2018 Honda Gold Wing Tour vs. 2018 BMW K1600 Grand America - On Two Wheels

welcome everyone to the grand touring episode of on two wheels and welcome the competitors shall we in the one corner you've got the Honda Goldwing and it's the bike that everybody has been talking about in the category this year it was redesigned for 2018 a new engine new styling new dash it's lighter it's more fuel efficient and everybody loves it including one airy Hennig who came back from the press launch saying something like that new Goldwing is amazing but view sharper viewers who know your motorcycles are probably thinking what about that K 1600 and to that I say yeah what about BMWs K 1600 there is a 2018 model the Grand America based on the K 1600 B which means it's sort of low and swoopy and American it also has a top case which means it's ready to go head-to-head with Honda's Goldwing so to pull the whole thing together it's time for our annual road trip to Laguna Seca and I have devised what I believe is not only a great riding route but perhaps the definitive set of challenges to find out which luxury liner is best hey man yeah you just shoot the intro without me yeah yep and did you haul a wooden stool out to the middle of nowhere so yes yep all right well we're still tripping up to the guna oh yeah are we ever you're still holding on us this is gonna makes me nervous it's like he's you taking a photo as you're running video is it like is you doing snapchat you don't know I don't know [Music] seeing as we are on the opening chapter of what is bound to be a novel of a road trip and seeing as how you've got you know just the whole thing figured out as far as I can tell I assume you also have a verdict on which luxury tour is best I don't about that I assume my bikes better right because I chose it simply because you have created it with your presence simply because I have Gracie with my buttocks on the seat jokes aside let me throw some number sachet seven gallons of gas on board the K 16 it also makes a hundred and thirtysomething horse for a hundred thirty six horsepower last time we died on it which is like 30 or 40 more than a gold ring it also weighs less than a gold wing by about 30 pounds so like I'm just said why are we talking about it that's all I'm saying you are talking about it okay yeah okay but week I want to talk about as the Golding you're still looking at a flat six one thousand eight hundred end at thirty-three cc's it does have this crazy new double wishbone for an end which is made till like changed handling and move the weight forward so it's a little more sporty it's got totally new bodywork its slimmer its sleeker it is physically smaller and it's also got this totally new dash which is just beautifully modern big old TFT display and a lot less buttons than before so it's even got apple carplay like the gran kits like it does have the apple carplay so true it's got a smaller tank but the engine is more efficient so you're still looking at a whole heap of range and you're doing it in the utmost comfort like I don't know how confident would you say you are in all that fuel efficiency considering this sucker here is carrying a gal and a half more gas I mean I don't know like 200 250 miles I would imagine well here it's only fair we're gonna run out of gas when we run out of gas whoever runs out first has to buy dinner how about oh my goodness alright well we got a long day ahead of us let's get to get [Music] you'll test on Arry Henning how you feeling back there uh well you know feeling a little bit nervous I just got the old low fuel light on and my range is down to 40 miles so now you look at Zach I'm at 64 miles of range so you know this is sort of like the scuba dive with sharks thing you don't have to swim faster than the shark you just got to swim faster than your buddy right [Music] it's nothing out here there are no gasoline stations a lot of solar panels no gas station Tesla has not come out with a motorcycle yet [Music] well when the fuel light went on I had about 40 miles of range that's probably about a gallon or so but by raids just went to three dashes which means the old Goldwing computer can't calculate it so might be running out a few Mis might have 10 miles to go nobody knows playing that fun Russian roulette run out of gas game it is very anxiety-provoking to have your fuel gauge just blinking empty at you like it's really just a shitty feeling just wait for the engine to start start stalling and hesitating and missing typically a motorcycle when the fuel light comes on there's a gallon left right and this thing probably gets like 45 miles per gallon there's five and a half I mean if I got 40 I'd be out of gas already we're gonna find out look up starting to miss I feel it oh no oh no oh no two hundred sixty six point one miles yeah she's dead man I mean the throttle is just doing nothing he's still going or he used to pull off this ain't over this ain't over I still got momentum I am in neutral I am stacking those tenths of a mile I'm taking everything I can get uh I've lost my range and I lost my marbles all right call it quits it actually he's