I've got a fun story about one of these. I'm a mechanic, and I was doing the carbs on one of these. I cleaned them, reinstalled them, and then took it for a ride. It was intermittently running on 5/6 cylinders, and it was running on 5. I went around a corner, and I grabbed a handful of throttle, and the 6th cylinder came on, mid turn. I drifted the rear tire around the corner, quite unexpectedly, and then went back and had to change my shorts.
In 1988 goldwing went to 1500 yes it's pretty much the same goldwing engine but bigger cams and 6 carburetors instead of two for more torque and horsepower I just picked up a 2000 Valkyrie interstate model myself
I bought one used and quickly learned I’m not a cruiser guy. Might as well ride a Harley Hog as far as handling is concerned. I traded it for a Ninja 1000 and couldn’t be happier.
Here's a trivia question, what's the most expensive part on that bike? Give up? the chrome plated plastic side panel! Gheesh! I've seen them go for around 500 - a piece! The big difference between it and a gold wing is the carburation. Probably other crap like the crank and the pistons I don't know. Yeah, it's heavy, but I guess cause of the wheel base and the boxer style motor, it's great on the freeway. And it corners really good for weighing as much as it does. Too bad Honda don't make them anymore.
The only issue I have with city traffic is your holding the clutch in stop/start traffic. If you can handle that it's a daily rider. I do when the weather breaks but I don't do much city traffic.
I'm looking at a 98 model with 46000 miles on it. EX Condition asking 4000... Its temping..... Even more so after watching your video here...On the 97 model........
The Internet does think it's a classic but I appreciate your opinion. It's a big bike and only the Japanese versions had a reverse on them. And their mileage for such a big bike... But they're hell as fun to ride