The 1975 — 1979 Honda GL1000

The boxer layout, with the crankshaft longitudinal and opposed cylinders, was developed by BMW Engineer Max Friz, and resulted in the 1923 BMW R32 — the first BMW motorcycle (yes, Virginia, BMW made motorcycles five years before it produced cars). This engine layout always struck me as being utterly logical. The cylinders project sideways into the wind and have good primary balance, and transmission to a shaft final drive is relatively straight forward (or backward), eliminating any need for a bothersome chain or belt. Other manufacturers, most notably Honda, recognized the singular virtues of the boxer/shaft layout and produced motorcycles so equipped.
Not well known is the fact that in the early 1970s BMW, in Germany, was developing several engine designs. The M77 project involved liquid-cooled engines in several configurations. There were several twin-cylinder iterations ranging from 500cc to 750cc. Most interesting, however, is that the M77 project also included a 4-cylinder opposed engine design of 1,000cc! By 1975, that design was just about ready.

Meanwhile, however, Honda was working away on its own boxer engine — in this case, a 1470cc opposed six! The photo above shows this engine, the one model “AOK” prototype, in 1972. For the BMW enthusiasts among you, note that the back half of the prototype motorcycle is largely BMW, including an R75/5 shaft, rear drive unit, transmission, mufflers, rear wheel, saddle, etc. Honda abandoned the six-cylinder layout for an opposed four, returning to the six cylinder boxer in 1988 with the 1520cc GL1500.

Three years later, in 1975, Honda stunned BMW and the rest of the world with its shaft-driven, opposed-four GL1000 (photo above). BMW had the M77 boxer-four on its drawing boards at the time, but stopped its development when Munich received word from Tokyo that Honda had beat it to the punch. It was not like BMW to play follow the leader.
To read the excellent history of the GL1000 as published by the Classic Wing Club, click here.

Given the powerful, if indirect, relationship to BMW it has, the pre-1980 Honda GL has a special place in my heart and I had to have one, resulting in my acquisition of the 1978 model above.
I found this GL1000 locally, and it was inexpensive. I was able to replace an aftermarket saddle with a NOS stock saddle. I removed the Vetter fairing and saddlebags and gave them away. I like the look of the naked GL1000.
Today, on the used-motorcycle market, as on ebay motors, GL1000s can fairly be called cheap. For the rider living on a tight budget, the GL1000 represents a excellent and high-quality entré into motorcycle touring. The "Old Golds," as I call them, are reliable, smooth, powerful, and are much lighter and more agile than the current crop of plastic-encased, six-cylinder Gold Wings.

An overhead view of the GL1000 shows its water-cooled opposed-four cylinders projecting sideways. Added in 1978 was the "pod" containing three instruments (coolant temperature, fuel, and voltage) located on top of the faux gas tank. Later GL1000s were available in black with gold pinstriping; of course, I would have preferred white pinstripes!

For me, a motorcycle has to have saddlebags to be useful. There are a lot of saddlebags available for the GL1000, the appearance of most of which I do not like. I bought my 1978 GL1000 in 1997, but it took me nine years of watching eBay off and on to reel in a set of the saddlebags I wanted in good condition. Those bags, shown in the photo above, are Hondaline saddlebags that resemble Samsonite suitcases with lopsided hexagons protruding outward. They are nice, commodious bags that do not look like they came from a Harley or an alien spaceship.