Looking at 2008 GW w/ Lehman Conversion

Mar 7, 2025
52
75
Montana
Name
Bruce
New member looking for either a reasonably priced trike with irs or getting a bike and having it converted.

Having said that I am currently looking at a 2008 GW w/ 40K miles and a Lehman conversion (dealer asking $14,000+). I have not heard back on whether or not the Lehman has IRS. Dealer is 900 miles away so I cannot drop by to ck it out. :)

I know Lehman is out of business and parts are hard to find and after saying that I think I know what the answer is BUT is this trike worth giving it a new home?
 
There are too many negatives about that trike. Just keep looking and you'll find an nice one. :)
 
My most recent ride, I found on Cycletrader. It is a 2012 Goldwing bike that I bought from a guy outside Dallas in Lewisville which is roughly 960 miles away. The price was right and I did it all over the phone and emails. I already knew that I was going to have a conversion done so after getting in touch with the conversion shop in Conroe Texas šŸ˜‰, had it transported there with lots of help from shop owner. That puts it about 1100 miles away. When it's ready, I may either fly into Houston and drive it home or drive my truck and either my toy hauler, camping otw down and back or use my covered cargo trailer making it into a road trip. I'm comfortable doing it either way.

It's one thing to buy a bike on Cycle trader as there are quite a few to choose but trikes are a bit harder as there are less of them as you are seeing. You kind of get stuck with whatever they have too. I couldn't find one the way I wanted and by buying a bike, I found one with the options I wanted and then will get the conversion I want in the way I wanted as well.
 
My two cents on this.... I buy used trike. I have never purchased a bike and had it triked as the cost is far less to let someone else go through that process. Trikes, like exercise bikes often get bought and not really used and end up in a garage till the owner gets tired of looking at his purchase and then sells. I prefer Goldwing conversions (would like to have an RSV conversion but never got the timing right). I have owned most every brand of 2 wheel motorcycle (Honda, CanAm, Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Triumph, Harley) and all were great bikes but as far as road comfort and performance a Goldwing can't be topped. I wait till I see one I fancy then work the deal; selling the old one to finance the new and avoid making payments.

The Lehman will likely not be IRS. I had a beautiful 2008 GW Champion conversion and it was solid axle and the wife was not thrilled with the ride. The passenger sits on the axle. I don't know much about some conversion brands but have been really happy with Roadsmith and Hannigan and CSC also fit the bill as tops. Don't know about Motor Trike but they seem to be popular in Texas. Most were solid axle but they are now making IRS conversions. This is just my 2 cents so that is likely what it is worth.... oh yeah, bought my current trike from an old couple in Lubbock and rode it home and bought another in East Tennessee and road it back home here to Texas so I am willing to ride if I think the price and quality are right.
 
My two cents on this.... I buy used trike. I have never purchased a bike and had it triked as the cost is far less to let someone else go through that process. Trikes, like exercise bikes often get bought and not really used and end up in a garage till the owner gets tired of looking at his purchase and then sells. I prefer Goldwing conversions (would like to have an RSV conversion but never got the timing right). I have owned most every brand of 2 wheel motorcycle (Honda, CanAm, Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Triumph, Harley) and all were great bikes but as far as road comfort and performance a Goldwing can't be topped. I wait till I see one I fancy then work the deal; selling the old one to finance the new and avoid making payments.

The Lehman will likely not be IRS. I had a beautiful 2008 GW Champion conversion and it was solid axle and the wife was not thrilled with the ride. The passenger sits on the axle. I don't know much about some conversion brands but have been really happy with Roadsmith and Hannigan and CSC also fit the bill as tops. Don't know about Motor Trike but they seem to be popular in Texas. Most were solid axle but they are now making IRS conversions. This is just my 2 cents so that is likely what it is worth.... oh yeah, bought my current trike from an old couple in Lubbock and rode it home and bought another in East Tennessee and road it back home here to Texas so I am willing to ride if I think the price and quality are right.

You bring up valid points and an already converted trike will in many cases be less cost than buying a bike and converting that. If you are patient enough, you could probably find one that interests you and at a reasonable price.

