Year Biker, as my GoldWing looked like it had just come out of the showroom when it was purchased new.

On talking with Nigel and explaining the process to him, he asked if I took any photographs of the work being carried out. Unfortunately I never gave this a thought. So I have added a link to their webpage for those of you who may be interested in having this treatment done on their bikes. The company have also supplied the photos used in this article from a previous event.

www.allyearbiker.co.uk

Brian

Bookings (inc deposits) can now be made directly with the hotel by calling them on 01772 422922 and quoting reference GO 290111. Early booking is advisable

Details of the package can be viewed from the Goldwings North West web-site.

This was thoroughly enjoyed by our members last year and is well recommended as a weekend event. We have received an express invitation from Goldwings North West members to this event and it would be nice to give them our support.  I am aware that several couples have already booked from this club.

Dave T

The scenic Sychnant Pass

Having been caught in some heavy rain the previous day in Caernarfon (See Caernarfon ride), we decided to return to the area on Sunday 11th July for the Anglesey Ride-out.

The route for this trip was organised by our rides-coordinator, Chris Phillips, as a circuit of Anglesey. This area is well known to me and I do enjoy a ride around the island, providing the weather is fine.

Jan and I, accompanied by Steve D. on his recently purchased 1500, turned up at 8.50 am at the home of Nigel and Jo, to find Nigel again awake and dressed at this hour, and helping Jo to get ready.

Another scenic shot from the Pass

We were soon heading westbound on the A55 to Llandudno Junction, to meet up at the Black Cat Garage, where we waited for Chris to turn up to guide us around the island according to his route.

Soon enough, Chris and Amy arrived and so did Steve M. on the trike, and we were off.

After a slight detour via Llanrhos and Deganwy, we headed towards Conwy and the Sychnant Pass. This was the very old road that connected Conwy to Penmaenmawr, especially when the tide was in. It is a scenic diversion to the A55 dual carriageway if you have the time to take it.

Break-time to stretch the old aching joints

We pulled off the A55 road just after we crossed the Britannia Bridge onto the island, and followed the road towards Llanfair P.G. before turning left again to head for Newborough.

The roads on Anglesey are interesting for bikers as they are constantly twisting and turning with some decent straights along the way, though speeds cannot be particularly high due to volume of traffic and the not bad but not perfect surface over most of the roads. At least, we did not see many of the body jarring potholes that we find further inland on the mainland, and which are more prevalent since the snow earlier this year.

Meeting up with John and Marilyn

As we continued around the island, I was somewhat disappointed to find so many nice stretches of the road reduced to slow crawls due to speed limits, which were too long and too low. These have crept in over the past couple of years.

We eventually arrived at Beaumaris and were able to pull into a parking spot directly opposite the entrance to the pier.

At this moment we were greeted by John and Marilyn W. who had gone to Beaumaris for a ride and some lunch, having just finished working at the Wing-Ding held at Bangor over the weekend.

We also met Pete Hodge and Diane who were waiting for Steve M. as he was carrying some parts needed to get Pete’s trike back on the road.

'After lunch' photo shoot at the beach

We split up for lunch at a couple of different premises, and when Jan and I returned to the Wings, there was another Wing parked up with them. I was then informed by Nigel that Mike M. and Helen had been following us around the island but just missing us.

Following lunch, we made our way to the view point overlooking the Menai Straits between the Britannia Bridge and the Menai Bridge. This was to enable Nigel to take some decent photos that he wanted for the website.

At this point Chris announced that we were at the end of the official ride-out. He and Amy needed to visit Betws Y Coed to deliver some items. Several of us decided that we would also go along for the ride, at which point Chris announced that we were welcome to come along, if we could keep up with him!

The view between the Bridges

Steve M. decided wisely that the roads would be a bit of a workout for him as his trike does not yet have raked front forks, and was quite heavy to steer, so he set off back to the A55 and home.

Chris was obviously a bit concerned about the time for the items which needed to be delivered so he set off at a gentle pace until the roads allowed progress to be made and off he went with a red 1800 in hot pursuit.

This left Steve at the front not knowing the route.

Fortunately, I was able to get to the front of the other two wings from my position at the back, just in time to lead Steve and Mike with the correct way to go.

I then led the ride to Llanberis, where we picked up Nigel, who had slowed down and waited for us. Chris and Amy were nowhere to be seen as Chris had rode off in a spirited way. He suspected that Chris had turned off somewhere to deliver something.

The view on Sunday - totally invisible on Saturday

We continued the ride up the valley to Pen-y-gwryd and through the same route as Saturday, all the way to Betws Y Coed.

The weather for Sunday was the opposite to the previous day’s trip, consequently we were able to compare the route.

On arrival at Betws Y Coed, I pulled into a motorcycle parking spot to see Chris and Amy parked just the other side of the wall, on the pavement.

After a break for coffee, tea and ice cream (guess who?), we parted company with Chris and Amy, and the remainder of us headed home via the Clocaenog Forest.

Another fine ride-out arranged by Chris for our members.

As usual, there is a record of photos taken by Nigel, Jan and I to be found at Goldwing North Wales Anglesey 2010 on our website.

Dave T

This ride route has been revised mainly due to the wonderful N Wales road contractors pretending to re-surface our roads by throwing endless tonnes of chippings down, followed by a quick tar pouring.

As you will all know, this combination results in a recipe for disaster as far a bikes are concerned for the following few weeks.

The good news is that we get to go to an extra ice cream shop on the new route, and still get to go to the ones which were on the original route.

I have updated the link in the rides list and calendar, so you should see the new route there,  but here it is anyway.    http://bit.ly/bJyErx

Hope to see you all there, don’t forget the sunshine and your wallets!!

All the best,

Chris