This page will contain blogs about Goldwing, as they become available.Honda GoldwingGoldwing at a rallyThe Honda Goldwing motorcycle debuted in 1975 as a 1000cc flat-4 cylinder. Front dual and single rear disc brakes were luxurious features at the time. Riders soon began adding fairings and luggage to turn these bikes into touring bikes. Subsequent years saw Honda make bigger versions that came with fairings and luggage installed at the factory. 1980 saw the introduction of the first factory touring model, GL1100 cc Interstate and then the luxury model "Aspencade". This was followed by an upgrade to 1200cc in 1984, and then to 1520cc with a horizontal opposed 6-cylinder (flat-6) engine in 1988. The current version is the GL1800 with 1832 cubic centimeters of displacement. In September 2005, Honda announced the world's first production motorcycle airbag system scheduled for availability in late 2006. The GL1800 offers several features not usually found on other bikes:
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In September 2005, Honda announced the world's first production motorcycle airbag system scheduled for availability in late 2006. Some of the more recent shoes and boots have been designed with built-in gel inserts to support the ball of the foot and the heel. The current version is the GL1800 with 1832 cubic centimeters of displacement. Combined with the fact that consumers are more discriminating with respect to good fit in the store, it's easy to see why ergonomics is playing an increasing role. This was followed by an upgrade to 1200cc in 1984, and then to 1520cc with a horizontal opposed 6-cylinder (flat-6) engine in 1988. Heels that combine good looks with proper construction and support are comfortable to wear all day, which to designers, is free advertising. 1980 saw the introduction of the first factory touring model, GL1100 cc Interstate and then the luxury model "Aspencade". Heels that hurt aren't given much word of mouth, a fact which isn't lost among designers. Subsequent years saw Honda make bigger versions that came with fairings and luggage installed at the factory. Second is an increased emphasis on ergonomics. Riders soon began adding fairings and luggage to turn these bikes into touring bikes. Furthermore, in addition to providing comfortable, but not excessive levels of warmth, leather breaths fairly well, unlike synthetic coverings. Front dual and single rear disc brakes were luxurious features at the time. First is a return to leather, which for heels makes a lot of sense, since leather excels at providing support while gently remolding and conforming itself to the wearer's foot to provide better distributed support, thereby eliminating hot spots. The Honda Goldwing motorcycle debuted in 1975 as a 1000cc flat-4 cylinder. While it is impossible to predict the future of fashion, there are several interesting trends. Remote trunk release. Recent changes by shoe manufacturers, including marketing more masculine styles and heels with significantly larger sizes to accommodate men, appears to underscore this trend, and many of the more masculine high-heeled shoe and boot designs that were only available in sizes up to 11 just two years ago are now available in sizes up to 13. Honda Satellite-Linked navigation System. This trend has not been lost on fashion designers, who have occasionally featured men wearing heels on the runways since the mid 1990s. Reverse gear (powered electrically rather than through the transmission). The practice of men wearing heels continues to grow throughout Westernized countries including the US and Europe, and to a lesser extent in various pockets of Asia. Integrated audio system, capable of playing music from a trunk-mounted six-disc CD changer. While the wearing of heels by men in public is still rare, it's a continually growing phenomenon, one that appears to be accelerating. Aftermarket accessories include arm rests with beverage holders. In fact, more than a third of all men worldwide still wear skirts on a regular basis, but this is largely lost on the somewhat insulated Western fashion culture. A large passenger seat with backrest. Over the last decade, the Internet has brought together many men who consider the wearing of heels, and even skirts, as merely the continuation of what men have been doing for hundreds of years in the case of heels, and tens of thousands of years in the case of wearing skirts. Many men have worn high-heels in secret over the last century, but a surprising number have worn heels in public, as well, usually in the form of high-heeled boots. As an example, the last four decades of rock and roll have seen many performers wearing heels, both on and off the stage. Surprisingly, however, many men who report wearing masculine-styled heels in public not only encounter very little resistance, but are met with a surprising amount of appreciation and encouragement for their choice of fashion. Whether it meets DSM-IV criteria for deviancy or not, however, depends entirely on one's reason behind wearing heels, and many people, including psychologists, don't consider it deviant at all, regardless of the reason, simply due to the fact that gender-specific clothing styles are rapidly disappearing anyway, as well as the fact that men invented heels, and wore them for more than 200 years before fashions changed, as they invariably