I bought my '77 GL1000 in early July of ‘05, with my only knowledge coming from what I could glean from the internet. I'd been entertaining the idea of getting one for a couple years now, and the more I looked at them, the more I enjoyed the simplicity and rarity of the first 3 years they were made.

After much extensive research and soul-searching, I found this one somewhat locally. It had the requisite Vetter fairing, severely knackered panniers, and a rear trunk, and of course "carbs could use a cleaning". It was actually my original intention to refurbish the bike and repaint it, completely outfitted with the all the touring garb, but that idea lasted two days. I decided to return it to bone-stock and bring it back to its original glory that it hadn’t seen since 1977, the way it was intended.

I'm new to the Goldwing thing and I learn something new every day, I tell ya. When I decided to remove the fairing and other various attachments from my bike, I discovered that there were a myriad of parts I needed to replace. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't see a faired 'Wing as a great bike with a bonus fairing; I'd see it as a bike that's going to cost me several hundred dollars to get back to stock condition. Finding parts for a 30-year-old bike gets expensive!