It's the gold standard

Road testing the Honda GL 1800 Gold Wing: It's comfortable and it knows how to move, John Wheeler reports

Road testing the Honda GL 1800 Gold Wing: It's comfortable and it knows how to move, John Wheeler reports

It's big. It's bold. It's ostentatious. It screams conspicuous consumption. It's undeniably luxurious. It gathers crowds wherever it's parked. Among motorcyclists it has provoked every emotion from ridicule to adoration. It's the Honda Gold Wing.

Today's Gold Wing is the fifth incarnation in a line which started with the almost "normal" looking GL 1000, which was succeeded by the half-faired GL 1100. After that came the much bulkier looking, invariably full-faired, GL 1200, then the sleeker looking GL 1500.

Throughout its history the Gold Wing has retained a horizontally opposed, multi-cylinder engine and shaft drive. From the original GL 1000 right up to the GL 1500, the engine was four-cylinder. The present model boasts six cylinders.

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As one model followed another the machines got, not just bigger, but heavier - until now. The GL 1800 is actually 5 kgs lighter than its 1500 predecessor, weighing in at a mere 363 kilos (798 lbs).

The one thing that distinguishes the Honda Gold Wing from 99 per cent of other motorcycles is that it's a machine designed with comfort in mind, especially the comfort of the pillion passenger. It has to be conceded that, for most motorcycles, such provision as there may be for a passenger is a blend of afterthought and compromise. Although wary of saying so openly, many will confide that being a passenger is fraught with discomfort and masochism.

This is not a machine that was created for "old world" road conditions. It's a machine clearly designed to outperform Harley Davidson's Ultra Classic Electra Glide. Its spiritual homes are the wide, straight freeways of the US, and the motorways of Europe.

Honda's GL 1800 is specifically designed to provide the ultimate in comfort for both pillion passenger and rider. Our pillion critic, veteran of several hundreds of thousands of miles, decreed the pillion seat to be comfortable, but, she did add that, it was a pity that the pillion seat back was not adjustable for rake.

The Gold Wing also comes equipped with enough luggage space for a fortnight's touring holiday or the weekly shopping expedition. With a massive front fairing, generous pannier boxes and a huge topbox it looks, some say, like a two-wheeled car.

Experts, hardly any of whom will ever have ridden a Gold Wing, will tell you that it's a lumbering behemoth, it won't go round corners and the brakes are useless. Not so.

For a machine that is the epitome of laid-back progress, the GL 1800 is no mean performer. The six-cylinder, 1,800 cc engine produces power a-plenty. In that critical 50-90 mph range it can accelerate every bit as briskly as, for example, the 1300cc Honda Pan European.

Fine, that's what you expect from such a large power plant, but it kept up with the Pan European and a Kawasaki 636 Ninja on the twisty bits. It's fitted with Honda's excellent and powerful combined ABS braking system.

If all you have ridden to date has been a conventional tourer or sports bike, the sheer size and weight of the Gold Wing can seem disconcerting to say the least. In order to provide top class pillion comfort the bike has a long, 1,692 mm wheelbase. Compare that with, for example, the 1,400 mm of Honda's Fireblade and that extra 292 mm means that, especially at slow speeds (on the garage forecourt, T-junctions on narrow roads and the like) it can feel a bit like driving a supertanker.

You sit "in" this machine, rather than astride it. The luxurious seat's shape means that you can't, as with a conventional machine, extend a leg as easily to stabilise the bike. It's not surprising to observe that in such situations Gold Wing riders are often seen proceeding, legs dangling, with the utmost caution. In those situations it does take some getting used to.

Yet, once under way, even on twisty country roads and especially if counter steering techniques are employed, it's a very capable performer.

As you expect with a machine of this sophistication and price, it's full of luxury touches: a high-quality radio which can pump out enough sound to deserve its own broadcast licence; rider and pillion intercoms; cruise control; remote locking for the topbox and an ingenious reverse gear.Surprisingly, heated hand grips are not standard.

For those, and there are many, who wish to further individualise their machines, there is an infinity of after-market goodies to tempt you. Walnut veneer panels for the dashboard, chrome bits and pieces for most everything you can think of, add-on lights for the fairground effect, multi-cassette CD systems - and we've even heard of a small fridge and a microwave.

Our thanks to reader John Lynskey, who kindly loaned us his new GL 1800 for this test.