Long-Distance Delight
Long-distance DELIGHT
PERSONAL PROJECT
93,000 MILES AND STILL ROLLING
IF HONDA WERE TO IMITATE TOYOTA’S ADVERTISING campaign, where the ordinary consumer expounds on the virtues of his high-mileage vehicle, Charlie Sento would be a prime candidate for commercial stardom.
Sento, a 52-year-old semi-retired telephone engineer, owns a meticulously maintained 1984 Honda GL1200 Aspencade with nearly 93,000 miles on the odometer.
“We’ve been to South Carolina, to the Great Lakes, up and down the Smokies and through the battlefields of Pennsylvania,” says Sento, who, like his wife Joan, is a transplanted Californian. “The only states that we haven’t ridden in are Florida and the New England states.”
Sento purchased the bike brand new. A short time later, he bought a CB radio. “It opened up a whole new realm of touring for us,” he says.
More accessories followed, and within six months the Honda was fully laden with aftermarket goodies. Most of the additions, like the brake-rotor and caliper covers, accent lights, floor boards, luggage rack, passenger armrests, luggage protectors and heel-and-toe shifter, are Markland products. Willis Communications made the tinted windscreen, Wingleader produced the fork chaps and Travelcade provided the replacement seat. The CB radio, air-temperature and altimeter gauges, and digital voltmeter are from Honda’s accessory catalog.
After 21,000 miles, Sento replaced the stock fork springs with a set from Progressive Suspension. At the same time, the stock shocks were rebuilt by Wheel Works in Garden Grove, California. For added stability, a Superbrace fork brace was fitted. “That helped up in the hills and over the freeway rain grooves,” says Sento.
Other than having to replace the waterpump and two stators (the latter were warrantied by Honda), the Aspencade has been completely reliable.
“We’ve never had a problem with the machine on any of our trips,” says Sento. “I change the oil every 2500 miles and the sparkplugs every 5000 miles. The engine doesn’t use any oil, and it gets 42 miles to the gallon.” Asked if he’s ready to trade his four-cylinder Wing for one of the newer GL1500 Sixes, Sento laughs. “We get ribbed quite a bit because we haven’t bought a new bike,” he says. “We figure we’ll just keep this one until it dies.”
Matthew Miles
