: : : GWRRA : : : Gold Wing Road Riders Association : : :

What the Bike wants, the Bike gets! It’s a slogan Debby and I (or at least Debby) have lived with since we bought our first Gold Wing. When Debby bought her Valkyrie I didn’t know so many chrome parts were available for one bike; and believe me, she had them all! When she bought her first Gold Wing, I thought the “fever” might leave her, but I think it was only contagious. The one thing we could never figure out was why Honda never put chrome wheels on the Gold Wing - you can see them on Harley's,Yamaha’s, and a variety of other bikes, but no, NOT on Gold Wings. We are forever forced to take care of the aluminum wheels, avoiding wintertime “pitting”, and summertime “tar”. Honda must be thinking that we enjoy keeping our bikes so clean that we would enjoy the challenge of keeping those aluminum wheels shiny!

Well now, the Internet is a wonderful thing, especially in early spring when you’re still dreaming of the riding season. You can search on the Internet for just about anything and find what you are looking for. Let’s see, how do you spell “C…H…R…O…M… E?”

About 40 miles west of Ft. Wayne, and about 400 miles from St. Louis, you can find Lake City Honda, and they sell chrome wheels. I knew it was true because the Internet told me just where to look. And how lucky we were to find that they had TWO sets in house - one set for each of us (I told you chrome is contagious). Since we were planning on being in Ft. Wayne for Wing Ding, we offered to buy the two sets and have the dealer hold them till July 1. But they said NO, they could not hold them that long. We knew we needed tires, so why not entice them by buying new tires mounted on the CHROME wheels? Still no. Alas, our only option was to take an early spring ride up on a Friday, have the new tires/chrome wheels put on early Saturday morning and then ride back home. Eight-hundred miles round trip sounded like a nice weekend ride. The upcoming weekend weather looked great, but of course they were already booked for that weekend, so we settled for the following Saturday.

Springtime in the Midwest can really be iffy at times. As the week progressed, the temperatures started dropping, and by Thursday evening severe storms were passing through the St. Louis area. I had told the salesman the week before the only thing that would stop us from coming was S N O W! I checked the forecast for Ft. Wayne, and they were predicting snow showers for Saturday evening, but with no accumulation. No problem, we will still be back home by Saturday evening.

How brave are we? How bad do we want the chrome wheels? How cold is it really going to get? How many jackets do we own? All these questions passed through our minds. We have done a lot of silly things in our life, so why not add one more?

We left Friday morning with temperatures in the low 60s and no rain - pleasant riding all the way up to Indianapolis. As we headed north to Ft. Wayne, the temperature started to drop and the rain set in. No problem though, we had our rain gear and the hotel was not that far away. We checked in, settled in for the night, and set the alarm for early the next morning.

I would love to say Saturday morning broke sunny and warm, but no, we knew better than that. Overcast sky, steady rain, and a temperature of 37 degrees! We donned our tee shirts, sweatshirts, neck wraps, snowsuits, insulated jackets, rain gear and gloves, and “waddled” to the bikes. After several attempts, we were able to swing our legs over the seat and head the 40 miles out to Lake City Honda. We arrived about 9:30, and they were all waiting for us with BIG smiles. They already had the new tires mounted on the chrome wheels, and it didn’t take them long to have them mounted on the bikes and ready to go. Once on the bike, we couldn't’ take our eyes off of them!

Once more we donned our sweatshirts, neck wraps, snowsuits, insulated jackets, rain gear and gloves, and “waddled” to the bikes. We were getting pretty good at mounting the bike by now, and I knew as we headed south to Indianapolis the temperature would warm, and it did - all the way up to 39 degrees! Thoughts crossed our minds about pulling over and spending the night, but the forecast did not look any better for the next day. So, we rode on, stopping about once an hour to let the fingers and toes come back to life and to admire those new chrome wheels. By the time we reached St. Louis, we felt the “trapped heat”of the city, as the temperature warmed to a balmy 42 degrees.

I don’t think we have ever been as happy to get home as we were on this trip. Over 400 miles with temperatures below 40 degrees makes for a very cold ride. But in all honesty, the only thing that got cold was the fingers and toes; so I think next on the list might be heated gloves and socks……. I wonder if they come in “CHROME”?