Changing My Mind

What the hell was I thinking?

I bought a 1982 GL1100 this past summer when my V30 shredded its crankshaft bearings. Didn't feel like futzing with the V30 when I knew it was ultimately gonna be too small for me.

I spent the summer riding around on a 750 pound oil barge.

My goal was to strip the fairing off the Wing, to make it a standard, a la www.nakedgoldwings.com

But I've never been really happy with the acceleration on the Wing. It handled superbly, suprizingly well. I had fun scraping pegs, which was admittedly pretty easy to do without even trying.

I would like to know if a nekkid GL1100 really does compare to a V65? Sure the Wing is slow now, but it's carrying around 150 pounds of bags and fairing. If it sheds its excess weight (which I plan to do, if I follow through on my plan), how would it compare. Would it be noticeably slower than a V65? I don't mean on the track, I mean in the real world.

I can predict some of the responses I'll get. There'll be the "of course you should have known better", and the "My XYZ is better". Lots of pride. Lots of opinions.

I understand that there is a lot to motorcycles that is just opinion, just personal preference. Ride your own ride. I get that. Good on ya.

But I'm wanting to know how these things are measured. Is there a standard statistic published by the trade mags or the manufacturers that would be translate to a meaningful realworld experience. In automobile world, it's the zero-to-60 mph measurement. In motorcycles, we publish torque and hp curves but I don't know what the fudge they mean to me. I mean, it's not a measurement I really grasp.

In the absence of a real measurement, I'll end up buying a different bike every year, riding it for a season, and deciding whether I like it or not. I guess that's not such a bad thing either. Maybe eventually I'll find the "ideal" bike for me. The important thing is that I keep trying, and keep riding....