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.

1 owner from new – must be seen. Looks like new – see photos.

£10,750.00 …………Priced to Sell

Phone 07831 134875 or email graham•jean37©gmail•com

blue GL1800 GoldWing

I need another bright blue GL1800 GoldWing – I would prefer the 2005 model to match the one I lost to Chandra after she passed her test!

Contact Jim on 0161 449 9296 or mobile 07866 392830 or email me on jamesnightingale001©fsnet•co•uk – please get in touch with your asking price, where you are, and any pictures you may have ……also any accessories fitted.

many thanks

Jim Nightingale

Stevie very happy

Christmas! the time of year when you normally eat far too much food with people you don’t like and try to look happy you got another pair of socks. I was happy because our meal was not like that because nobody brought any socks! We had our normal monthly meeting before the meal and that went well and thanks were given to those who work on behalf of the club to make it all special, we even allowed for Stevie and went to no expense with table signs to make sure he felt welcome too.

Is Red my colour??

You often see a different side to members when they have had alcohol and Paul was no exception, he decided to be himself as it was Christmas and the ladies did admire his earrings with envy.

One thing that nobody had done was tell Jan that when you have a meal at the Hotel they provide you with cutlery. It was so nice that she brought her own – but don’t bother next time Jan.

Jan and her cutlery

It is a nice time of year to get together with friends and think about all the things we have got up to during the year which i think has gone really fast. When you start looking back at photographs you realise we have had some great events, most of them on the club website thanks to Nigel & Jo.

I decided to let Nigel take the picture at this year’s Christmas meal only because he has a bigger flashgun than me, or so i am told!!  It had nothing to do with my camera going faulty or not being able to walk with my bad leg from my parachute jump.

YUM YUM

I am sure pictures will magically appear on the website when Nigel gets the time to develop the film, we really must chip in with buying him some more – he must spend a fortune.

Well that’s it for this Blog report, sorry its short i was going to mention about the table next to ours who decided to ignore the waitress and queue jump in front of our table to get their food before us, but i am not mean so i wont mention who it was (but they brought their mum and have a dog)!!

I am sure as soon as Stevie and Paul get their 1800′s next year i will have more to write about, OR is Santa coming early for somebody this year??

Be Happy all of you…Ed

Dave L amused by something small

Five bikes from Goldwings North Wales went on the Germany trip this year.

The destination was the Harz Mountains region.

I had read accounts from Germany bikers, and indeed many British bikers, who commented on the quality of the roads and scenery in the area, together with some historic towns full of old-time character to visit.

The area was the boundary between the old East Germany and West Germany with the border zig-zagging through the region.

I gave the details of the proposed holiday to members of Goldwings North Wales and four other couples gave their indication of interest enough to book the holiday

Ed was easily amused as well

We chose to travel across from Hull to Holland then cross country to Germany and eventually to Bad Lauterberg where we were booked into a biker hotel for 2 weeks. Bad Lauterberg is on the South West edge of the Harz Mountain region.

We met up on day 1 at the Chester Services meeting spot, 3 GL1800, 1 GL 1500 and a BMW K1200LT (but we wont say too much about that except to take the mickey out of Ed).

The couples were Nigel and Joanna, Ian and Val, Dave and Elaine, Ed and Ann, and finally Jan and me.

We had a nice gentle trip across to Squires Cafe for lunch then carry on to the ferry port at Hull, where we were soon loaded onto the ferry and the Wings tied down.

Big garage at the hotel

We had all booked 4 berth inside cabins, but it was not to be 4 berths cabins for all of us. Our cabin was a bit noisy, we were in the centre of the ship and from the noise and vibration we were probably over the engine room, but at least the room was a 4 berth.

Ian and Val were allocated a 2 berth with bunks, and one of them was not level. Unfortunately all attempts to resolve the issue with staff on the ship were fobbed off with the comment that all complaints were to be referred to the head office. They would not even be allocated an alternative room as the ship was full.

The following morning we had an excellent breakfast on board the Ferry and then set off across Holland in nice weather on the longest leg of the journey, Rotterdam to Bad Lauterberg.

Icon of Fashion - Dave L

The journey to Bad Lauterberg was straight forward though a bit boring as it was mostly Autobahn.

Countryside was good in parts and featureless in parts (especially in Holland). The flatter parts were only given highlights when Audi cars or Porsches went past at warp factor 3, or what I thought was the fastest car of the day went past – a Jaguar – at about 160 mph or so it seemed.

After a rather long day with many stops for the loo, coffee, burgers and fuel, we arrived in Bad Lauterberg at our hotel at about 6.30pm.

We had booked a meal at the hotel for the first evening and we settled in for our holiday.

