Gold Wing Transmission Problems

To Whom It May Concern:

            My mother and I ride a 2006 GL1800 Goldwing. On August 19th, our bike experienced a loss of 5th gear in the middle of the night just east of Hoover Dam which rapidly deteriorated into a fully failed transmission. Since that fateful night, I have been doing some homework on this issue with the GL1800's.  I posted a preliminary thread on http://www.gl1800riders.com/forums/index.php entitled "2006 GL1800 Another BLOWN TRANNY" in which I requested riders to send me certain information if they were either having a problem with the transmission, or if it had failed already.
            I have not yet finished compiling the details of what people have sent to date, but so far  20 owners have said their transmissions are demonstrating symptoms of a future failure and 12 owners (plus myself) have had a full failure. Owners' reports of issues with their transmissions keep coming in as people happen to notice the thread. In an attempt to find out just how widespread this issue may or may not be, I am asking you to forward this e-mail to all GWRRA CD's in Region A, and ask them to address this matter with their members during their next monthly meetings and include it in their newsletters. If they have any members who feel they should be included in the list, they can e-mail me directly at firefitr@cxp.com.  If possible, we would like to have the information that is requested at the bottom of this communication.  If anyone would like me to respond to his/her e-mail, I will comply as promptly as possible.
            I cannot stress strongly enough how important this is. I know of one rider whose transmission slipped out of gear in the middle of a turn, which resulted in the bike going down and the rider being injured.
            Yours was selected as the test region to see if there may be enough of a problem to warrant pursuing this on a national level. Once Region A has time to reply, the results will be provided to GWRRA Executive Director Melissa Eason. She will take it from there and is expected to send inquiries to all other Regions if we have a significant response from Region A. When she has enough data, if it seems warranted she will contact American Honda directly, and will only be in touch with the National Highway Traffic & Safety Administration if circumstances so indicate.  Therefore, we do not encourage individuals to directly contact the authorities about their concerns at this time.
            Here is the information needed. None of this data will be shared with anyone except GWRRA Corporate and possibly Honda and perhaps NHTSA. You'll note that specific addresses are not needed, but it is important to know if the problem is cropping up in specific areas which might indicate a certain batch of bikes.

Name
E-mail
Phone Number
Year / Model (Level 1, 2, 3, or 4)
Location where you reside (State or Province and Country)

Location where you purchased your GL1800 (State or Province and Country)

Location / Dealer who did / will perform repair
Length of "downtime"
Is there a  Heel / Toe Shifter (including brand) or not
How many total miles were on the bike when symptoms started?

Number of miles between initial symptom and full failure
Any other aftermarket things (Like Traxxion Suspension or Progressive Springs)
Any out-of-pocket expenses?
+Any other info you think could be of use.

Thank you very much for your attention and efforts on this potentially critical matter.

Doug and Laura Roberts
PR Coordinators FL1-X  Orange Park, FL
firefitr@cxp.com