This 1983 Honda GL650 Silver Wing is a factory-stock example of a one-year-only model, showing 15,624 miles. The GL650 replaced the GL500 Silver Wing for 1983 with a larger engine and taller gearing, and it turned out to be the last model year for Honda's shaft-drive, water-cooled V-twin Wing platform before the company shifted its touring and standard lineup to V4 power. That makes this specific combination of engine and chassis a single-model-year piece of Honda's early-'80s lineup rather than a model that carried on for years afterward.
Power comes from Honda's 673cc liquid-cooled 80-degree V-twin, a single-cam, pushrod-actuated four-valve-per-cylinder design fed by a pair of 34mm Keihin carburetors and backed by a 5-speed manual transmission with shaft final drive. The engine shares its architecture with Honda's CX500-based V-twin lineage, and for the 650 Honda revised the gearing for taller highway-cruising ratios, aiming at comfortable, low-fuss touring rather than outright performance.
The chassis was upgraded along with the engine: an air-assisted telescopic front fork (reportedly larger in diameter than the GL500's, with heavier-rate springs) and a Pro-Link air-assisted rear monoshock. Braking is handled by dual front discs with two-piston calipers and a rear drum, running on cast aluminum wheels a switch away from the GL500's bolt-together ComStar wheels. Up top is a frame-mounted windscreen and a quilted touring seat, and the bike comes with its factory-style convertible rear seating setup the trunk-style piece currently mounted behind the seat swaps out for a passenger seat/pad, so the bike can run either as a solo tourer with storage or a two-up ride.
Between a depressed U.S. motorcycle market and Honda's move to V4 engines, the GL650 was built for a single model year before the platform was discontinued, and clean, unmodified survivors like this one are the ones worth holding onto rather than customizing.
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