Going home on a Goldwing

We’re finally setting out from Portland and it’s just after 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon. The spirit has shifted on our Honda Goldwing tour now that we’re half done and heading towards home, instead of away from it. Both of us are expected to be in front of our computers and online at 9am Monday morning, leaving just 64 hours to fit in all the sights we want to see traveling back South on an inland route. We loosely intend to head through Shasta, hit highways 49 and 89 and ride through Yosemite on our way to Los Angeles. Clearly there’s still adventure to be had, but the end is in sight. And just like always, the trip back seems to be shorter than the trip there.

This is Part 3 of Ashlee and Sean’s Goldwing tour series. Read all of the articles here.

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Sean Smith. December 15th, 2011 - Permalink - Comments (69)

Goldwinging: learning to love the dainty elephant

We look cold. We look happy. This is a real nice motorcycle we’re riding. What our family doesn’t see since we arrive in the dark are the caked on bugs in the fairings, windscreen and crash bars, along with nearly 1,500 miles worth of road grime. The 2012 Honda Goldwing may cost $27,000 and have heated seats, but this is no luxury vehicle that you have to pamper. In fact, it excels at making motorcycling enjoyable in the least enjoyable motorcycling conditions. A few days of navigating rainy Portland streets and muddy, gravel driveways are about to prove just that.

This is Part 2 of Ashlee and Sean’s Goldwing tour series. Read Part 1 here. :continue:

Sean Smith. November 18th, 2011 - Permalink - Comments (68)

Go north young man, go on a Honda Goldwing

It’s Friday night, nearing eleven, and we just pulled up outside Zeitgeist in San Francisco. Three hours earlier we were riding along Highway 1 watching the sun set in Big Sur, and seven hours before that we were packing up the 2012 Honda Goldwing and trying to get the heck out of dodge. Two happy bar-goers cross the street and stop to chat, excited to hear all about the “Honda-bago” we are tumbling off of. If the next 9 days of our near 3,000 mile West coast road trip prove anything, it will be that the Goldwing is more sports touring car and less RV. More race to the next landmark and less leisurely stroll. Quite simply, more fun and less curmudgeonly old timer.

Here’s part one of three from Ashlee and Sean. :continue:

Sean Smith. November 9th, 2011 - Permalink - Comments (98)

Living with the Roadcrafter

As a motorcycle commuter, I spent almost all my money on gear in the quest for comfort, warmth and safety. When I first started commuting, I thought the Roadcrafter was a wildly overpriced eccentricity reserved for gray-bearded BMW riders. As I spent more and more time uncomfortable, cold and wet on my motorcycle, I started to wonder if maybe those guys on the BMWs were on to something. When my Roadcrafter finally showed up in the mail I could hardly contain my excitement, but there were many dissenters to my new theory that this suit is the one piece of gear every daily rider should own. Now, I’ve convinced the biggest critic of them all.

Photos: Ashlee Goodwin :continue: