7 days with the new Honda Goldwing.

I like bikes in the tourer category best. I enjoyed 9 years touring Japan on my Yamaha FJR1300 and could just buy another but am wishing to update so will be trying a few other bikes on my upcoming rides

The BMW R1250RT is candidate. I have a future ride in Spain on the BMW K1600 planned (see here for that ride experience and comparison to the Goldwing) and the other bike I am interested in is the new Gold Wing.

Alas I booked a DCT model but got a base model with manual gearbox so I cannot talk about DCT or walking modes or reverse gears. But actually the manual gear box was to my liking - more on that later.

Lets get right to the stuff everyone thinks is bad. Weight. Yes it feels heavy lifting off side stand but the weight is positioned low - it is more balanced and easy to control at low speed than you might think. No heavier feeling than my Yamaha FJR1300 with a full tank. The high COG of my FJR got the better of me a couple of times. Nothing even close to that on the Gold Wing with it’s lower COG.

Size. It feels much smaller the moment you sit on it. Most of the bike is low, the bars are much better positioned then my FJR’s were. I had to raise the FJR bars and bring them backwards as they were too far away. Once under way the Gold Wing size and weight shrinks. Underway it soon felt only marginally bigger or heavier than my FJR1300 did when full of fuel.

Handling. It handles remarkably well. This is one of my biggest surprises. It does not wallow at all like a heavy bike. Less ground clearance but I never scraped so still ample for most public road riding but you cannot this lean like a FJR1300 (or the K1600). Very planted in any radius and I rode 1000’s on this bike including the Tail of the Dragon. This is a big bike yet it went round corners confidently and always held whatever radius I chose but I was not pushing things. I was aware not to be entering corners too fast but my pace now days fits this bike anyway.

Honda have developed a special double wishbone front end unlike anything I have ever ridden before and it is amazing. The rear suspension is conventional but worked as good as any bike I have ridden never showing the true weight. It always was so settled arriving at corners and riding through corners. Yes naturally you need to think about tipping in earlier with more bar input and of course it is heavy and does not flick in like a ADV bike but as a luxury tourer ridden at my current pace I thought it was good.

With such a long wheelbase it has initial understeer that falls into oversteer as the bike is leaned over, exactly same as my FJR but it remains a constant that you adjust to. With the FJR this effect was more pronounced when it had full 25 litres fuel and then much less when near empty. With the Gold Wing its same all the time, full tank makes no difference as the fuel is all sitting low.

As I mentioned my rental was supposed to be a DCT but I got a manual. I actually enjoyed the manual, it was silky smooth but lacking the reverse gear is a negative. The 1800cc flat six is the best motorcycle engine I have ever experienced. It has so much torque. Just off idle you get maximum torque. That is insanely good. Then from 3000rpm the engine changes to this awesome sound like a Porsche. I found myself running a lower gear than needed then gassing the bike out of every corner into the 3000-4000 rpm range to hear the Porsche growl on the Blue Ridge Parkway. And you can enjoy this all the time at road legal speeds unlike hyper power bikes that you can only get to their sweet rpm spot if risking heavy fines or jail.

If I had one myself even if it was a DCT I would have to use the bike in manual shift so I could let the engine run up in the revs from the lights and run into the growl zone in between curves. I watched all the YouTuber videos and the DCT shifts up very low rpm and would not work for me. Also downshifting the flat six I was blipping the throttle because it sounded so awesome. I have not been entertained by a engine like this since the 90’s.

About now I guess readers are thinking ‘yeah sure Warren’ so take five and watch a video of someone ride the Gold Wing. (I’d like to have seen him use bike in manual mode with paddle shifters)

See how the DCT rarely does throttle blip on downshifts and no fast upshift with exhaust pop like DCT/DSG equipped sports cars do. Honda could have made the sports mode do more of this but chose not to. I found the throttle in sport mode to be snatchy but I am told later models have had an adjustment to the throttle response and I know you would probably get used to it. There is also a flash available aftermarket now albeit at high price.

So most of the time I was in tour mode and that was fine. The Econ engine mode does work well, on two occasions when low on fuel I switched to this and my remaining range countdown in the computer slowed then range left increased.

My base model did not come with the hill hold or walking mode or the reverse. The walking mode I never needed because being a manual I can do that with clutch but the reverse I think should be mandatory on this bike. Even just slightly sloping away from you pushing this bike back with feet is difficult.

The tour model with trunk gets seat heaters and air bag and electronic preload adjust. For what is the ultimate luxury tourer I can see no reason these should be omitted from the bagger version.

The dash is beautiful but for me with my older eyesight the speedometer numbers were a little hard to see. USA models have built in GPS navigation which is great. Australia gets no navigator just Apple CarPlay Android Auto which in my experience is not so good in areas where you have no cell phone towers. The button array to me are a mess, the centre buttons are replicated on the bars and make mounting anything difficult but if I owned one I would not need to mount a GPS anyway and would soon get used to the buttons.

People criticize the fuel range but I was averaging about 400km to dry and I don’t ride more than about 350km in a day so frankly the range is fine. Storage is another item people criticize but I thought was fine. Able to hold things I wanted access to like liners and my lunch cooler box and could fit all my supermarket groceries and drinks in at end of day - but I always tour with bag on rear seat not try to fit everything in side cases. Panniers are central locking and one touch release with soft opening thanks to hydraulic struts. I’d prefer to have the panniers that look integrated as these do than be sticking out bulbus like some other Bagger models and I prefer side opening to top loading.

Brakes are amazing. I wonder if they are power brake booster like older BMW’s had. With one finger I could squeeze the brakes and they would strongly engage and pulled up the big bike better than almost any other I have ridden apart from the BMW Rockster I rode on my first ride in Japan - which had power boosted brakes. Vastly better braking than my FJR1300 had.

Seat comfort is excellent. You can easy do 2-3 hours without a break. My bike had back rest fitted and this was great. Leg comfort is also good. The mid mount controls were initially bit odd but I adjusted in very short order and then it felt great, natural.

The bike I rented has highway pegs, these are totally unneeded. The mid controls already have you in a relaxed leg position, I tired the highway pegs but they were less comfortable and frankly felt ridiculous.

I think the bike looks good. Better again in matt grey or black with the red highlights on engine the 2023 model has. Mine had the screen off the Tour model. I think the bagger shorter screen would be better for Australia as this one did not flow much air when fully down and did not need to be raised (electric) as already high enough.

Despite the Gold Wing handling superbly it never gave me much of that defy gravity feeling in the corners. Maybe the weight or the wheelbase or combo of both or just not leaning the bike over as much. My FJR delivered less of the fun cornering than my current G310GS but for touring it is so vastly superior I would swap in an instant. So we have the usual dilemma with motorcycles of needing to make a compromise in one area to gain in another.

Would I buy one? That is a tough call but I am strongly considering this bike. I live a long way from the good motorcycle roads of Australia, 1500km north in the tropics so I want a mile crunching tourer and my riding for many years has been focused on mastering the slow ride and stopping at everything of interest rather than carving corners. I will still be riding ADV bikes and Naked bikes on my overseas tours so what I own in Australia will be just one aspect of my riding.

In closing I will just say the new Gold Wing is indeed very good - if you have never ridden one you really have no idea and probably will persist with some preconceived opinion and nothing I or anyone else says will change that.