garry guellich
11-09-2004, 04:05 PM
I have not been on the chat befor but the latter that follows made me so mad that i had to put it on the sit to see what you all have to say. I will then post all the comants back to the goldwing club. So i after rreading the later from traver tall me what you think.
this latter was in the wing span in august 2004 it is long winded but pleas read it. Dear Editor/Postbag
Through Postbag I wish to share a few thoughts about the future of our motorcycle club with the members.
The reasons for the Club’s existence – indeed for belonging to it – are embodied in the Constitution. Their essence may be summarised by saying: we believe motorcyclists to be rather special people, that the Honda GoldWing is a rather special motorcycle – indeed, the ultimate touring motorcycle – and we wish to bring these together in friendship and co-operation to be an example of all that is worthwhile about motorcycling. At the risk of stating the obvious, a member can develop those special qualities only by being a motorcyclist and riding a GoldWing motorcycle. Throughout previous decades, such members have made the GWOCGB the premier club that it is.
Of course, there have been many developments over the years. Honda manufactured five different models of Wing – from the 4-cylinder GL1000 30 years ago to the latest 6-cylinder GL1800. Particularly after 1980 Honda extended these basic five with various Interstate, Aspencade, Limited- and Special-Edition models with the addition of various luxuries, comforts, conveniences, bells and whistles. Here they followed the lead of earlier owners who modified their Wings to make – for each generation – the ultimate touring motorcycle. This modification, this customising, continues. So, only five basic models? No! Every GoldWing is unique and personal to its owner.
Some modifications are quire radical. Having the same needs as pioneer motorcyclists, some family men extended the passenger and luggage capacity by adding a third wheel to their Wing – a bit on the side. Their mount was, and is classed as a motorcycle with sidecar. Others only needed luggage space. Adding one or two wheels to the motorcycle in the form of a trailer provided this. So, whether with two, three or four wheels, the machines remained motorcycles in the eyes of the law – and in the law, license and spirit, the riders remained motorcyclists. Some years ago riders began making even more radical modifications to motorcycles with a third wheel. This involved the creation of a three-wheeler – as with a Robin Reliant, Bond Minicar or earlier Morgan – from a GoldWing. For members facing age and/or health difficulties – members unable or unwilling to deal with the peculiarities of sidecars – such a ‘trike’ was a brilliant way in which these members could retain some of the ‘wing-in-the-hair’ spirit of riding with a machine that was once a GoldWing.
Unfortunately, legal developments paid no attention to the spirit of motorcyclists wishing ‘to trike’ a Honda GoldWing. I was criticised recently for drawing attention to this fact (I have to accept that many Brits don’t know that it was Ancient Greeks who killed messengers bearing bad news!), European law now says that the modifications, re-structuring and weight changes involved in building a trike are so great that it becomes a new machine. Rather than remaining a Honda, the manufacturer is now the ‘triking’ person or company. No longer a Honda, the machine is no longer a GoldWing – a fact confirmed by any Honda catalogue. No accepts no responsibilities for a vehicle that is no longer of their manufacture.
Contrary to those accusations to my explanation about current law, I have no problem with motorcycling members moving on to a trike when needs or desires dictate it – and remaining in the Club. After all, we can use one of the arguments that exclude FC6 Valkyries from the Club. A machine was and is a Honda GoldWing if it left the Honda factory as a GoldWing. So, as a few club we can make our own rules and agree, constitutionally, that membership is open to anyone riding any GoldWing or machine based on an original GoldWing. That just needs a minor tweak of the wording on the Constitution. Does that sound like I wish to ban trikes from the Club?
Sir, as you have guessed, I would not be writing if I did not have a problem. It concerns the second aspect of the legal changes described earlier – but which I wish to expand here. A trike no longer falls in the ‘A’ category of vehicles rideable with a motorcycle license. It falls into the ‘B’ class containing cars and related vehicles, and may be driven with a B-class license. So, it is possible to own and drive a trike with no motorcycling experience whatsoever. Therein lies my problem. I have spoken about the spirit of motorcyclists, how much we appreciate it and how much it contributed (and contributes) to the nature of our motorcycle club. If you accept that this is real and positive, then surely you must agree that someone never riding a motorcycle just can’t possess this spirit – no more than a driver of an open Golf Gti or MGB. I wish to defend the last, present and future of GWOCGB as a motorcycling club. No, I do not want to ban trikes from the Club. I wish to ban non-motorcyclists!
