2018 HONDA GOLD WING
FIRST LOOK Looking sharp: Premier touring bike is sleeker and easier to handle
Honey, they shrunk the Gold Wing!
Actually, that should have read that Honda has shrunk the Gold Wing(s). Honda, realizing what just about everyone else in the motorcycling world already knew, has realized that the Gold Wing name truly is all powerful — there are more than 265,000 of Honda’s previous generations of land yachts still prowling North American highways and bi-ways, says Bill Savino, Honda of America’s motorcycle product manager. So, while the traditional Gold Wing retains its familiar appellation (though officially called the Gold Wing Tour), the stripped-down bagger version (the former F6B) is now called Gold Wing.
The confusing re-naming aside, the all-new Gold Wings really are amazing. They’re sharper, more focused, yet still retain all the traditional comfort and convenience that Honda’s premier touring bike is known for. Indeed, while you’ll be reading all about the new Gold Wings’ tour de force technical advancements, what’s most impressive — especially since the rest of motorcycling’s grand touring fleet is growing ever more portly — is how all those technological improvements are aimed making the 2018 Gold Wing more manageable.
The first thing that you notice is that the 2018s are smaller than the outgoing 2017s.
The fairing is decidedly more svelte. Indeed, the entire motorcycle is shorter; the overall impression is that it’s built on a 9:10 scale. The shape is familiar, but the dimensions are dramatically reduced.
But the most incredible news from Savino is that the 2018 model is more than 36 kilograms lighter than the previous generation. That’s an impressive statistic all by itself, but try this on for context: The mid-level Gold Wing Tour with the high-tech DCT Transmission weighs 379 kilograms. By comparison, Yamaha’s new Star Venture TC breaks the scale at a whopping 438 kilos. In Imperial terms the difference is even more impressive — the new Wing weighs a whopping 140 pounds less than Yamaha’s new super tourer.
Yes, the Gold Wing with its six-cylinder, water-cooled engine is some 140 pounds lighter than its twin-cylinder, air-cooled competition. Incredible!
All that weight saving doesn’t come easy, says Colin Miller, a Honda tech spokesperson, noting that every single subsystem has been re-engineered to be more compact and weight less. So, while it’s impressive that the engine itself shed four kilograms and the chassis another six, what Miller is most proud of is that the Gold Wing no longer has a (heavy and large) starter motor.
Instead it’s a starter/generator — essentially the technology used in high-tech automotive hybrids — that acts as both starting motor and alternator. Miller says numerous combinations of various electronics functions all add up, piece-by-piece, for that almost 80 pounds in weight savings.
But, even more impressive is the bike’s svelte silhouette. Smaller in every dimension — and most impressively in width of the fairing — Savino notes that, despite the smaller frontal area wind protection, the new Wing’s wind protection is actually superior to the older model. Essentially what Honda has done is place the rider about 75 millimetres closer to the fairing, which means the onrushing air has less chance to curl over the windscreen and cause turbulence to the rider and passenger.
That’s basic aerodynamics. How did they get the rider closer to the fairing? Well that, as they say, is the trick.
First, said Savino, the Gold Wing’s trademark opposed six was shortened, in part by using a slightly narrower bore and also because the cylinder liners are now thinner — some 29-millimetres, in fact, so that the rider’s feet could be moved that inch-plus forward.
More subtle is the front suspension. Of course, the Hossack-style double wishbone system is known for its superior performance, greater rigidity and reduced dive during braking. Less apparent, though, is that when the Hossack does respond to bumps, the front wheel rises almost vertically.
Conversely, with a front telescopic fork, the front tire moves backwards as well as up. Because the new Wing no longer has to contend with the front wheel hitting the bodywork under full deflection, the engine can be moved further forward and the rider is again closer to the front fairing.
Look at forward-facing pictures of the two generations of Gold Wings side-by-side and marvel at how much narrower Honda’s engineers have made the 2018 without sacrificing aerodynamic comfort.
Of course there’s lots more to the new Gold Wing than just reduced weight. That smaller engine, for instance, now features four valves per cylinder operated by the Honda’s Unicam (which started as an off-road technology but is gradually being seen in more of Honda’s street bikes). Banish thoughts of gargantuan increases in power, however. Honda claims about five per cent more maximum top-end horsepower and about the same increase in off-idle torque, but the mid-range, where the 1,833-cc six will spend most of its time, is almost identical to the outgoing model. Any significant increase in performance will come from the aforementioned weight loss, not increased power.
More noticeable is the inclusion of Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission on the new Gold Wing. Now with seven speeds, its operation remains similar to the operation of the Africa Twin’s DCT. In automatic mode, it shifts through the gears itself; in manual mode, a couple of handlebar-mounted flippers manage the gear selection process.
The big difference is that DCTequipped Wings — only on the Tour model in Canada, though DCT is available across the board in the US — allow a reverse gear that will let you crawl backwards at 1.2 kilometres an hour. It will even creep forward (at 1.8 km/h) to allow easy back-and-forth parking.
This, again, is all accomplished through the DCT using the engine for power. Manual transmission models will reverse — but not creep forward — and use the electric starter/generator for motivation.
There are also plenty of new hightech features. Besides the expected ABS, there are four riding modes — Tour, Sport, Econ and Rain — which, on the higher end models, also adjust suspension damping front and rear. Separately there’s an electronic rear spring adjuster, allowing you to choose from multiple rear preload settings from single rider with no luggage to two riders with full luggage.
Higher-end models also get traction control — in Honda parlance, Honda Selectable Torque Control. There’s even a Hill Start Assist system for when you’re taking off up a steep incline.
There is a new telematics system with fancy automotive-style rotary twiddle nob that provides access to the options on the new seven-inch TFT screen. Apple CarPlay is available, Android Auto is not, though plans are afoot to incorporate it. Additionally, there’s a keyless entry system that automatically locks the bike — and saddlebags — as you walk away, while also preventing you from locking the key in said saddlebags.
Indeed, there’s much more to the new Gold Wing than we have space for here. What you need to know is that the bike that started motorcycling’s touring revolution way back in 1975 is back on top and will be in dealerships by early spring.
The Gold Wing (nee FGB) starts at $26,999 while the Gold Wing Tour (the one you think of as a Gold Wing) retails, in its base guise, for $30,799 and touches $34,600 for the all-singing, all-dancing model with DCT and airbag. For comparison, the current F6B starts at $23,999 and the Gold Wing at $30,999.