Brocken Listening Post

We managed over the next two weeks to visit and ride nearly every road in the Harz mountain range. The roads are very good and, in the main, very quiet, except at weekends, with plenty of German bikers enjoying the roads which gave a good mix of twisties and roads to make progress.

Many villages and small towns in the Harz area were like ghost towns, though it was obvious that there were many people living around the area. We rarely saw anyone in the street, unlike in the UK where it is rare to pass through a village without seeing signs of activity.

It was noticed that more than the usual number of houses were unoccupied throughout the area.

Brocken train trip

We were told by our hosts at the hotel that many houses were abandoned by families who escaped to West Germany and as yet nobody has come forward to reclaim the abandoned houses. It was also a fact that the population of Germany as a whole is shrinking steadily so these abandoned houses are likely to remain so for sometime to come.

We also visited Uslar where we called in at the biggest Goldwing dealers we have ever seen – Goldwings Haus Fuchs. It was eye candy for the Wing owners!

This dealership had more Goldwings for sale in one place than you can imagine but not one was brand new as far as I could see (though I stand to be corrected on that).

Clock-watching Goslar Style

There were numerous Gl1500 and Gl1800 models for sale with many having been treated to a ‘paint’ job particular to this dealership.

To top it all, at the time of our visit to Fuchs there was a rally of German GoldWing Trikers to the premises and there was literally no places left to park.

If anyone is passing close to Uslar (within 100 miles) it is worth diverting to the dealership to see the Wings in stock. There is also a large trike showroom at the dealership which is spectacular.

The only point I would mention is that the Wings and trikes were expensive when compared to prices at home, so don’t expect any bargain bikes there.

Wernegerode City Hall

The highest mountain in the Harz range is the Brocken which is 3,743 ft high, which is comparable with Snowdon at 3,560 ft.The summit can be reached by a steam train or on foot.

Being Wingers we took the train option, which was quite expensive, and not as good as I had hoped, as the views on the 2 hour each way journey up and down were spoilt by the very extensive forestry which surrounds the railway line up to the last few hundred metres.

It also didn’t help that half the German population (or so it seemed) had decided to visit the Brocken on the same day and the train was rather busy!!.

Nice bendy roads

The summit of the Brocken was very busy but did enable us to see across the large flat plain which starts to the east of the Brocken.

The Brocken has a very large radio antenna and old East German listening post from the Cold War days, with the border running in the valley between the Brocken and Torfhaus, which was also blessed with a large radio antenna and a listening post for the West.

Aside from radio masts, the Brocken was also home to billions of wasps and other flying insects so we all decided to return on the next train down after having grabbed a spot of lunch.

No guessing who this would be!!!

Bad move! It appears that after that train there is a gap of a couple of hours before the next train goes down to Wernigerode where we had parked the Wings. The queues of people waiting for the train was incredible and reminded me of some of those film I have seen of trains in India.

After discreet use of elbows and size 11 boots, I was able to get seats for the journey down from the Brocken, but this might have been a bit of a mixed blessing as the temperature in the carriage was very high. Once in a seat we were unable to get out of it until after a large number of people had got off at several of the stations on the way.

Out of the carriage window the view again was absorbing, but only if you are into tree-watching!.

Nigel the Dude in Dudestadt

Ian and Val took a day out to visit Colditz Castle, scene of the TV series made following the exploits of P.O.Ws at the war-time prison camp.

For some reason it is only the British who have an interest in the place as the locals are not really aware of the history of the place other than its use as a war-prison.

Ian can now relate to the box set of DVDs he had of the Colditz story.

We visited the City of Kassel which Ed had been recommended to visit. He was ride leader for the day and we had a great time visiting one very large water feature, the Herkules Monument, which sits on a ridge overlooking Kassel.

Prepare for landing!!!

The monument is a visitor attraction as it is a fine building to look at, but it is really a large water tank which supplies water for the fountains and waterfalls.

We were not lucky enough to see the water running but it was a really nice place to visit.

This was also the day I ordered a hot-dog in German and received sausage stew instead – much to the amusement of everyone when I walked out with it.

We discovered that the Harz Mountain area, and I suppose many other areas in Germany as well, really do close down on a Sunday.

Scenic view on tour given by host Greg

It was rather weird, after the Sunday trading laws in the UK, to visit a country where shops are all closed and Sunday trading does not take place. Full Stop.

We were particularly lucky to find a small transport type cafe open for our late lunch as most were closed. Even during the evening not all restaurants or cafes were open.

We managed to keep Nigel happy by finding a set of tight bends for him to scrape his pedals in both directions.

He enjoyed it so much he returned a couple of days later to play on them again.

A few of us took a guided trip around the region courtesy of our landlord, who was a very fast rider, even though I requested him to leave his fast bike behind and use his slower machine.

The water was a bit ...cool!

He managed to take us along some rather fine country roads and to some nice view points and along roads we would not have visited without his guidance.

