I have a 2008 GL1800 that I bought used several years ago. I don't ride it that much due to lingering physical issues, I need a couple of surgeries, but that's another story. Anyway, most of my riding experience has been on sportbikes, but I have also owned a Ducati Multistrada and a Harley Road King. I also have five years of riding experience as a motorcycle officer many years ago, riding both the Harley and Kawasaki Police 1000. I sold my Road King after realizing it was a poor touring machine with repeating mechanical issues and replaced it with the Goldwing. I like the bike, but I noticed pretty much straight away its tendency for the pegs to scrape the asphalt while traversing twisty roads. I'm not talking about going fast either, cruising along with the issue being more apparent on undulating twisty roads.
I lived with the condition and thought it was because the bike didn't have enough ground clearance, unlike the Road King. I have to say the Harley was superior at handling twisting roads. However, I did a few things to its suspension, a frame stabilizer, Suspension Technology shocks, and new fork inserts. Previously, the bike wasn't as stable as I wanted it to be while taking on longer and faster curves, it wallowed and also nose-dived while stopping. After the above installs, the bike was much improved and I was very impressed with this aspect of performance.
I didn't do anything to the Wing, the scrapping was annoying so I decided to simply go slower to avoid the peg-to-road contact. However, on my last ride to a destination that I have traveled over multiple times, I was in the process of negotiating a mountain S curve when a peg touched down and the contact caused the bike to veer to the left, just enough to send me on a collision course with the opposing guard rail. This wayward direction was exasperated by me entering this part of the curve a little high. I reacted by not touching the brakes, shifting my body weight to the right side, and counter-steered right as well. At that time, I was going left to right on the last section of the S curve. For a moment or two, I felt I was going to collide with the guard rail, but all of a sudden during my right turning effort, the right peg touched down, and again, that caused the bike to pivot right and I was able to continue turning away from the guard rail and back to my side of the roadway. Yeah, it was a little hairy, I'm not used to scrapping boards or pegs, knees yes.
This event was kind of a wake-up call and the more I thought about it, I felt the frequent touchdowns indicated a possible problem with the suspension or maybe because the bike was too low to the ground. It happens exclusively on undulating and twisty mountain roads, I don't recall having a problem like this making turns on flat terrain. I looked into suspension upgrades and the name of Traxxion Dynamics came up, I heard of the company years ago, but I never have used any of their products. Their solution sounds solid enough, yet I have not investigated further rider feedback. If something like this is what I need to cure this issue, I'm not resigned to spending that much money for their suspension upgrades, I would be more inclined to sell the bike and pick up another touring machine that has better ground clearance. I've dumped a lot of upgrade money on the bikes I have owned, especially the four Ducatis and the Harley. I still own a Ducati 999R, but after being retired for over a year now, I'm no longer in the mood to spend money on a machine that I thought would be ready to ride without a glaring issue such as this. However, I have mixed feelings about selling the bike which I perceive as possibly dangerous, I don't want to hand the keys over to somebody unless the bike is safe to ride.
Are there any other equipment alternatives or ideas out there? Could changing out the rear shock be a solution or increasing preload? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I lived with the condition and thought it was because the bike didn't have enough ground clearance, unlike the Road King. I have to say the Harley was superior at handling twisting roads. However, I did a few things to its suspension, a frame stabilizer, Suspension Technology shocks, and new fork inserts. Previously, the bike wasn't as stable as I wanted it to be while taking on longer and faster curves, it wallowed and also nose-dived while stopping. After the above installs, the bike was much improved and I was very impressed with this aspect of performance.
I didn't do anything to the Wing, the scrapping was annoying so I decided to simply go slower to avoid the peg-to-road contact. However, on my last ride to a destination that I have traveled over multiple times, I was in the process of negotiating a mountain S curve when a peg touched down and the contact caused the bike to veer to the left, just enough to send me on a collision course with the opposing guard rail. This wayward direction was exasperated by me entering this part of the curve a little high. I reacted by not touching the brakes, shifting my body weight to the right side, and counter-steered right as well. At that time, I was going left to right on the last section of the S curve. For a moment or two, I felt I was going to collide with the guard rail, but all of a sudden during my right turning effort, the right peg touched down, and again, that caused the bike to pivot right and I was able to continue turning away from the guard rail and back to my side of the roadway. Yeah, it was a little hairy, I'm not used to scrapping boards or pegs, knees yes.
This event was kind of a wake-up call and the more I thought about it, I felt the frequent touchdowns indicated a possible problem with the suspension or maybe because the bike was too low to the ground. It happens exclusively on undulating and twisty mountain roads, I don't recall having a problem like this making turns on flat terrain. I looked into suspension upgrades and the name of Traxxion Dynamics came up, I heard of the company years ago, but I never have used any of their products. Their solution sounds solid enough, yet I have not investigated further rider feedback. If something like this is what I need to cure this issue, I'm not resigned to spending that much money for their suspension upgrades, I would be more inclined to sell the bike and pick up another touring machine that has better ground clearance. I've dumped a lot of upgrade money on the bikes I have owned, especially the four Ducatis and the Harley. I still own a Ducati 999R, but after being retired for over a year now, I'm no longer in the mood to spend money on a machine that I thought would be ready to ride without a glaring issue such as this. However, I have mixed feelings about selling the bike which I perceive as possibly dangerous, I don't want to hand the keys over to somebody unless the bike is safe to ride.
Are there any other equipment alternatives or ideas out there? Could changing out the rear shock be a solution or increasing preload? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
