Appeared on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's multiple news platforms in September 2018. The Post-Gazette's site is paywall activated and imposes a limit of free stories per month. This is the story as published. It can also be found on the Post-Gazette's site here.

 

 

BY ANTHONY CONROY

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Come to think of it, that would be perfect. What better way to put Honda's flagship touring motorcycle through its paces than to begin our test on the highway?

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And the fact that my motorcycling experience consists mainly of sportbikes, nakeds and a handful of cruisers, a nice freeway jaunt aboard the Honda mothership would be good for both of us.

A trial by fire of man and machine (but mostly man).

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But first ... starting the thing.

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Every motorcycle rider knows the routine: Side stand up, pull in the clutch, hit the starter button and voila!

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Except on this Gold Wing, there's no clutch lever. Or gear shifter.

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This specific model — the $27,700 GL1800D or Gold Wing Tour DCT — features Honda's automatic Dual-Clutch Transmission, which means the bike is an automatic but can be paddle-shifted manually.

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Kind of like an 830-pound, six-cylinder scooter — only with a radio, GPS, heated seats and grips and electronic suspension that can be optimized to four different preload settings.

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But back to the transmission. Honestly, having never ridden an automatic motorcycle, I was apprehensive. The shifting is no different than in your car. Just wait for the next gear to engage. But when approaching my first few stops after taking delivery of the bike, my brain had a difficult time trying to figure out how to slow down without my left hand and foot doing something. 

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Soon, however, it became effortless. So simple, in fact, that after hopping back onto my own motorcycle, I had to figure out what to do with my left hand and foot again.

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Once the initial confusion abated, it was on to the highway, where the transmission — and the ride — was buttery smooth. On the highway in seventh gear, the Gold Wing found its sweet spot around 80 mph. No buzz. No buffeting, either, thanks to the electronically controlled windscreen. Even city commuting was a breeze. And rush-hour traffic? No sweat when you don’t have to pull in the clutch every two feet.

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Honda’s engineers also endowed the Gold Wing with an amazingly balanced center-of-gravity, which made moving slowly — whether in a turn or in traffic — stable. And while it seems counter-intuitive for a bike weighing close to a half ton, the feeling while sitting in the Gold Wing’s saddle is, well, light.

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Actually, the only time the rider really feels the Gold Wing’s weight is when it’s parked and needs to be inched around — when backing out of a spot at the local grocery store, for instance. 

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Once again, Honda’s engineers found a solution: a forward/reverse walking gear. A simple press of a button activates the gear, and paddles for the left thumb and index fingers do the work of assisting the rider while pushing forward or backward.

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Pittsburghers will note that the Gold Wing also has a hill-assist feature. For a few seconds, the Honda will hold itself firmly in place while the rider goes from front brake to throttle. Maybe it’s just a habit, but I had no problem using the foot brake just like I would on any other motorcycle.

On the move, the Gold Wing has several ride modes — sport, touring, economy and rain — with each having a direct effect on throttle response and engine braking.

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Sport mode, of course, is the most aggressive — keeping revs up while on the throttle and adding the most engine braking during deceleration. Rain mode had the softest response. Depending on where I was, and how much traffic was around, I mostly stayed in sport or touring modes. Regardless of mode, power delivery was always linear and predictable, with no surprises or even twitchiness at low RPMs.

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While the seven-speed transmission was seamless during acceleration, I did find it to be a little eager when decelerating, especially when the gearbox progressed from fourth to first gear. On a few occasions, the bike lunged forward ever-so-slightly as the next-lowest gear engaged, whether during braking or coasting. On a few occasions, it became most noticeable while trail braking, as the bike lunged forward while I was already leaned into the turn.

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This was the biggest issue I had with the Gold Wing. Other complaints included the storage areas toward the front of the bike. The spaces are small — basically large enough to hold a set of keys, a cell phone and maybe a wallet — but that’s not the issue. The plastic covers seemed a little cheap and already were showing some uneven gaps in the few weeks I had it. For the price, I would expect something a little more solid.

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Some of that money is going to the electronics — ABS and traction control are standard. For a few hundred dollars more, the Gold Wing comes with a factory-installed airbag system.

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Another pot of cash went into the development of the Wing’s front suspension, a double wishbone system. Unlike motorcycles with telescopic forks, the Gold Wing does not dive under braking. This was most noticeable while braking on Pittsburgh’s many hills. Going at a brisk pace down Sycamore Street on Mt. Washington, there was no extra weight on the front wheel trail braking into the hairpins, providing solid traction and a nice boost of confidence.

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The model we tested comes in three colors: candy ardent red, pearl white and pearl hawkseye blue. Ours came with the latter. On the Gold Wing Tour DCT, the bike comes standard with two large saddlebags and a 50-liter cargo trunk for extra storage —it easily accommodated a full-face helmet, a fully loaded backpack, riding gloves and a laptop.

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Amenities also included the walking forward/reverse gear, heated grips and heated seats for the rider and passenger. We didn’t test the heated features, as it was mostly in the 90s during our time with the bike, but we have no doubt about their functionality, as Gold Wing owners have attested to their reliability for years.

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All in all, our experience with the Gold Wing was exceptional. It’s clear Honda wants to go the extra mile to please its customers. And on a rig bred for the highway, every mile is ridden with pleasure.