In my case, I am replacing a trike I already had and knew what I wanted. I wasn't finding one that I was interested in at what I felt was a reasonable price. But I did find a bike with just about everything I wanted and at lower miles so for me going that way I end up with a newly converted trike. I was using the settlement I had received after my old trike was totaled out.

The price I bought the bike at gave me some wiggle room and the conversion that I am going with now has a 10% off that I am able to take advantage of. I am having to pitch in a little extra than thee settlement but the final cost ends up probably just a bit less than what I had found for an already converted trike set up with what I wanted. And I also now get a 5 year, unlimited mileage warranty on the trike kit part. For the money I would have spent, I would not have gotten a warranty.

Everyone is different and has different ideas. Buying a used converted trike is a good way to go in many cases, it just wasn't the way I wanted to go.
 
You bring up valid points and an already converted trike will in many cases be less cost than buying a bike and converting that. If you are patient enough, you could probably find one that interests you and at a reasonable price.

In my case, I am replacing a trike I already had and knew what I wanted. I wasn't finding one that I was interested in at what I felt was a reasonable price. But I did find a bike with just about everything I wanted and at lower miles so for me going that way I end up with a newly converted trike. I was using the settlement I had received after my old trike was totaled out. The price I bought the bike at gave me some wiggle room and the conversion that I am going with now has a 10% off that I am able to take advantage of. I am having to pitch in a little extra than thee settlement but the final cost ends up probably just a bit less than what I had found for an already converted trike set up with what I wanted. And I also now get a 5 year, unlimited mileage warranty on the trike kit part. For the money I would have spent, I would not have gotten a warranty.

Everyone is different and has different ideas. Buying a used converted trike is a good way to go in many cases, it just wasn't the way I wanted to go.
Not arguing with your thinking but I have owned quite a few trikes and have not financed one; used proceeds from previous sale to buy the next; sometimes with a little out of pocket cash added. Notice you are getting a NAVI model; I had one with an earlier generation NAVI and map updates cost a fortune and they quit making maps for that model NAVI... perhaps the format of the media (can't recall) but don't want another NAVI. I have found a GPS handy when navigating through some strange city and not knocking navigation just the early gen Honda set up really was lame. Besides, what is the fun of getting lost on a ride and having your missus get off to get directions from a filling station attendant? That is where the term GPS came from... "generally PO'd spouse"...
 
Not arguing with your thinking but I have owned quite a few trikes and have not financed one; used proceeds from previous sale to buy the next; sometimes with a little out of pocket cash added. Notice you are getting a NAVI model; I had one with an earlier generation NAVI and map updates cost a fortune and they quit making maps for that model NAVI... perhaps the format of the media (can't recall) but don't want another NAVI. I have found a GPS handy when navigating through some strange city and not knocking navigation just the early gen Honda set up really was lame. Besides, what is the fun of getting lost on a ride and having your missus get off to get directions from a filling station attendant? That is where the term GPS came from... "generally PO'd spouse"...

I agree with you about not wanting to finance. This one also will not be financed as I explained above. But the trikes I did find with what I wanted were upwards to $30k or above. Doing it my way, it's going to be in the mid $20k range and no financing. I guess I could have settled for something even older or with less options but I figure my last one got me though over 8 years. I'm planning on this one lasting even longer than that so I might as well get it exactly how I want.

I like the Navi and don't bother with the official Honda/Garmin updates. I am able to do my own updates so they are current. I agree with your assessment of the early Navi models as I had an 07. The 06-08 were very limited and left a lot to be desired. I know that for the 06-08, official updates are no longer made as well as the 09-10 I believe. The 12+ updates at least for now are still available but are horrendous as the mapset is many years old.

I use multiple methods for GPS. Most of the time, the built in gets zoomed all the way in so I can get warning of upcoming curves and other features. It can also be used at least with the 12 on up for monitoring the weather through XM. Besides the built in, I will usually also use WAZE on my cellphone which adds extra features that the built in doesn't. And I also frequently use my Garmin Zumo XT As well (which also has a weather feature when linked up with the Garmin Drive app) and have that mounted to a bracket on the windshield vent that is no longer available.


