[music playing]
Howdy.
This is Lemmy with RevZilla.
And today, I'm on a 2018 Honda Gold Wing Tour.
I'm down here in the Lone Star State.
Honda chose to debut this bike down here.
We came down to spent some time with them.
I've been riding a few of these bikes, sampling their wears.
And I have to say, the sixth generation of the Gold Wing
really underwent one heck of an overhaul.
But in order to best understand the redesign,
you really have to understand who
it is that Honda is speaking to with this motorcycle.
And they say they're after three different types of riders,
and I tend to agree with them.
I see this sort of as a short, medium,
and long-term play for them.
So let's talk about what I think is
their short-term customer, and that's
the existing Gold Wing rider.
I think it's not too much for Honda to assume that people who
are currently on a Gold Wing and excited about
that particular model probably wouldn't
have much trouble shelling out for the new six-gen Gold Wing.
They're going to want to take advantage of some
of the features and benefits that
come along with this redesign.
Now, the medium-term customer that I'm thinking of
and that Honda is shooting for is
what they call their returning Gold Wing customer-- someone
who may have had a Gold Wing in the past
but wound up on another motorcycle,
because the Gold Wing evolved differently than their needs
necessarily required.
Now, I think this is going to be a little more elusive customer
for Honda chase down, simply because they're likely to be
a little bit more skeptical.
These folks are probably going to wait a season or two
and see how the early adopters fare,
before they necessarily jump onto one of these bikes right
after they pull their wallet out.
Now, the third group of customers,
and what I consider the long-term targets,
are probably the most important to the continued health of the
Gold Wing nameplate over time.
And that's going to be folks who haven't yet had a touring bike.
I don't necessarily mean had a Honda touring bike.
But they may not have had a touring bike in general.
They may simply not be socially or financially ready
for a touring bike at this point in time.
But these people are going to be important
because long-model runs are sort of the hallmark of the Gold
Wing.
I mean, heck, this thing went--
basically since 2001-- really unchanged in any major way.
So securing these people and making sure this bike offers
what those folks are going to want in five to 10 years
is actually a pretty important play for Honda.
Now, in order to figure out whether or not
Honda made the right decisions here in the redesign,
we need to get out and actually ride this bike.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and bore
you with the entire history behind the Honda Gold Wing.
It's got a very interesting story,
but it's not really relevant to what we're discussing today.
However, there is one point in the Gold Wing's past
that we'll refer you back to, and that's
the moment of its inception.
You see, most people have either forgotten, or didn't even know
in the first place, that the Gold
Wing wasn't always this big monstro, luxo, behemoth tourer.
Instead, this thing was actually conceived as a GT-style bike.
It was meant to be heavy and fast and cover lots of ground.
The idea of packing along lots of stuff,
of course, and having extreme rider comfort came later.
Now, fast forward to the previous generation,
the fifth-gen Gold Wing.
And we can really talk about that bike being the ultimate
in terms of opulence.
It was unbelievably comfortable for riders.
And the carrying capacity on those motorcycles
is just staggering.
If you can't bring it with you on a Gold Wing, well,
you really can't bring it with you
on almost any two-wheeled conveyance, I would say.
Now, of course, we're looking at the sixth generation Gold Wing.
And this actually sort of pivots and turns
and looks back to the bike that gave its GT roots.
This bike underwent a bunch of weight loss.
It's 100 pounds lighter.
That's nearly transformational on a bike of this size.
Now, that didn't come without a couple
of strings attached, of course.
And I think this might be relatively controversial
of fans of the Honda Gold Wing.
In order to get that 100-pound weight loss,
some of the touring capacity went down as well.
We lost 37 liters out of the luggage.
There's another gallon of gasoline that's
gone out of this motorcycle.
Still though, 100 pounds is 100 pounds.
And this bike behaves entirely differently
than its predecessor.
Let's get out there on the tarmac.
I'm going to show you exactly what this bike
can do with 100 fewer pounds.
Now normally I'd take off with something about the engine
at this time of the review.
However, the start of this show is actually the front end.
Honda redesigned the front end of this,
moving away from a telescopic tubular front end
to something totally unconventional from them.
And they're calling it their double wishbone.
For those of you who are familiar with BMW
or other motorcycles, you may know it is a Hossack front end.
For those of you out of the car world,
it's very similar to a 4-length.
Now the reason this front end is so important
is because it allowed Honda really to map out
the entire bike a little bit differently,
because a Hossack-style front end removes the braking
forces from the suspension forces,
when you jam down the front brake, the rest of the bike
doesn't slam down trying to kiss the front tire.
Because there's now a little bit more room between the rest
of the bike and that front tire, means
that Honda was free to move a bunch
of things up in the chassis.
So the entire drive train got moved forward.
The rider and passenger-- we moved forward as well.
I'm actually sitting 36 millimeters
forward of where I'd be sitting on a 17-model GL 1800.
And I'll be honest, the trick absolutely works.
It works fantastically.
The steering in this bike is so light.
I was making the joke, this feels more like an ST 1800
than a GL 1800.
Whether you're putting it down in the corner,
holding it in the corner, or pulling it back up,
it's almost like an optical illusion.
The way this bike handles really does
not belie its weight at all.
Now, this front end, too, does have me raising
a couple of question marks.
Now granted, some of these things
are to be longer-term types of scenarios
that we're going to have to figure out.
The first is you can see my tie rod bouncing away here.
They're really nifty.
It's kind of like watching an old springer go up and down.
But those tie rods are like an automotive tie rod.
They are going to wear over time.
That is the rider's link between the handlebars
and the front end.
