I have a sidecar rig sitting in my barn that belongs to a friends friend. He has been in the hospital for many months and looks like he will not get out. He has decided to get rid of his rig. It is a 1985 gold wing Has leading link front. I rode it home, 75 miles, for him last summer and it rode fairly good considering the carbs are messed up and it would not run much less than 4k rpm. It could be a nice bike with a little work. His family could use the money and I would like to move it for him before he dies. Haven't set a price as I do not know what it should be worth. Also do not want conflict of interest. If you know any one who might be interested I would appreciate your passing on the info. It is in central CA. Thanks Henry hdecaillet@dishmail.net
Jovial Henry - 3/1/2010 12:08 AM
I have a sidecar rig sitting in my barn that belongs to a friends friend. He has been in the hospital for many months and looks like he will not get out. He has decided to get rid of his rig. It is a 1985 gold wing Has leading link front. I rode it home, 75 miles, for him last summer and it rode fairly good considering the carbs are messed up and it would not run much less than 4k rpm. It could be a nice bike with a little work. His family could use the money and I would like to move it for him before he dies. Haven't set a price as I do not know what it should be worth. Also do not want conflict of interest. If you know any one who might be interested I would appreciate your passing on the info. It is in central CA. Thanks Henry hdecaillet@dishmail.net
Henry - search through some of the sidecar classifieds on this site and others to get an idea of its worth. I believe (I think Lonnie told me this) you can find some sidecar values in kelley blue book too (www.kbb.com). If you can take some pictures of the rig, probably someone will chime in with more info to help you build an ad to help your friend.
The manufacturer of the sidecar would be a key pice of information, for instance - same as the fact the GW has a leading link front end. Somebody that knows about GW's could probably tell from the year what size it is, I'd have to SWAG it at a 1500cc bike.
Good luck, and prayers for your friend's friend.
a 1985 would be a 1200,
The 1984 was the first year of the 1200 cc Wing (not their best year, but the first year). The 1985 was better.
NADA and Kelley have some late sidecar values but they don't go back more than 10 years.
Like sportscars some older sidecars are valued more by condition than year model.
Lonnie
The leading link front end should be an atractive feature for a dedicated sidecar rig. By 1985, the Goldwing was a pretty durable machine.
The main issues that tended to go bad on them, IIRC, were the alternators. There were fairly low-powered to begin with and Honda had difficulties with the stators. Also, the alternator unit was inside of the engine cases in between the engine and transmission. Replacing it required removal of the engine, or at least removing enough bolts to slide it sideways far enough to get at the unit.
One other bug that they had was that sometimes, engine oil would get into the cooling system through the water pump.
Some of the four-bangers also had bad rear wheels when the bearings wore out. They would hog out the holes where the bearings mounted in the alloy wheels. Many people would have them sleeved which fixed the problem.
On the good side, they were generally in all other respects a very good motorcycle. The engines had plenty of torque and were very smooth. The four and six cylinder Goldwings made an excellent tug. They also handle quite well.
The amount of miles that have been ridden on four and six cylinder Goldwings in solo, sidecar and trike form must be astronomical. To say that they have been popular would be an understatement. I had a 1994 1500 six-cylinder model for about 6 years just prior to my present Harley-Davidson and I really enjoyed ir.
As Lonnie mentions, at that age, 25 years, the price mainly depends upon condition. I would think that a rig like that could bring in the $3,500 range. I see people asking $2,500 to $3,000 for four cylinder Goldwings in the paper.
Good luck.
Up here, a running GL1200 will bring $3000 to $3500 without a sidecar. Add in the leading link, and the car, (depending on what it is), it could easily go $5k. It all depends on condition. Try calling Doug Bingham at 818-780-5542. He'll be able to give you an honest appraisal.
EBAY usually is a pretty good guide....I think a 1985 rig....even with a sidecar depending on what it is...and a leading link...will probably be in that $4000 to $5000 range...depends on condition...
Joel
