Over the time of the next couple of month the bike was slowly counting up the miles to a nice 58000 when we took it for the first serious tour. The plan called for riding to Yellowstone National Park and continue on to North and South Dakota with a return over to Glacier National Park. To make a long story short, already on the first day the bike was showing stress signs, as it would run closer and closer to the red mark on the temperature. We had to make several unintended cooling stops in Nevada on our way to Utah. On the next day the bike made the trip through Yellowstone, but in Montana all hope was lost as we had to find the closest dealership that would work on the bike. A quick inspection showed that the right head gasket blew and needed to be replaced.
At least we had the second bike with us to continue our trip, otherwise our plan for this one week vacation trip would have been completely spoiled. This way I could hop back onto the 1800, where Lisa now had to take the hated passenger seat for most of the remainder of the trip before we could pick up our 1200. After this small event the bike continued to run strong and fine for quite some time. so I was starting to trust it again for our next major trip.
While the trust seemed to work on the start, it did not last the full trip. In the middle of nowhere in Michigan the Stator decided to call it a day. Again a shop had to be searched that would do this major work, since the engine case has to be split, which requires removal of the piece from the frame. At least we found such a place and got the bike back within 2 days, not too bad considering it is an 11 hour job acording to Honda. At least it is now for Honda to pay for the replacement once this one is going to quit, and I'm sure I will see that day coming on one of the next major trips.
The bike now has 75000 miles on the odometer. It's getting time to put some trust in it again and take it for another large trip. Let's see what the bike will decide on to have replaced next.
One more thing in general about older bikes, if you are looking to own one of those. Either you make sure that the shops in your area are willing to work on them, as for example in our area they will not work on anything older than 10 years. Sometimes as with Goldwings there are specialty shops around, but they are not always available. The best thing you can do is either know how to use the tools, or have someone at hand that can help you. Either way, it is time to learn how to be a bike mechanic if you want to ride this kind of bike at a reasonable cost.
The tire lifetime on the 1200 is pretty good and the Metzeler do hold quite well in dry and wet conditions. Even so the bike does have the linked brake system, that was introduced in the late model years of the 1100, the rear wheel can be locked up very easy. Hard pressure on the foot brake is going to lock the wheel.
One weak point of this bike is the headlights. Using high or low beam does not make much difference. This can be because the reflector is now 16 years old as well. But I think I will have to install some additional lights to give a decent illumination of the road once night settles in. This brings us to another problem one has to keep in mind with the 1200. The Stator does not have a huge amount of power. While it is ok for stock units, putting additional lights, etc. on the bike will cause severe drawing of power, above the point that the bike will generate and so slowly draining the battery. So for me the choice will either be better lights or heated clothing. For now I'll take the lights.
As with many older Radio systems the reception is not always very good and so I decided that I need to add some other additions in order to give enough music for the trip. As we already installed an MP3 player onto the 1800, this was an easy decision. We bought another MP3 player and installed it on the 1200. The first installation took an FM Modulator, but that caused problems every time there was a radio station close by. So it is now hooked up through the tape drive.
One problem that came apparent is that there is noise when using the radio or tape deck. This is caused by the voltage regulator and requires a new unit to be installed. This is something that will have to wait until the original unit decides to be replaced.
Apart from that there is a bit of additional chrome installed, but not to the point of overkill some other wings experience.