So riders are going to have to keep a really careful eye
on those to make sure that steering
stays tight on these bikes.
The other thing that comes to mind too
is that-- well, alignments are probably going to be necessary
as well, just like on a car.
Setting the tow at minimum is going
to have to happen on a motorcycle
that is set up this way.
But for me, the bigger question mark
was Honda's continued use of ball
bearings in the steering head.
Now, granted, the steering head is taking forces a little bit
differently than it would in a conventional telescopic front
end.
However, if you guys remember, back
when I reviewed our 15 Gold Wing, we had that like in--
I had a wicked case of head shake.
The front end on that thing was just kicking
around like nobody's business.
Now many riders, myself included,
thought that might have had something
to do with the head bearings.
Some thought it was tires.
I think there might have been a little bit
of overlap between the two.
And I think that the head bearings may have actually
helped shorten the tire's life.
But regardless, considering how many people went to aftermarket
companies like All Balls in order
to get tapered bearings for their steering heads
on the older GL 1800s, it was really surprising that Honda
didn't make that move as well.
I think we need to see how things
play out with this front end.
Now we can move on to the drive train.
So the 1800 CC ml underneath me is almost completely different.
Very little carries over from the previous engine.
However, it's very odd.
Honda kept all the character with that motor,
despite the fact they made lots of changes you can read
about in our written article.
This thing feels very, very similar.
You looking at about 125 horse, 125 foot pounds of torque.
So output's up just a little bit,
but it has all of the same characteristics
we loved about the earlier flat 6--
honey smooth, gobs and gobs of torque.
This is the perfect engine for this motorcycle.
The really interesting part though is behind the engine.
That's in the transmission.
Gone is the five-speed manual.
Now, we're looking at a six-speed manual, as well as
the option for a seven-speed DCT, which
I'm actually on right now.
I got to be honest, I'm totally sold on this DCT.
It makes more sense on a touring bike than almost
any other motorcycle.
It just frees you up to look at the scenery,
to see what's going on.
It's one less thing that you actually have to take care of
and think about.
And it allows you really just to watch what's going
on in the world around you.
It's phenomenal.
If you're considering a new Gold Wing,
even if you think you're a die-hard gear clicker,
I would say take a ride on the DCT.
Is it worth the extra $1,000 Honda wants?
Well, that's going to be up to individual buyers to decide.
Now moving on from the transmission,
one of the other items that got major attention this year
is in the brakes.
Rear-brake rotor size is about the same.
However, the front-brake rotors received
an increase in diameter.
That means the calipers are able to exert
a little more leverage on them.
Those calipers are now radially mounted.
And as far as I'm concerned, the big news
here is those calipers go from a three-pot caliper to a six-pot.
All of these braking improvements
really make the Gold Wing probably most improved
as far as braking is concerned.
The old Gold Wing, you really had to plan your stops.
I remember being very underwhelmed
by the brakes on that.
I like the brakes on this bike.
They work phenomenally, especially in conjunction
with that front and end.
It's a great setup.
The only nit I have to pick is probably Honda's continued
use of their combined ABS system,
where they combine the brakes.
The front brake actuates the rear break,
which doesn't bother me.
However, the rear brake pedal also actuates some
of the front brake as well.
That part I don't really like.
It kind of upsets the chassis.
It's a little disconcerting for low-speed parking lot work.
But I will say, with the new front end,
it's not quite as bad as it could be.
All that having been said, I prefer Honda junk that system.
Now, we've talked plenty about the mechanics here.
We've raced through them.
But what we really need to get into
is some of the rider comforts and amenities
that come on this bike.
And that's a little better than I think
when the bike is at a stop.
So let me find a good spot to pull over here.
Now when it comes to electronics and rider niceties,
Honda gets a gold star.
They've included all sorts of details in this bike
to really make it stand out.
This is now a first-class motorcycle once again.
There's all sorts of cool things hidden
all over this motorcycle.
We finally have an adjustable windshield
that's electrically adjustable-- no more manual
adjustments on this thing.
It's nice to see Honda update that.
There's also all sorts of other cool things
that come standard on this bike--
heated grips and also dual-zone heated seats,
so both rider and passenger can both be comfortable.
Now, it doesn't just stop there too.
I think for me, the cherry on top
has got to be their infotainment system.
It's part and parcel with a touring bike nowadays.
And Honda did an excellent job.
It's got a seven-inch TFT dash.
It's absolutely beautiful.
Honda implemented this really, really nicely too.
It's intuitive.
It's easy to use.
In my opinion, this is probably the best
infotainment system in the motorcycle industry right now.
Now, it's not lost on me, of course,
that Honda has made this bike unbelievably
comfortable to ride.
However, made it a little bit more
difficult to spend long hours in the saddle-- again,
going back to that luggage and fuel capacity reduction here.
Having said that, I think I preferred when the Gold
Wing was the king of the tours.
It was absolutely the biggest.
It was the best-known tourer out there.
But I also have a confession too.
For my entire riding career, as long
as the Gold Wing has been around and previously,
I never laid down a single cent for one of these.
I've never purchased one, not new, and not used.
So perhaps that means my opinion is completely irrelevant.
Yours, however, is not.
If you've got something to say about the new Gold
Wing or Gold Wing Tour, use that comment section.
And if you have any more questions about this bike,
cruise on over to Common Tread, where
you can check out my first ride review of the Gold Wing Tour.
Me?
Well, I got to get inside and unpack.
And I also got to suck down a couple of Shiner Bocks.
I got a long day of riding tomorrow.
I'm Lemmy.
I'm outta here.