But more important then Navi is the ABS braking. It's an option only available to models with Navi. And with CSC trikes, it keeps the ABS functionality. This one has ABS.

Trust me, I did look and weigh all my options. In the end, this turns out to be the best way to get what I wanted at a price I was comfortable with. Having a bike triked isn't the easiest method and does require a lot of planning but the payoff can be worth it.
 
All good advice. I thought about buying a GW and then triking it out but the cost to do that for me exceeds what I am comfortable spending on a rig I have no experience with. Who knows I may hate trikes after I get one. :). Plus I also like letting someone else pay the depreciation, unless it was the last rig I was going to get then then maybe I'd splurge. I have been looking on cycle trader, facebook market place, craigslist and motorcycle dealers in different states. They are out there to be found but obviously not to the numbers of stock bikes. Currently looking at a 2007 GW w/ CSC kit.
 
All good advice. I thought about buying a GW and then triking it out but the cost to do that for me exceeds what I am comfortable spending on a rig I have no experience with. Who knows I may hate trikes after I get one. :). Plus I also like letting someone else pay the depreciation, unless it was the last rig I was going to get then then maybe I'd splurge. I have been looking on cycle trader, facebook market place, craigslist and motorcycle dealers in different states. They are out there to be found but obviously not to the numbers of stock bikes. Currently looking at a 2007 GW w/ CSC kit.

Is it the maroon one in Sturgis at the Indian dealer?
 
Lehman, Motor trike, Champion are NOT IRS
My husband rode a 2008 Gold Wing Nav with the Lehman Monarch II kit.. it was a solid axle.

At the the same time I had a 2008 Gold Wing Nav with a Motor Trike Adventure kit..it was IRS.

We had all the paperwork on both kits so we knew exactly what we were riding.

When it came time to sell one I was wisely advised to let the Lehman go as they were out of business and parts were already hard to find. That trike handled really well and the ride quality was fine - as long as you were the driver. The passenger did have a harsh ride due to the solid axle.

My Motor Trike Adventure trike was just superb. She never faltered, neither the Gold Wing nor the trike kit, right up til the day I reluctantly let her go. I rode that trike for 10 years.
 
I suspect you will get all kinds of advice here. In my case, I had a 2021 Ultra - wanted a trike, but not a TriGlide. So, I converted my Ultra.

Got everything I wanted and still love the bike. At least with the Harley, you have the option of buying a trike. With the Wing and others, you have to do a conversion.

Who knows, maybe someday Harley will add the IRS to their trikes - if they do, it will be a game changer.
 
"I suspect you will get all kinds of advice here. In my case, I had a 2021 Ultra - wanted a trike, but not a TriGlide. So, I converted my Ultra.

Got everything I wanted and still love the bike. At least with the Harley, you have the option of buying a trike. With the Wing and others, you have to do a conversion.

Who knows, maybe someday Harley will add the IRS to their trikes - if they do, it will be a game changer."

Harley is slow to innovate new technology. The real benefit of a Harley is that there is a dealer at every other off ramp if needed when on the road + coffee and sometimes food.

When I realized a trike was my future I began to have regrets that I sold my 2003 Road King and 2015 Road Glide. They both loved running on the highway and would have made great conversion trikes. Then I remembered that I sold them and went to a BMW R1200RT because I wanted more HP for safely passing slow moving trucks on our curvy roads with very short passing zones. The tech didn't hurt either.

Briefly thought about converting my RT to a trike. Maybe still in the back of my mind. But I am a bit put off at by the service fees our local dealer charges and no other shop can or wants to do any work on them.
 
It's unfortunate that there are such a lack of trike options in your area. You have some amazing roads close by that would be perfect for a trike. All I can suggest is to be patient and just keep searching. I will keep an eye out myself for you.