out of gas finally but not bad I'm just glad it's over with I could not deal with the anxiety it's been like 20 miles it's just been like ah ah so I'm just glad it's over 267 miles folks on five and a half gallons of gasoline like that's some high level math but it's about 50 miles per gallon not too shabby yeah that's not bad that's that's not bad at all we have to say we would not recommend that you assume 267 or 270 miles is what you're gonna get out of your gold wing because otherwise you end up on the side of the road I would like to say K 16 proven a valid competitor in this class that the gold wing has it made such a splash in right I mean it puts a big old check across the box of a very important list item which is generous range like that's what you need for a luxury tour so yeah so just pull the bottle out of your tail trunk and pour little gas in and we'll go down the road good set me up huh I'm assuming you put it in there cuz I sure as hell didn't know I'm kidding I didn't put a gas can in there I assumed you did thought I was that prepared [Music] [Music] that challenge is really stressful I'd not like it well we did run the bike all the way out of gas though which is not something that people normally do so I think was pretty good experiments not intentionally yeah well anyway arrey handing is not gonna like the next challenge either because it has to do with the Goldwings luggage right we're on week don't shy as we know the gold wing is slimmer for 2018 one of the ways they made it leaner is to take the luggage capacity from 150 liters down to 110 lots of people have been complaining about that which brings up an interesting point what the heck is a leader anyway some European heads a thousand oh okay right yeah anyway what we need is a standard unit of measurement that's recognizable and understandable to people don't be test luggage competitors are a little big so what I have arranged for is the use of the standard stuffed American gecko so challenge number two how many of these suckers can you get in your luggage go [Music] all these little arms and legs I'm going for 60 this is 80 geckos in my top case and it's dicey yeah look at the way this closes that last little bit all right final gecko count 176 for the Goldwing 198 for the case 1622 gecko difference not insignificant yeah no big deal okay sixteen taking home really the saddlebags were made the biggest difference on the K 1600 however to full face helmets will not fit in the top case of the gold wing which technically held more geckos so and it's kind of a big deal presumably if you've got one of these bikes you're gonna be riding with a passenger you're gonna want to put two lids in your top case so not been able to do it kind of sucks big surprise AK set me up for failure well I am fed up with stuffing geckos and I am fed up with your silly tests so I would very much like to simply ride these motorcycles preferably on some twisty roads yeah we knew this was gonna happen and he's right it's time to ride we have a nice route planned out and it starts right now [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is what riding motorcycles through California is all about finding these little roads like this and the bikes are not doing so bad agreed they're doing great and that's kind of why people have always liked the Goldwing it's like its size belies its ability to rip through corners it's just a very graceful stable motorcycle yeah quite a bit more stable we have found then the K 16 the K 16 is shorter the wheelbase is what three or four inches short or something like that inches shorter yeah and it just is much lighter on its feet which is good but it is also less stable than the Goldwing Goulding's got that big flat car tire on the back - yeah you wouldn't know it by looking at it but it does change direction pretty easily and I don't know I mean you've got a bike where you basically just leave it in one gear and it's got a hundred foot-pounds of torque literally at idle and you just roll the gas open it's like a steamship just cruising forward yep it's pretty rad the K 16 definitely feels a little bit sporty er a little bit lighter a little bit more agile I mean that motor has just got so much more pizazz to it right like yeah we did a roll on earlier today and you just walked away from you it's embarrassing but the bottom line is we are damn well impressed with these bikes on this road and they're I mean sort of spaceships when it comes to handling the chassis is a really well thought out and really heavily designed and they have all kinds of whiz bangs and gizmos that make him go through corners a lot better and I would be willing to bet that on account of my longer wheelbase and weight and suspension calibration that I have got the cushy er more comfortable ride oh really well to that I say how confident are you that you have the more plush push your ride it makes me a little nervous with your line of questioning but I'm very confident oh well good that's very good you've lost your marbles and that brings us to test number three for the day I don't know what you got cooked up here but I do