do. Although the idea of men wearing heels certainly isn't new, it is unusual in modern times, and as a result, some pockets of society consider it deviant. While high-heels are marketed almost exclusively to women, a small percentage of men have worn, and continue to wear heels for various reasons, including personal preference, medical reasons, gender identity issues, and fetish roles. Except for cowboy boots, which continued to be used as a riding heel, men's shoes sported only low heels until a brief resurgence in the 1970s. The angle for high-arched feet, however, is already exaggerated, and the wear of heels by those with high arches can be particularly problematic for the metatarsal phalangeal joint. It appears the moderate heel improves the angle of contact between the metatarsals and the horizontal plane, thereby more closely approximating the angle and resulting weight distribution of a normally-arched foot. Interestingly enough, despite the medical issues surrounding high-heel wear, a few podiatrists recommend a well-constructed low heel of no more than two inches for their patients with flat feet. Naturally, this rules out most pumps, but boots, particularly lace-ups with a round toe box and forward heel, are surprisingly supportive. Thus, the best design for a high-heel is one with a narrower width, where the heel is closer to the front, more solidly under the ankle, where the toe box provides room enough for the toes, and where forward movement of the foot in the shoe is kept in check by material snug across the instep, rather than by toes jamming together in the toe box. Heels which strike the ground too far after of the ankle over-torque the ankle forward, producing extreme stress on the ankle, and creating additional impact on the ball of the foot, both of which are highly undesirable. Block heels do not necessarily offer more stability, and any raised heel with too large a width, such as blade and block heels, induces unhealthy side-to-side torques to the ankle every step. Unfortunately, the most common design trend today is towards the extremely pointed toe. Ensuring room exists for the toes to assume a normal position and spending sufficient time out of high-heels allows the body to repair any damage caused by high-heels, thereby recovering to a sufficiently healthy point where high-heel wear remains an option, rather than a debilitating practice. Several celebrities, such as Victoria Beckham, have come to the point where surgery is needed to recover from the damages caused by wearing high-heels too often. Narrow toe boxes force the toes together. Improper construction here wreaks the most damage and long-term pain on the foot. One of the most critical problems with high-heels with the design and construction of the toebox. This regimen will prevent most foot problems associated with high-heels. If that's not acceptable, then the wearer should ensure they're wearing high-heels no more than half the time, and that they're spending at least a third of the time on their feet either barefoot, in flats, or in a good running/walking/cross-training shoe. The best solution to avoid these problems is to avoid heels altogether. In many shoes, style dictates function, either compressing the toes, or forcing them together, which results in blisters, corns, hammer-toes, bunions, and many other medical conditions, most of which are permanent, and will require surgery to alleviate the pain. When the foot cants forward, a disproportinately greater amount of the wearer's weight is transferred to the ball of the foot, increasing liklihood of damage to the underlying soft tissue which supports the foot. This unnatural position, if continued without variation, will cause the Achilles tendon to shorten, causing problems when the wearer chooses lower heels, flats, or walking barefoot. High-heeled shoes cant the foot forward and down while bending the toes up. While today's fashions favor pointed toes, most styles that have appeared over the last century remain available in one form or another, along with a plethora of newer styles. Since the early 1900s, high-heel design has run the gamut of styles. Throughout most of the 1800s, flats and sandals were the normative style for both sexes, but the heel resurfaced in fashion during the late 1800's, almost exclusively among women. When the French Revolution drew near, in the late 1700s, the practice of wearing heels drew to a close, as the term "well-heeled" became synonymous with opulent wealth, and could incur the ire of the public at large. Both men and women continued wearing heels as a matter of noble fashion throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. High-heeled fashion quickly caught on with the fashion-conscious men and women of the French court, and spread to other pockets of nobility in other countries. It's been said by some that Leonardo Da Vinci was the inventor of the high-heel.