“You’ve never seen a dirt bike before?”
Introduced in 1974, the Honda Goldwing quickly took the crown as the king of long-range touring motorcycles, a 600-lb heavyweight boxer that could push through the air at 90+ mph for years on end, only stopping for gas and the odd wipe-down of bug guts and good old American road dust. That original GL1000 was the biggest, heaviest, and second-fastest motorcycle you could buy at the time — only the might Kawasaki Z1 was faster!
Five years later, the bigger-bore GL1100 came along, accompanied by Japan’s first full-dress tourer, the GL1100l Interstate — featuring a full fairing, saddlebags, trunk, and “De Luxe” options like a stereo, 40-channel CB, and onboard air compressor to adjust the bike’s air suspension. The 1038cc flat-four boxer engine offered 81 horsepower and 65 lb-ft of torque, along with a fat torque curve and plenty of midrange punch, though it now weighed over 680 pounds.
Dos Honduros: A legend is born…
Fast forward 45 years, and two visionary young men from Washington State, mining a plot of land known as Windjammer Ranch, deep in the heart of Rambo Country, have discovered the true Gold buried in the old ‘Wing…and like all great gold miners, they made their discovery digging around the dirt.
Better known as Dos Honduros, they are Kyle (aka Wicked Wiley) and Zac (aka Maxx Revs), and their love affair with the Goldwing started when someone gave them a pair of 1980 GL1100 Interstates that had been sitting in a barn for a decade. With zero prep work, they proceeded to take the pair of ‘Wings on a 1200-mile trip to Montana and back:
“One of the bikes hadn’t even been started/ridden until the day we left. We had done no prep work other than hoping they started so we had very low expectations of even making it out of Washington.”
To their surprise, the pair of dressers ate up the miles and begged for more. Soon, they were looking for more places to take their 600-lb beasts, and the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route (WABDR) beckoned. When asked what inspired them to take their Goldwings off-road, they scratch their heads:
“I’m not following this question, Wings were built for the dirt.”
They soon progressed to Section 2 of the WABDR, as well as the 2019 Touratech Rally, awed and surprised by what their “Honduros” could handle. Of course, the reactions from other riders on the trail are a big part of the fun, bringing some much-needed levity to the world of ADV. Says Kyle:
“We both have always thought a lot of riders take things too seriously, and that there’s too much of an emphasis on needing certain bikes/gear/tires/stickers just to go ride gravel roads.”
Of course, they’ve outfitted their ‘Wings with the latest and greatest in high-dollar adventure-touring tech 😉
“We first swapped the Hondaline fairings out for Vetter Windjammers — they are slightly heavier but it’s worth it for the looks…The WP stickers slapped on the forks really help the stock suspension soak up the jumps.”
Soon they decided to test their Goldwings’ mettle/metal on a motocross track, where they did something surely unseen heretofore in the history of motorcycling: hitting a 45-foot MX tabletop on a 1980 GL1100 Interstate. It seems there was a reason that Honda put Wing in the name!
Many viewers assume the pair treat their Goldwings as disposable, much like the army of trashed General Lees destroyed during filming of The Dukes of Hazzard, but Kyle says nothing could be farther from the truth:
“People assume after watching our videos that we break them and take them to the scrap yard. Which isn’t true, we have been riding the same two wings off-road for two years with minimal damage. We have no plans on ever scrapping them and will continue to ride them long into the future.”
What’s next for Dos Honduros? They say they’re terrible at planning and preparation, and they prefer it that way. But the duo is planning to flat track their ‘Wings with Mt. St. Helens Motorcycle Club this weekend — another first for the Dos Honduros, and of course they’re planning to bring home some trophies.
We highly recommend you follow Dos Honduros on Instagram (@dos.honduros) and/or their Youtube channel — and if you fancy some Goldwing antics of your own, make sure to use the hashtag #justwingit. Lastly, if you’re wondering what’s the craziest thing they’ve ever done on a ‘Wing and a prayer, you better stay tuned:
“By the time you post this, we may have already done something dumber.”
Amen. Below, we have the full and uncut interview with Dos Honduros.