The Committee is reviewing the Constitution and in due course, no doubt, will present its suggestions to the membership. At this early stage, therefore, I suggest that the Constitution 4(b)(I) concerning Membership Eligibility be modified to something like: Full membership of the Club shall be available to any person who owns a GoldWing motorcycle or a vehicle derived from a GoldWing motorcycle and who possesses a full motorcycle riding license. (The conditions governing joint membership should follow the same pattern.) We already have 130 or so trike-owning members – a number who could influence the future spirit and direction of the Club. I don’t know whether any lack a motorcycle license. If my suggestion were accepted I would not want to make any of it retrospective. I would suggest that the new eligibility rule should become effective from, say, 1.1.2005, leaving current ‘trike’ memberships as they are. After that date I wish to eliminate any possibility that non-motorcyclists could, with their voting membership, affect our motorcycling club.
I sometimes wonder whether we are occasionally blinded by the very mention of ‘GoldWing’. Uncritically, some people take on board anything that even smells of ‘GoldWing’. (The engine block of the FC6 was common to the GL1500, bits and pieces on my CBX are identical with those from the GL1100, some nuts and bolts on Margret’s CB250RS were shared by the GL1100). But our Club is for and about GoldWing Owners – about people, about motorcyclists drawn together by one particular machine.
Sir, you and I, we both believe deeply in the qualities and virtues of motorcyclists. They show a charity, friendship and selflessness that is not common to drivers of, say, a GTi or MGB. In a world so short on qualities and virtues, where consumerism, money, selfishness and snatch-and-grab mentalities prevail, I believe that such virtues and qualities have to be defended, have to be provided with a platform. We do this by belonging to a motorcycling club such a GWOCGB and sharing the companionship of like-minded motorcyclists. We already have rules that, like my suggestion, might seem exclusive. However, they can be seen as inclusive – embracing only motorcyclists owning GoldWing as members. There again, I am sure that the Club and Committee are no interested in quantity – not the number of membership fees paid by any old Tom, Dick or Harriet – but in the motorcycling quality of members in the club. Indeed, I suggest they are duty bound to protect the motorcycling nature of the Club.
I appeal to the Committee and to the members to preserve the central purpose of the GWOCGB and ensure that it continues its wonderful heritage by remaining a club for motorcycles – motorcyclists who ride the best touring motorcycles ever.
I remain, Sir, yours faithfully.
trvor white
this latter was in the wing span in august 2004 it is long winded but pleas read it. Dear Editor/Postbag
Through Postbag I wish to share a few thoughts about the future of our motorcycle club with the members.
The reasons for the Club’s existence – indeed for belonging to it – are embodied in the Constitution. Their essence may be summarised by saying: we believe motorcyclists to be rather special people, that the Honda GoldWing is a rather special motorcycle – indeed, the ultimate touring motorcycle – and we wish to bring these together in friendship and co-operation to be an example of all that is worthwhile about motorcycling. At the risk of stating the obvious, a member can develop those special qualities only by being a motorcyclist and riding a GoldWing motorcycle. Throughout previous decades, such members have made the GWOCGB the premier club that it is.
Of course, there have been many developments over the years. Honda manufactured five different models of Wing – from the 4-cylinder GL1000 30 years ago to the latest 6-cylinder GL1800. Particularly after 1980 Honda extended these basic five with various Interstate, Aspencade, Limited- and Special-Edition models with the addition of various luxuries, comforts, conveniences, bells and whistles. Here they followed the lead of earlier owners who modified their Wings to make – for each generation – the ultimate touring motorcycle. This modification, this customising, continues. So, only five basic models? No! Every GoldWing is unique and personal to its owner.
Some modifications are quire radical. Having the same needs as pioneer motorcyclists, some family men extended the passenger and luggage capacity by adding a third wheel to their Wing – a bit on the side. Their mount was, and is classed as a motorcycle with sidecar. Others only needed luggage space. Adding one or two wheels to the motorcycle in the form of a trailer provided this. So, whether with two, three or four wheels, the machines remained motorcycles in the eyes of the law – and in the law, license and spirit, the riders remained motorcyclists. Some years ago riders began making even more radical modifications to motorcycles with a third wheel. This involved the creation of a three-wheeler – as with a Robin Reliant, Bond Minicar or earlier Morgan – from a GoldWing. For members facing age and/or health difficulties – members unable or unwilling to deal with the peculiarities of sidecars – such a ‘trike’ was a brilliant way in which these members could retain some of the ‘wing-in-the-hair’ spirit of riding with a machine that was once a GoldWing.
