Parting with Bessie

Today was a bittersweet day for me. In July of 2000, I got a special gift from my step-father. He passed away in September of 1999 and left a ’79 GoldWing behind. Somehow, I became interested in motorcycles and my mother was gracious enough to give me his bike. Bessie the GL1000 found a place in my garage and in my heart.

I spent some time learning about the bike, found a great group of friends in the Classic Wing Club, performed minor repairs – water pump, ignition, master cylinder, head gasket, cables and a few other miscellaneous things. This increased my own confidence and my confidence in the bike. I rode around Lake Huron a time or two, touched the shores of Lake Superior and hit the hills of south central Missouri. I rode through traffic jams in Chicago and drove in torrential rains in Michigan. I even ran through a tornado warning in Eau Claire. Bessie never let me down.

In 2002 I fell in love with the look of the Honda ST1100 and after two years of looking found the right one. In May of 2004, I flew to New Hampshire, got on the ST1100 and rode it home. My intent was to ride both bikes, but the ST1100 proved to be a perfect fit for me and I chose it exclusively. In July of 2004, I put the Wing in storage, and there it sat. My intent moved from riding it to restoring it.

Days turn into weeks, turn it to months, and so on and I started to feel guilty about Bessie just sitting there. I don’t consider myself all that mechanically adept, but I know enough to know that the only real way to kill an old Wing is to let it sit. I decided I would rather part with it than let rot into a parts bike.

Mechanically, Bessie is just about perfect but cosmetically (as Bruce Sharer will attest to), she shows all of her 26 years. I figured with a little luck I could get $1,000 for her, but even that was a stretch. There was something that seemed a little unjust about selling her for that. To me, she was worth a lot more than that, she gave me 24,000 good miles and selling her just didn’t seem right.

At church I made a new friend and in passing he mentioned that he rode a motorcycle as a younger man and was looking to get another one. I didn’t know why he didn’t have one, maybe it was money, maybe it was time, I don’t know and I don’t really care. To me though, it became very obvious that what I should do is give Bessie to Jimmy. On Christmas Eve, I told him what I was going to do and his reaction was perfect. He really wanted a GoldWing but never thought he would acquire the resources to have one.

Today it hit 45 degrees, I went to the shed and with a little coaxing, Bessie fired up and after a few minutes was running like a Swiss watch. I signed the title and rode the bike five miles into Jimmy’s garage. Along with her went a fairing courtesy of Gary LeMasters, a stator courtesy of Ed Thomas, side bags courtesy of some guy in Tennessee and a plethora of little bits and bobs (as the British would say), courtesy of me. My one condition for giving it away was that Jimmy would do what he could (within reason of course) to keep it on the road. Jimmy readily agreed and I’m sure Bessie has found a wonderful new owner who will care about her as much as I did. To walk around the bike with him, explaining the quirks (like the neutral light always being on) was great fun for me and his reaction was that of a kid in a candy store.

Some people have called me stupid and others have just shook their head at the thought of giving away something as valuable as that GoldWing. I'm not a rich man and a thousand dollars would have purchased the timing belt and other parts that the ST needs and the intercom system that I want. Frankly, to have a guy that wants the bike, will try to keep it on the road, and may not have had one otherwise is worth a hundred times the thousand dollars I might have been able to get for her. Like the commercial says, "some things in life are priceless." This is one of them.

Goodbye Bessie, thanks for the miles of smiles and may you provide Jimmy with many more.