The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Supercharged Gold Wing Video

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Supercharged Honda GL1000
Supercharged Honda GL1000

Old Gold Wings are pretty neat, the original naked wings, before they got all gussied up and turned into dedicated touring machines. Randall Washington, better known as the owner of Randakk’s Cycle Shakk, just posted a video of his supercharged GL1000 during a brief acceleration run. Moves quite smartly for an old wing, but the best part is listening to the whine of the blower.

Randakk went through the process of putting together a custom kit for a GL1000 blower, but after it was done, he realized the price would be too much for the market. Of course, he still has a blown Gold Wing to ride around which is pretty neat. Oh, he’s working on a CBX blower at the moment, that should be fun. Yep, forced induction is a beautiful thing.

Randakks Supercharged Gold Wing - current configuration
Randakks Supercharged Gold Wing - current configuration

Video below:

Link: Randakk’s Cycle Shakk

Comments

  1. Wow! Good looking wing…

    Sounds good, also. I would love to ride this one. I always have liked old ‘wings, and you can buy older dresser wings around here for cheap. Hmmmm….Might make a nice project.

  6. I have a riding buddy that has a supercharged valkyrie interstate that sounds pretty much the same. He can handily stay with my 1800 wing……..

  8. Given Honda’s habit of overdesigning its engines, that old GL1000 motor probably can make tons of power and stay together. The whine makes the entire project worth the effort — love the sound! The original Wings were great all-around bikes, not just the highway haulers they became. Put a little more fairing and a set of modest hard bags on this one and you’ve got a machine that will gobble those Interstates in real style.

  9. That is pretty hot right there. Gotta love the boxers. 😀

    If I could somehow fit an engine like that into my Hawk GT’s aluminum frame and late-80s bodywork… I do like the big-ish cafe racer styling, though, too.

    If the white bike that is pictured doesn’t have a dark blue seat to match the side panel, it should. I can’t quite tell if the seat is dark blue, or black.

  10. Yep. The sound alone makes the while deal of a supercharger project worth the effort.

    Now imagine a CBX with 6-into-6 megaphones that already sounds like a Ferrari and add the blower whine. That’s what we’re working on here.

    The white incarnation of the blown GL1000 did have a matching blue seat, but I like the red version (of the same bike) just completed this past summer and shown in the video clip much better. There are many pix of the latest incarnation on the website.

    Thanks for the positive feedback above.

    Randakk

  11. Love it. LOVE it!! I think the naked Goldwings are some of Honda’s best looking machines… and the blower whine is music!

  12. It’s too bad you can’t get a simple cruiser with just the GW engine anymore. I suppose Honda just couldn’t make enough profit that way. (That wasn’t a criticism, BTW ;-))

  13. Judging by my weblog traffic, Honda product folks are already pretty familiar with my creation.

    I think a modern derivative of my bike retaining the supercharger and sport touring bias with useful updates like fuel injection, ABS, etc would be easy for Honda to produce. I also feel strongly that there would be serious demand for such a bike given the performance, handling, killer braking, very sane all-day riding position and special “music” it creates. It’s low tech, but perfect for riders like me. I don’t think I am alone in wanting a sporting piece that’s not another thinly-disguised MotoGP ride not most crotch rockets.

    To make the bike accessible for its likely demographic target, it would need to be a 4 cylinder boxer with much attention to light weight. The GL1800 is a great piece, but it’s WAY TOO heavy and large for many of the folks who ride them.

    My 2 cents. Anyway, I would be very happy to consult with Honda if they would like to pursue such a project. I’m easy to find:)

    Randakk

  15. CC products offered superchargers for Goldwings,Magnas and BMW twins back in the late 70’s/early 80’s.CC products mainly did hot-rod mods for BMW airheads but they went out of business years ago.

  16. When I was in the accessory business, I sold a huffer to a customer….fit was pretty good for those days, but Honda rods are always suspect. I know that it ran and was fast but lost track of the thing long term…..
    I’ve always said” turbos are nice, but I’ld rather be blown”…

  17. The red version of the bike looks fantastic, with lots of improvements… the quad megaphones, the cast wheels, fairing and seat cowl… and the red paint and polished side panel looks great.

    The white with dark blue accent was a nice color scheme, too.

    And I whole-heartedly agree with your sentiments. As a Hawk GT owner, I have long wondered why Honda let Suzuki eat it’s lunch on that genre with the SV-series, while letting Superhawk whither on the vine.

    A ‘sane-riding-position’ flat twin or flat 4 would be great. I’d entertain a DOHC V-twin, or V4-powered bike, too… but I don’t think Honda is interested anymore. I am not sure anyone in the industry is all that interested in sport-touring standard bikes anymore.

    The thing is, I like BMWs for their boxer engines, too… but they seem to be getting bottom-billing from BMW, as well, while the K-bikes and S1000RR get all the attention. Although putting the DOHC boxer in the R1200R was a bit of a nice move… still no R1200S DOHC, though, and HP2 Sport is too much.

    Even the afore-mentioned SV series Suzuki is getting thinner, as the SV1000-S was discontinued a few years back.

  18. Just hearing that thing spool makes me want to resume my hunt for a nice old ‘ wing. Any chance that 4 into 4 exhaust will be a production item?

  20. Absolutely love the red version! It looks like the bike BSA should be making if they had figured some way to survive — chrome side covers and all.