Unfortunately, legal developments paid no attention to the spirit of motorcyclists wishing ‘to trike’ a Honda GoldWing. I was criticised recently for drawing attention to this fact (I have to accept that many Brits don’t know that it was Ancient Greeks who killed messengers bearing bad news!), European law now says that the modifications, re-structuring and weight changes involved in building a trike are so great that it becomes a new machine. Rather than remaining a Honda, the manufacturer is now the ‘triking’ person or company. No longer a Honda, the machine is no longer a GoldWing – a fact confirmed by any Honda catalogue. No accepts no responsibilities for a vehicle that is no longer of their manufacture.
Contrary to those accusations to my explanation about current law, I have no problem with motorcycling members moving on to a trike when needs or desires dictate it – and remaining in the Club. After all, we can use one of the arguments that exclude FC6 Valkyries from the Club. A machine was and is a Honda GoldWing if it left the Honda factory as a GoldWing. So, as a few club we can make our own rules and agree, constitutionally, that membership is open to anyone riding any GoldWing or machine based on an original GoldWing. That just needs a minor tweak of the wording on the Constitution. Does that sound like I wish to ban trikes from the Club?
Sir, as you have guessed, I would not be writing if I did not have a problem. It concerns the second aspect of the legal changes described earlier – but which I wish to expand here. A trike no longer falls in the ‘A’ category of vehicles rideable with a motorcycle license. It falls into the ‘B’ class containing cars and related vehicles, and may be driven with a B-class license. So, it is possible to own and drive a trike with no motorcycling experience whatsoever. Therein lies my problem. I have spoken about the spirit of motorcyclists, how much we appreciate it and how much it contributed (and contributes) to the nature of our motorcycle club. If you accept that this is real and positive, then surely you must agree that someone never riding a motorcycle just can’t possess this spirit – no more than a driver of an open Golf Gti or MGB. I wish to defend the last, present and future of GWOCGB as a motorcycling club. No, I do not want to ban trikes from the Club. I wish to ban non-motorcyclists!
The Committee is reviewing the Constitution and in due course, no doubt, will present its suggestions to the membership. At this early stage, therefore, I suggest that the Constitution 4(b)(I) concerning Membership Eligibility be modified to something like: Full membership of the Club shall be available to any person who owns a GoldWing motorcycle or a vehicle derived from a GoldWing motorcycle and who possesses a full motorcycle riding license. (The conditions governing joint membership should follow the same pattern.) We already have 130 or so trike-owning members – a number who could influence the future spirit and direction of the Club. I don’t know whether any lack a motorcycle license. If my suggestion were accepted I would not want to make any of it retrospective. I would suggest that the new eligibility rule should become effective from, say, 1.1.2005, leaving current ‘trike’ memberships as they are. After that date I wish to eliminate any possibility that non-motorcyclists could, with their voting membership, affect our motorcycling club.
I sometimes wonder whether we are occasionally blinded by the very mention of ‘GoldWing’. Uncritically, some people take on board anything that even smells of ‘GoldWing’. (The engine block of the FC6 was common to the GL1500, bits and pieces on my CBX are identical with those from the GL1100, some nuts and bolts on Margret’s CB250RS were shared by the GL1100). But our Club is for and about GoldWing Owners – about people, about motorcyclists drawn together by one particular machine.
Sir, you and I, we both believe deeply in the qualities and virtues of motorcyclists. They show a charity, friendship and selflessness that is not common to drivers of, say, a GTi or MGB. In a world so short on qualities and virtues, where consumerism, money, selfishness and snatch-and-grab mentalities prevail, I believe that such virtues and qualities have to be defended, have to be provided with a platform. We do this by belonging to a motorcycling club such a GWOCGB and sharing the companionship of like-minded motorcyclists. We already have rules that, like my suggestion, might seem exclusive. However, they can be seen as inclusive – embracing only motorcyclists owning GoldWing as members. There again, I am sure that the Club and Committee are no interested in quantity – not the number of membership fees paid by any old Tom, Dick or Harriet – but in the motorcycling quality of members in the club. Indeed, I suggest they are duty bound to protect the motorcycling nature of the Club.
I appeal to the Committee and to the members to preserve the central purpose of the GWOCGB and ensure that it continues its wonderful heritage by remaining a club for motorcycles – motorcyclists who ride the best touring motorcycles ever.
I remain, Sir, yours faithfully.
trvor white