Ian and Val did not stay for the full holiday as Val needed to get back for her business.

It must have been fate that put them in the same cabin on the ferry back -and the bunk had not been fixed.

Just goes to show that nobody listens to complaints anyway.

While the ladies were busy sorting a few things out at the hotel, Dave L and I took the opportunity on the last free morning to visit the museum of the Border crossing just outside Dudestadt.

Hot-dog stew

This was quite a sobering experience, and bought home to me how lucky we were not having had to suffer the likes of the Iron Curtain.

It was quite obvious on our rides around the area where the border points had been situated and it was often quite visible to track the border due to a large wide swathe of overgrown grass in many parts of the area, where local farmers had not reclaimed the extra land.

I found the area to be very interesting and varied. It was worth the time to visit and have a good look around, though next time I might look for a bigger hotel, with a few more facilities, if we plan to stay for as long again.

All in all a nice holiday with good scenery, reasonable weather and great friends.

As usual Nigel has put all the photos in an album for you all to see here

Dave T

Dave Turvey's new Deodorant

The December Tweenie was attended by Stevie & Collie, Nigel & Jo, Dave & Elaine, Dave & Jan, Derek & Barbara and Ian & Val – and what a lovely time we had as well, despite the low numbers.

I guess some members have heard how untidy our house is! Well Q started cleaning, dusting, polishing and hoovering that morning and I must say it did look clean.

Nigel concentrating hard so as not to spill any Trifle

Talking of clean, Dave Turvey had a new underarm spray on and Dave Large was very impressed and will order some for his next set of holidays!

As usual at our get-togethers, there is always plenty to eat, with each guest bringing along a dish of savoury or sweet. Personally, I would be quite happy with just puddings as Joanna always makes me eat veg but you do not get veg in puddings! And no – carrot cake is not real carrots!

Please note the picture of Nigel getting his own pudding!! Where was Jo to assist him? I bet she had her hands full with her pudding – I think she had Melon Surprise (or maybe Nigel did later?!).

Joanna's Melon Surprise

Anyway, Chocolate Profiteroles were also brought out, and the chocolate sauce went well with Scotch eggs and sausage rolls too – well, we can’t waste it, can we?

Derek not happy losing to the girls

Nigel had very kindly sorted out a music quiz and this always proves to be great entertainment, watching people singing the tune out loud trying to remember who was singing it. You end up singing it on fast forward in your head so you can beat the others to it.

Mind you some people are sore losers and the girls won in the end (but the questions were in the 50′s and 60′s music era, so they did have an advantage!!).

A very friendly bunch of happy members

All in all we had a great night and I had actually managed to work out how to get pictures from past Wing events onto the TV, so we had a good laugh at all the pictures you normally store on your computer and never look through.

Don’t be shy about having a Tweenie at your house – everybody is trustworthy and we had no missing towels or ornaments. Mind you, I’m not sure if Jan took some cutlery home – she seemed very impressed with it, as it was better than her Little Chef stuff she normally uses.

OK – bring on the comments!

Bob & Marlene Evans took part on their green trike, and were featured in the Wirral Globe report on the event – as you can see below.

Wirral Globe report on theWirral Toy Run 2011

Trevor on his Trike

Well one thing is for sure – the weather was nowhere near as good as our light parade weekend, but still quite a few members turned up including Trevor (minus Jean) who took nearly three hours to get there and never put his feet down once throughout the whole journey and the parade – what a rider!

Despite a cold day, Nigel & Jo, Dave T, Dave & Lynn C, Kevin, Alun & Sheila, Daz & Jan plus Steve Machin turned up with Q and myself in the car. I have just recently been bitten by a lion on the leg at work, so I can’t ride yet until it heals – occupational hazard working at a pet shop I guess.

Parade security

Hired security for parade

Security was really strict this year, but it pays to have good security at events so everybody can enjoy themselves without anything to worry about – we may look into hiring them for future monthly meetings to keep things happy.

Many people dressed up for the event and despite me arriving late it looked like a lot of effort went into the parade with decorated floats etc.

GoldWings North Wales got a really good mention about the excellent fund-raising we done this year as well.

Our members bikes

Nigel looking festive

Tree transporting 1200

So many of you made such a really great effort getting your bikes looking festive, and Nigel has put lots of pictures on this website (as usual) along with a video taken by Jo who walked the event with Q and I. The video is on YouTube, but you can also watch it at the bottom of this article.

All just so she could get video footage for all of you Blog readers to enjoy, so don’t forget to feel free and let both of them know how much you enjoy the website – as it hardly gets said and does take a lot of time.

What’s next this year?

Big Santa on Big Wing

There will be a toy run or two to do (weather permitting) and then our Christmas meal – so, until then, enjoy the salt free roads and be good for this guy or you will be sorry!…Ed

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