Honda Gold Wing Motorcycles

The original was too heavy (647 pounds fully fueled) and too slow (80 horsepower) to be a performance bike, and it was too big (60.5” wheelbase) to be considered a standard. Honda billed it as a “do-it-all” bike, but by the end of 1975, Honda Gold Wing owners understood exactly what the bike was meant for – comfortable long-distance riding.

What set the Honda Gold Wing apart from other motorcycles was its liquid-cooled, flat four-cylinder engine and shaft drive, the smoothest, most efficient engine to ever power a motorcycle. Launched without a fairing or luggage, Honda Gold Wing owners themselves began to define what the evolution of the bike would be by affixing Vetter Windjammer fairings to their ’Wings. Honda noted this commonplace addition and in 1980 produced the GL1100 Gold Wing in both standard and fully-faired versions.

The 1980 Honda Gold Wing Interstate was the first motorcycle to feature a fully integrated color-matched fairing and luggage, along with a longer wheelbase, electronic ignition, increased fuel capacity, and lighter weight. Also for the first time, an optional stereo-intercom system. On May 1, 1980, Honda opened its $50 million, 260,000 square-foot USA production facility in Marysville, Ohio, to produce Gold Wings.

Two years later the luxurious Honda Gold Wing Aspencade (named after a popular GW rally) was launched with a long list of standard equipment including an on-board air-compressor for adjusting its suspension. Beginning its role as a showcase for fresh Honda tech, in 1983 the GL1100 debuted unified braking and Honda's advanced Torque Reactive Anti-Dive Control braking system (TRAC).

In 1988, the Gold Wing’s flat-Four boxer engine grew two more cylinders to become the all-new flat-Six GL1500, an engine architecture it’s stuck with ever since. The new 1520 cc engine was smoother and more powerful than ever, the new bike also brought an improved transmission, increased fuel capacity, a stiffer chassis, improved brakes, and comprehensive fairing. Also helping move the large Gold Wing was another motorcycling first – an electrically-operated reverse gear. The GL1500 Honda Gold Wing enjoyed a 13-year run, with various upgrades along the way, and halfway through that run, in 1996, the Marysville plant turned out its one millionth ’Wing.

2001, the year of the Space Odyssey, brings a thoroughly redesigned GL1800, now with a fuel-injected boxer Six displacing 1832 cc. There’s a stiff new racing-inspired aluminum beam frame, optional ABS braking – and 20 patents for technological innovations. This Gold Wing enjoyed a 17-year run, updating along the year’s with such features as in-dash GPS in 2006, a heated seat and handgrips, and a GL1800 with the world's first motorcycle airbag, also in 2006. In 2009, Gold Wing production was moved from the Marysville, Ohio, plant back to Japan, but Honda still produces cars in Marysville, as it has done ever since it built its first Accord in 1982.

This is the 2018 Gold Wing, which does not have a trunk like the Gold Wing Tour does. It’s still an awesome touring bike, but it’s also a bagger, just what all the hep cats want.

In 2018, Honda semi-reversed the direction the Gold Wing had been travelling these last 43 years. While it had grown ever-larger and heavier with the passing of time and begun to be perceived as a motorcycle for, ahem, mature riders, for 2018 the new Gold Wing and Gold Wing Tour got seriously downsized and up-sported. The new bike lost something like 80 pounds while gaining power and fuel efficiency via an all-new 24-valve boxer-Six with Unicam SOHC heads derived from Honda’s MX bikes.

Front fork tubes were replaced by a double-wishbone suspension, which Honda claims transfers 30% less bumps to the grips. A 40% reduction in inertial mass also translates into easier steering, and the newfound ability to move the front wheel closer to the engine led directly to the best, most confident-handling Gold Wing ever by far – not that any of them were ever not surprisingly sporty.

Throw in upgraded electronics, an available 7-speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) for completely clutchless shifting, and the latest, 6th-generation Gold Wing takes up right where the first touring ’Wing started out 45 years ago, at the top of the touring bike class.