I did take a quick look on Facebook marketplace, not sure if you have access to Facebook. I did see a few possibles there but just be very careful as it is rife with scams. Especially the one in Helena MT. I think it was listed at $1400 or so. If price is to good to be true, on FB marketplace it's a scam.

One thing I didn't notice is what kind of price range have you been looking at?
 
"It's unfortunate that there are such a lack of trike options in your area. You have some amazing roads close by that would be perfect for a trike. All I can suggest is to be patient and just keep searching. I will keep an eye out myself for you.

I did take a quick look on Facebook marketplace, not sure if you have access to Facebook. I did see a few possibles there but just be very careful as it is rife with scams. Especially the one in Helena MT. I think it was listed at $1400 or so. If price is to good to be true, on FB marketplace it's a scam.

One thing I didn't notice is what kind of price range have you been looking at?"

Is the Helena trike the red one with a background picture from Kingsman, AZ? I have seen that one advertised all over the country. lol

I am using FB, Craigslist and doing separate motorcycle dealers by state searches. I am mostly focusing on dealers -- it is bad enough that I will be buying sight unseen and I cannot believe I am saying this but I trust the stealerships more than private sellers where I am not able to eyeball the seller and the bike.

I would like to keep my costs to around $15,000, although that trike at Sturgis was listed at $17,995. And I had been looking twice at some around 20K but my preference is the 15K area. I do not get too worked up about the latest tech but a good working sound system, ABS, well maintained, navigation would be good but understand that the age of bike in my range will not have ability for upgrades (I can use my Garmin), mileage less than 40K or at least less than 50K, IRS on conversion kit and prefer CSC kit because of the 8 cu feet of storage and that they keep ABS active, no major paint body issues. I hate to say color rates too, but I am shallow. There is a purple 2002 w/under 50K miles for $11,995. But it is purple! :).

I do have some I am looking at 2 from D&D in AZ, 2 at a dealer near Chicago, and 2 at a dealer in CA. I haven't looked today, been called away from the computer for the last few days, which is a good thing.

Thanks for keeping an eye out. Don't break into a sweat doing it but I will look at any you trip over.

As I said I am sometimes away from the computer. So I may not always be able to respond quickly.
Thanks
 
Don't worry about quick response. It's not needed.

That seems to be a reasonable price range. But I might caution you to concentrate on 06 on up. The earlier ones suffered from inadequate radiators and had problems with running a bit hot in certain situations. In 06, they put larger radiators in which tremendously helped out. Also I have seen numerous problems with the ECU being talked about on the early 01-04 models. If that goes bad, you're screwed as they are as rare as hens teeth. A bad ECU means it will be a very large expensive lawn ornament. Also as far as ABS, I know you said Navi isn't a big deal but to get ABS on the 06 on up, it has to also have Navigation. But IIRC, not all navigation models have ABS. Quickest way to confirm is to look at the front wheel side covers that are covering the brake caliper. It should have A B S embossed on it. If it doesn't, it probably doesn't have ABS.

I agree with you on CSC conversions as that is what I prefer myself.
 
Here is what I'm talking about on side wheel covers. It's not an 06-10 but has the same markings. Look at where the blue arrow is pointing.

Screenshot_20250311_150305_Gallery.jpg
 
"Don't worry about quick response. It's not needed.

That seems to be a reasonable price range. But I might caution you to concentrate on 06 on up. The earlier ones suffered from inadequate radiators and had problems with running a bit hot in certain situations. In 06, they put larger radiators in which tremendously helped out. Also I have seen numerous problems with the ECU being talked about on the early 01-04 models. If that goes bad, you're screwed as they are as rare as hens teeth. A bad ECU means it will be a very large expensive lawn ornament. Also as far as ABS, I know you said Navi isn't a big deal but to get ABS on the 06 on up, it has to also have Navigation. But IIRC, not all navigation models have ABS. Quickest way to confirm is to look at the front wheel side covers that are covering the brake caliper. It should have A B S embossed on it. If it doesn't, it probably doesn't have ABS.

