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Brian’s Honda Goldwing 1500

Every once in a while, you meet someone who’s is so incredibly special. Today we got a call from a local shop asking us to help out a customer with a Honda Goldwing 1500 with a Sidecar. Brian who’s Paralyzed from the waist down, pulled up on his sidecar rig. Brian use to race motocross and suffered an accident that left him unable to ride for more than 30 years. He decided enough was enough and wanted to get back in the saddle. He came up with his own design for the controls and made it happen. The smile on his face telling us about his travels was so Inspiring.

The issue we had to contend with was to change the final drive fluid. You would think this isn’t a problem, right? We service the bike with Brian sitting on it, which was a Secondwind Cycles first. To top it off the Fill Plug nut was stripped and not salvageable.

Chris and I put our heads together and used a floor jack to lift the bike while Brian told us his story. After removing the exhaust, we had to hammer on a Nut Extractor to remove the Fill Plug. Once the damaged Fill Plug was removed, we drained and refilled the Final Drive.

When we were done Brian asked, “how much do I owe you guys?”

To which Chris and I looked at each other and turned to Brian and said “No charge”, then reached out to shake his hand.

He insisted that since it took a lot of time to fix his bike, he wanted to give us something. Here at Secondwind, we said no thanks; because it was an honor to serve and help him. With that Brian and his buddy, Chuck took this picture. As we were saying our goodbye’s Brian asked: “hey you want to see me float my sidecar?”

I could say with full faith that I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. So, he demonstrated by going in the parking lot across the street. Brian had ridden around the parking lot once or twice, to proceed to lift up his sidecar mid-ride and maintain it in the air for a good few minutes’! To do that while not being able to use your lower half is no small feat, to control this movement using only his steering capabilities was nothing short of amazing. After he was done and we started walking back into the shop. Chris and I then talked avidly about what we just witnessed… when heard a motorcycle horn. Quickly we turned to see it was Brain once again floating his sidecar rig all the way down Carmen street.

To see him enjoy what we all take for granted was simply amazing. This reminds us of the age-old saying, Life’s Too Short Get Out and Ride...

Thanks, Brian and ride safe brother.

Donald’s 1996 BMW R1100GS

A customer had come to Secondwind Cycles with a bike that had been placed in another shop’s storage facility. They had brought it to us with the simple complaint that it ran like crap. Then told us that the shop that hosted it previously said the bike had numerous issues and it would be best to just junk it.

The bike’s owner was skeptical and wanted to do all he could for the bike before sending it to the junkyard, so he came to us. After our usual check-up on the bike, we decided to pull the injectors and discovered the fuel oddly enough had no smell.

We ended up draining the fuel and found close to 2 gallons of water! After flushing the lines and replacing the fuel filter the bike roared to life once more. We finished the repair by replacing the filler cap gasket, installed a new fuel cap, and re-keyed the fuel cap to match the ignition.

The customer couldn’t believe after all of the opposition he faced with the bike, he was able to ride the bike home to New Jersey within a week.

Corey’s 2006 Kawasaki ZX14

We had gotten a call from Corey regarding his ZX14, He stated he had a knock in the engine and asked if we could rebuild the motor. After weighing all the costs, it was more cost effective to replace the engine. When the donor engine was found the bike was picked up. Once at the shop the disassembly started. While removing one of the engine bolts we heard a loud SNAP. It was so deafeningly loud that everyone in the shop froze upon hearing it!

That surely warranted further investigation, which later revealed (thanks to Chris’s keen eye) stress cracks and salvage marks on the engine.  From this, we know that someone has tried working on the bike before. After the engine was removed, we replaced the bent engine bolts when it became clear. Someone over torqued the bolts flexing the frame. We sent the frame out to our aluminum welding specialist and he did an amazing job. With the frame repaired the assembly commenced the engine was reinstalled and everything lined up perfectly. Corey picked up his bike a few days later.

On behalf of everyone at Secondwind let me just say to see a customer, ride off on their bike with a smile on their faces, makes every project worth it.