not like the cocktail you're mixing alcohol Mike's not happening I'm back relax max we're not drinking and riding when you're not condone that on two wheels which is why this is unfermented non-alcoholic grape juice sorry judge you pretty harshly all right the point is if we've learned one thing from late night television it's that you can determine how comfortable something is by how much purple liquid spills oh so it's like one of those crappy mattress commercials the lady in the neck down jumping next to the glass of wine what we have here is a bumpy twisty road that goes from here down to the Pacific Ocean these will be our passengers whoever gets to the water with the most purple liquid in their glass is crowned the Comfort King I like it so anything weird about riding we're riding totally normal no brake check please stuff okay but normal normal speed all right speed yeah you promise no don't you do it you're funny stuff no funny business of your of the Goulding seat your mounting spots the legendary throne all right ready to gently roll down to the Pacific Ocean with all of my grip cheese intact you know how sometimes we have ideas on the show where we think it's awesome and then right before you start doing it well something's going away it's time to get this splash fest on the road you ready to roll I think so carefully yeah she goes oh my god whoo okay car it's cool we knew we were in wait anyway all righty oh man your your wine glass is dead Oh a little splash there already oh my gosh so we gotta keep our eyes on the road and kind of I don't think it takes much to get a splash did you adjust your suspension to cruise I did I have my a suspension in cruise I have my preload still kind of high oh that's okay I'm new agenda good now I can't hear can i I know I can only do it when I'm stops I should have softened it up I think I feel boy stur on my back [Laughter] I feel extremely nervous this is the second time today I felt anxious the second challenge you put me through that's make up a heart race my challenges are a little bit dumb ooh that was a little bumpy definitely smell grape shoes it's getting dark quickly yeah we're losing light but man this is so gorgeous look at that just total exposure holy crap that's pretty Wow good lord what are you made out of California speed it up speed it up airy heading you speed it up now I'm worried I'm gonna get to the bottom of the hill and it's just gonna look like a murder scene to the back of my bike just just blood everywhere hold my pearl white paint just grape blood all over your lovely shag sparkle white paint wine glass is intact but not for long okay okay okay okay okay okay there it is clear back clear forward gently not yet gently now yeah all right all right moment of truth I haven't looked back hey I mean there's a lot of spillage but there are two intact wine glasses with yours there's a lot in it that's right it's kind of hard to tell I mean it's pretty obvious who has more the more comfortable to smooth the road you're right oh oh we're stuck together they just gaff tape well Cheers oh well you earned it that's right to the to the Goldwing suspension yeah it's grape juice it's not wine just just throwing that out there ah okay well that their son has dips beyond the mountain to be on the ocean that means the day has come to an end we still got to get up to Monterey we do I'd like to get some rest because I can only assume that there's going to be a final challenge and it's probably gonna be a doozy revenge is what he means revenge for this blasphemy [Music] so we have tested the fuel range of these motorcycles we've tested the luggage capacity we have tested the ride quality with a very scientific method thank you so now it is time for the final showdown at Laguna Seca it doesn't make a ton of sense to ride touring bikes around a racetrack to test chassis performance and engine performance and braking performance unless there's a passenger on the back well if you do it got a terrible feeling about this and the reason that he has a terrible feeling about this is that the only two people stupid enough to ride on the back of our machines as we go around the racetrack are standing right in front of you so final showdown k-16 versus Goldwing two up lap time challenge [Music] put your map view on so you can see we're going buddy it'll tell you turn-by-turn directions around like in a second you view map it doesn't look like it knows where we are it looks like you're in the middle of a park which is gonna say kiss okay yeah we got suspension stiff damping stiff we got ride mode dynamic full oh it's a vicious sounding really for this my friend I think so I don't know so we're going on go on go three two one go [Music] we're a break bake bake bake cakes next turn - oh there's our first hard part oh my gosh I'm sweating bullets already man no and let this thing eat yeah nice slide all right you out on the paint on the paint got to do it on the paint get that MotoGP stick you pay gets up [Music] 7,500 rpm oh the braking is the scariest part definitely the scariest part definitely oh yeah I'm liking this got this we got