Thanks guys for your honest replies !
My experience with timing belts is not Goldwings, but many years in an industrial manufacturing. We ran timing belts 24/7 & when they let go prematurely, ie the nylon cords broke internally, they had been over tensioned. The honda manual gives, from my background, a very low tension requirement, but one to be followed. The other point I find interesting, timing belts are by their nature are constantly being bent.
With my wing, the visual inspection was done because at the time I had zero information. The bike had 322,000 kms on it & I was not going to start replacing parts until I verified it was not necessary to replace engine. Later i was told the belts were ~5 years old / ~6000km on them. If the transmission does not need replacement in the fall / winter ( and a replacement / rebuild will get new belts ) , I will arbitrarily replace belts as a part of growing list of ailments.
... Next time I will supply more info if my approach seems counter to the norm.