I agree with you on CSC conversions as that is what I prefer myself."
////

Thank you for the redirect!! I initially did some GW research and saw that there were frame issues with some 2002-2003, and that other improvements were done in 2007, with 2012(?) being the next big year for improvements, and that production stopped in US in 2010, with first Japanese produced GW hitting market in 2012. Also maybe some trans issues in '05-'07 (?), popping out of 5th gear? And talk about the radiators. I initially set an '07 as the oldest year I would consider BUT I started drifting away from those warnings and had some '02s as the oldest year in my possible pile. They have now been shredded, I am back to '07 and up, which at my price point probably means '07 to '10.

What do you think about mileage? I read that the GW are supposed to be good to 100K or so. I was wanting to get something under 40K or no more than 50K. I am leery of bikes with 70K or more. Should I be?

Thanks for the picture showing the A B S.
 
Here is a blog post from someone known to be the guru on GL1800 Transmissions. The 5th gear problem seems to only affect a few from 01-13. In 2014, they updated the gears.


His site contains all kinds of info and worth checking out.

The improvements on the GL1800's started in 06 so an 07 really is the same as an 06. The next improvement came in the 09-10 Navi and you could also get XM radio, XM weather and traffic if you signed up. Also the 09-10 had a more improved Navigation system and also moved away from CompactFlash data cards over to SD cards. Body styling changed in 2012 and some minor changes. The earlier GL1800's gave you the option of installing a Honda CD changer. That was eliminated starting with the 2012 models.

And a strange but boring fact I have. Are you aware that there was no 2011 model. Here is the reason why. During the production of the 2010 model, it was decided that Honda would move production from the Marysville Ohio plant back to Japan. The Marysville plant had started with production of the GL1200's IIRC and also the GL1500's and GL1800 up to the 2010 model. Unfortunately Japan suffered the major Tsunami which affected the GL1800 production and were unable to complete the 2011 so it got skipped.
 
And mileage question, at 40-50k you would be fine and honestly could go higher up to 70 or 80k and probably not have an issue. Only thing is that on many that old, you run into all kinds of aftermarket accessories and some creative modding and wiring. My suggestion is to look for ones that the previous owner hasn't gone crazy in modding. The less the better so it gives you a blank canvas. I am a bit leery of a heavily accessorize bike. Try and find one with some accessories you would probably add anyway. I looked for one with Utopia backrest, highway pegs, a trunk rack and I like the lighted spoiler. LED headlights are a plus especially if they are the Electrical Connection ones. Anything after that was gravy for me.
 
And mileage question, at 40-50k you would be fine and honestly could go higher up to 70 or 80k and probably not have an issue. Only thing is that on many that old, you run into all kinds of aftermarket accessories and some creative modding and wiring. My suggestion is to look for ones that the previous owner hasn't gone crazy in modding. The less the better so it gives you a blank canvas. I am a bit leery of a heavily accessorize bike. Try and find one with some accessories you would probably add anyway. I looked for one with Utopia backrest, highway pegs, a trunk rack and I like the lighted spoiler. LED headlights are a plus especially if they are the Electrical Connection ones. Anything after that was gravy for me.

The price point drops with trikes at the 70K and up so that is nice. However, I am a bit shy about 70+K on the ODO. One thing if I put those miles on it, and quite another if someone else has. :). Maybe I don't know the GWs and Honda enough to have trust in their durability.

Agreed on finding a close to original trike.
 
The price point drops with trikes at the 70K and up so that is nice. However, I am a bit shy about 70+K on the ODO. One thing if I put those miles on it, and quite another if someone else has. :). Maybe I don't know the GWs and Honda enough to have trust in their durability.

Agreed on finding a close to original trike.
Yeah, I can understand that but the big joke in many of the Goldwing circles is that it's not even broken in until at least 100k miles. My last one was at around 95k and 17 years old when it met its untimely demise. Granted, I did pick it up with about 38k on the odometer. But I had no intention of getting rid of it anytime soon. I had it for almost 10 years and the last 8 were as a trike. It still ran great and had lots more to give.