Two ‘Wings and a Prayer: The Legend of the Dos Honduros
• Who is Dos Honduros? Can you tell us a bit about yourselves, your history with motorcycles, and Windjammer Ranch?
Just a couple of dudes who like to do dumb stuff on motorcycles. Kyle aka Wicked Wiley, owner of Windjammer Ranch and Zac aka Maxx Revs. We both have ridden motorcycles for a while, mostly enduro and dual sport riding. Kyle races a little motocross every once in a while. We both previously owned KTM 1190s and currently own a lot of small dirt bikes (cheater bikes as we call them), but they just sit in our garages now that we discovered these true do-it-all Goldwings.
All this talk about finding the so called “unicorn bike” and it’s already been here for over 40 years. Sometimes we will throw the cheater bikes on the Wings if we need to bring a spare (we have a tutorial on how to load them on our YouTube channel.)
Windjammer Ranch is Kyle’s house. He has a farm in Washington State with donkeys, goats, and a motocross track.
• What model/year/trim Goldwings do you ride?
Our MX bikes are two 1980 Goldwing GL1100 Interstates, but we have a third 1980 GL1100 Interstate, a 198_ GL1200 Aspencade, 1981 CB900, and cruise the classifieds daily looking for more steeds to bring home to the ranch.
• Where did the idea of off-roading your ‘Wings come from?
I’m not following this question, Wings were built for the dirt. We both have always thought a lot of riders take things too seriously, and that there’s too much of an emphasis on needing certain bikes/gear/tires/stickers just to go ride gravel roads. The first two Honduros were given to us for free because they had been sitting in a barn for 10 years. Our first trip was an over 1200 mile trip to Montana and back and this was our first time actually riding the bikes.
One of the bikes hadn’t even been started/ridden until the day we left. We had done no prep work other than hoping they started so we had very low expectations of even making it out of Washington. But as it turned out, the bikes were awesome and we had a blast the whole time. From there we kept thinking of places we should try to ride them just to see if we could. Trail riding them actually came before doing anything like the WABDR. We took them to a local ORV park and rode trails for hours. We couldn’t stop laughing but the best part was the reactions from other riders on the trails. We were amazed that we had no issues.
Seeing if we could actually do Section 2 of the WABDR had always been something we talked about, so we got the bikes started up again and tried it. People told us there was no way we could do the rocky climbs on that section. Once again we were surprised by what the bikes could handle. We completed that section and continued on to the Touratech Rally where we met friends and rode some more dirt routes mixed with a few single track trails. So it’s just been a progression based on us being surprised by their capabilities and how much we really enjoy riding them and laughing about it the whole time.
• What custom work, if any, has been done to your ‘Wings — especially for off-roading?
We only focus on the essentials. We first swapped the Hondaline fairings out for Vetter Windjammers — they are slightly heavier but it’s worth it for the looks. We then added cassette stereos and CB radios. We ran street tires for a couple years but decided kinda big blocks may look better. The WP stickers slapped on the forks really help the stock suspension soak up the jumps. That’s about it, oh and cup holders.
• Do your bikes have nicknames?
Yours and mine.
• What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever done on a Goldwing?
If we are going to keep it PG-13 I’d say…that’s a hard one to answer because by the time you post this, we may have already done something dumber.
• What’s next for Dos Honduros?
Don’t ask us that because we are terrible at planning. All of our trips/rides have had no proper planning or practical preparation, and we prefer it that way. We took the bikes out on the MX track both thinking we couldn’t actually get around the track on them and that we’d just try to do a small jump. That turned into two and half days of us riding them on the track and having a blast.
We do have a few goal rides for the bikes coming up. We will be tackling some more of the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route (WABDR) this September, and will be back out in the single track trails soon. We are going to race flat track on them this weekend at “The Eruption at Castle Rock.” We’ve never raced flat track before but hope to bring home some trophies. If anybody knows any wicked cool events hit us up, I don’t know if I mentioned it but we like to party.
Follow Dos Honduros
Instagram @Dos.Honduros
Youtube: Dos Honduros
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