[citation needed] While he may have designed a heel or two in his day, the truth is that it really was invented due to military necessity. This was the first written record of the high-heeled shoe. In 1533, more than three decades after the male French nobility began wearing heels, the diminuitive wife of the Duke of Orleans, Catherine de Medici, commissioned a cobbler to fashion her a pair of heels, both for fashion, and to increase her stature. Beginning with the French, heel heights among men crept up, often becoming higher and thinner, until they were no longer useful while riding, but were relegated to "court-only" wear. The simple riding heel gave way to a more stylized heel over its first three decades, during which time military uniforms became more stylized, particularly among the nobility, for whom style equated with social status. These design features are still in use today in riding boots. The leading edge was canted forward to help grip the stirrup, while the trailing edge was canted forward to prevent the elongated heel from catching on underbrush or rock while backing up, such as in on-foot combat. Riders and cobblers worked together to develop the "rider's heel," with a height of approximately 1-1/2" down, which appeared around 1500. Cobblers had been adding thin, flat heels to shoes by this time, as a pair of leather shoes was very expensive, and both soles and heels were developed to protect the owner's comfort and investment by increasing the long-term durability of the shoe and distributing uneven pressures from rough terrain more evenly over the owners' feet. However this failed to solve the problem of the rider's feet slipping forward in the stirrups, often with comical, if not tragic results. The obvious solution was to design a leather shoe with a thicker sole that supported the rider's weight, distributing the pressure from the stirrups over more of the bottom of the rider's feet. As the soft stirrup gave way to the hard stirrup, for reasons of quicker mounting and dismounting during battle, an additional problem was encountered in that the hard stirrup was much more tiring and damaging to the rider's feet during longer rides. As early as the the late fifteenth century, horsemen grew tired of their feet slipping out of their stirrups, which were little more than loops of leather hung from the saddle. The shape of the heel has vacillated back and forth between block (70s), tapered (90s), and stiletto (50s and post-2000). Lower heels were preferred during the late 60s and early 70s, as well, but higher heels returned in the late 80s and early 90s. Throughout the last sixty years, high-heels have fallen in and out of favor several times, most notably in the late 90s, when lower heels and even flats predominated. Some feminists consider high-heeled shoes a tool of female oppression, constraining their movements and behavior as much as possible. Imelda Marcos, for example, was famous for her vast collection. A small proportion of women seem to be obsessed with high-heels, owning many pairs. This does not prevent the majority of women from owning several pair of high-heels. As a result of these conflicting factors, many women have a love/hate relationship with high-heeled shoes. However, some women shun these shoes because:. There are many reasons why women desire to wear heels, including:. Extremely high-heeled shoes, such as those higher than 5", are effectively worn only for display, and typically for the enjoyment of shoe fetishists and/or the wearer. Shoes with higher heels, such as those above 4", are worn only by a minority. Most women comfortably wear heels between 2" and 3". What height constitutes a "high-heel" has long been a point of contention between those who wear very high-heels and those who wear lower heels. Some men's footwear, such as cowboy boots and shoes with a cuban heel are considered by some to be a high-heel, even though neither tops 3" in the heel. Today's high-heels, regardless of heel's shape, are generally limited to women's footwear. High-heels have seen significant controversy in the medical field lately, with many podiatrists fed up with seeing patients whose severe foot problems were caused almost exclusively by high-heel wear. Today, high-heels are typically worn in public only by women,who are often expected to wear high-heels at work and on formal occasions. . When both the heel and the toes are raised, as in a platform shoe, it is generally not considered to be a "high-heel." High-heels come in a wide variety of styles, and the heels are found in many different shapes, including stiletto, block, tapered, blade, and wedge. High-heeled shoes are shoes which raise the heel of the wearer's foot significantly higher than the toes. progressively higher heels are progressively riskier and more difficult to walk in; tripping is much more likely, and the risk of damaging the wearer's ankles, toes, and feet, both short-term and long-term, is similarly increased. they can damage the wearer's feet and tendons when worn over long periods (see below). they make the wearer less able to run, and hence more vulnerable. they shorten the stride of the wearer. high-heels can be painful to wear, particularly for long periods. stiletto heels appear to some as a phallic symbol. many heels, particularly sandals, make the sole of the foot visible, also a strong sexual sign (see shoe dangling). the change in gait and posture thrusts the buttocks backwards, and causes the hips to sway more - both strong sexual signs. one's legs look longer, and therefore more sensuous. they make the woman appear taller (this can be either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on whether the woman desires to appear taller or shorter). the change in angle of the foot with respect to the lower leg shortens and accentuates the calves. |