I will say though that as they get older, it helps if you can do most of your own maintenance. Some but not all Honda shops start becoming unwilling to touch anything over 10 years. And especially if it's a trike, they don't want to do any work to it. So finding a trusted independent shop is a must or tackle it yourself after you acquire an actual Factory Service Manual. I think mine went into a shop maybe 3 times and 2 of those were for recalls. Just something else to consider.
 
Yeah, I can understand that but the big joke in many of the Goldwing circles is that it's not even broken in until at least 100k miles. My last one was at around 95k and 17 years old when it met its untimely demise. Granted, I did pick it up with about 38k on the odometer. But I had no intention of getting rid of it anytime soon. I had it for almost 10 years and the last 8 were as a trike. It still ran great and had lots more to give.

I will say though that as they get older, it helps if you can do most of your own maintenance. Some but not all Honda shops start becoming unwilling to touch anything over 10 years. And especially if it's a trike, they don't want to do any work to it. So finding a trusted independent shop is a must or tackle it yourself after you acquire an actual Factory Service Manual. I think mine went into a shop maybe 3 times and 2 of those were for recalls. Just something else to consider.

I hope the 100K break in is real and not a Honda urban legion. haha

I did talk to the service guy at my local Honda dealership. He said they do work on older GW and GW trikes but they don't like working on trikes. He jokingly said if they see a trike pull in they all run and the slowest one has to work on the trike. I think their real issue with trikes is not the normal GW service / repairs, I think they are not wanting to mess with the conversion kit part. He didn't feel like they were up to speed on the different trike kits and so repairing like suspension issues, driveshaft issues, etc were the problem. Everything in front of the kit seemed to be ok(?).

He thought it was crappy that Honda dealers would not work on older bikes and said it was just to push people into buying new or newer.

I am a bolt off bolt on kinda guy. Which is to say that I can mostly change the oil and filter and remove the seat. lol
 
Looks like you have one of the good dealerships by you then. As long as they will service the front half, you will be good. I can fully understand about not being familiar with the trike mechanicals. Another reason is that mechanics like to put the bikes on actual lifts and their lifts may not be setup for a trike. And the CSC trikes tend to be a bit wider than many model trikes.

And no, the 100k miles I don't think is an urban legend. I do know several folks with over 100k and not worried. One guy from NW Wisconsin has an 02 with over 600k miles. As long as they are maintained, they seem like they can go forever.

I will say that the CSC kits do have their stuff together and there should be minimal problems. In the 8 years of ownership, the only issues I had was a pinion seal leak and a wheel bearing go bad. The pinion seal is on front of rear end where the driveshaft connects. It was a bit of a pain but I got it done. It was still drivable but needed to be addressed. I actually discovered it by accident after another CSC owner checked mine visually after he went through it. There were no symptoms and could have kept going for probably a pretty long time without replacing but glad I did. That should be able to be done by a local trike shop if it is ever needed.

The wheel bearing was actually pretty easy. It was the right side one. It's a matter of remove the tire, caliper and rotor. Then 3 bolts hold the bearing hub on. Pull it off, put new one on and reverse. It was rather easy to do. I did have to buy a new torque wrench to handle the 200lbs torque needed for bolts. I diagnosed it because of bad vibrations where trike shook pretty good at highway speed. I just went ahead and replaced both for good measure. The hubs with bearings can be replaced with 97 Chevy Cavalier front wheel hubs.

That was pretty much the only issues I ran into with my CSC Viper conversion and both were within last couple years. Neither would have been an expensive fix either.

Here is one thing I also thought about. The older CSC Cobra trikes had issues with the rear end and driveshaft but offered a retrofit kit to upgrade in early 2010's. I don't recall what the actual problem was but believe it was prior to 2012. I found a tech article on CSC that describes the retrofit. IIRC, the tray under the rear end is different on the upgrade and should be a way to identify as the driveshaft will be covered by a gravel pan so not easily visible. I would suggest that if you go with a Cobra kit or an early Viper kit, you make sure that you have the retrofit. Here is the instructions for the upgrade. https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/19...Driveshaft Retro 5-2021.pdf?ver=1740753226926
 

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