this we got this [Music] corkscrew top of the corkscrew diving it in oh my gosh about to drop three stories 122 this world superbike would have already been at the finish line alright I get it I get it oh goodness oh goodness oh goodness oh man let's go oh my God will kill that's cool oh man this is violent all right 11 [Music] oh I'm glad that's over with it's my face like totally lacking color because that was terrifying like you smell this brakes I know it smells like brakes and oil - oh four seven eight all right your turn to be your turn to your leathers yeah okay okay on we go did you check the girl from the other side Mattia life's a curry Oh ready for the quickest most comfortable lap you've ever taken I'm gonna be honest when I had this idea I need my little floorboard down my fat cankles not when you had this idea you didn't consider that you two would have to ride passenger right I actually considered that a lot less it was more like I was thinking about riding around with you on the back and yeah how would you thought it would be to terrify me well guess what sucker now it's my turn it's pretty scared already okay count me down big boy three two one go it's so smooth right it's buttery smooth oh you're missing baby pics already oh my god that's a lot that's a lot of oh using that paint like a pro MotoGP style he always oh my god haha okay yep yep just a little noise don't worry Oh is there a turn coming up oh my god ter Boyd goes down oh it was more or less than you think plastic and metal you got that Starbucks ready I got the stopwatch ready oh really yep okay here we go coming to the line you feel very alive right now I feel very alive are you grateful to be alive that's a really bad idea one of the more wild ideas I mean that is some of the scariest one can experience oh good who shall we look at the scoreboard I guess it's time to look at the scoreboard now that our Bloods really pumping pretty giddy on that top step come on as it turns out K 1600 Grand America faster around a racetrack that a gold wing whoopee new 205 for the Beemer versus two 15 for the goal wing 204 7 whatever thank you very much chilly test I will say the gold wing does have lovely passenger accommodations nice big floorboards arm rests that the case kind of the point of the gold it comes first the Honda the k-16 does have a bingen sea heater and does have better grab handles when your friend is barreling into turn two on the brakes well yeah it doesn't have armrests and then it's got regular foot pegs instead of floorboards which are really nice but if I was in the market for a luxury tour I would still buy a gold wing you would yep I think it's just a gentler smoother and more graceful machine it's more comfortable for me more graceful Wow very graceful I would get a K 16 I would but I might get the GTL instead of the Grand America for the legroom I don't need the seat to be so low so a jury's still out the jury still out luxury tour we would get so what I would call you guys check back and I don't know like 15 years before yeah yeah 20 or 30 yeah we're still y'all yeah they're still yeah I like to think so anyway in the meantime that's it for this episode of on two wheels thank you guys so much for watching please comment below please subscribe and we will see you on the next ride intro of middle of nowhere hot is shirtless boys or where what about cases ready what better way to tent it squares move and why what about cases damn it so from top at this point booyah little bit Vindi I'm going to put up my VIN screen so it's made for the Autobahn you got a switch I didn't see look at that better ride I mean I don't want one with their Christmas display so what's it like to work at a motorcycle magazine well you stand around a lot and then you get to play with plush toys get in there tight corner let's get doc LED headlights are starting to blaze there's great blood all over my bike that clap that collar hey Jerry can you hear me Eric Kim you Harvick are oh hello there we go I mean with me on board you're looking at over a thousand pound batting of a single truck [Laughter] [Music] engineering man to be pretty interesting you know it's not interesting is how can slow these people on a Mustang convertible are going down this road they're tourists they're trying to enjoy the scenery probably from the Netherlands indeed zel Europeans that they have so much fake ation that might be nice hey what else could we talk about all right I think we should come

Channel: Motorcyclist Magazine

Views: 782,057

Rating: 4.8465557 out of 5

Keywords: on two wheels, motorcycle, review, comparison, honda, gold wing, goldwing, tour, bmw, k1600, k1600b, grand america, ari henning, zack courts, motorcyclists, laguna seca, road trip, california, geico

Id: d0hv0NEvXWI

Length: 27min 31sec (1651 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 27 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/wilb0b]

sales person slaps the saddle bags "this baby can fit so many fucking geckos!"

[u/nitroracertc3]

Seems pointless to test lap times with different riders.

[u/Cpl_DreamSmasher]

Big girls need braps too.