So You Want a Honda Goldwing... (Ultimate Long Distance Bike)

are you a dad are you worried that your glory days are behind you is your midlife crisis drawing you to the wonderful world of motorcycling well then you're probably looking at two different kinds of bikes either a gigantic adv bike like the bmw r1250gs or a touring bike like the gold wing since we already know that the gs for ewan mcgregor wannabes let's take a look at the gold wing this has been honda's golden goose since 1975 and given dads pass their prime something to live for okay yeah we know the gold wing is the end-all be-all of dad bikes you say also i'm a 20-something wannabe street rossi the only thing i care about is r3 versus ninja 400. well my myopic little squid there's a lot of different bikes out there you should check them out but let's be honest everyone on two wheels knows about the gold wing not only that but the gold wing is so prolific that microsoft word automatically capitalizes it you know you're a big deal when even windows knows about you not to mention shade tree surgeon is cornering the market on ye old g-wing content with not one but two separate gold wings talk about a dude with some exotic taste so let's take some time and break down one of the biggest motorcycle models ever made there's a lot to cover when it comes to the gold wing so let's jump straight in in 1972 the big brain evil geniuses at honda started a secret project called m1 it was a bike based on the cb750 but with a longitudinal 1470cc flat 6 crammed into it it was putting down 80 horsepower and could top out at 140 miles per hour yeah it doesn't sound like a lot nowadays but this was back when the bonneville was still contending and topping podiums at the isle of man once they figured out how to make it work they moved on to project 371 which locked two cylinders off the bike and made it a little more ridable this would go on to be the gl1000 the first gold wing the gl 1000 had a 999cc flat 4 putting down 80 horsepower and 63 foot-pounds of torque weighing in at 584 pounds dry so call it 630 pounds in running order in its first year honda sold 13 000 gold wings in the us alone the gen 1 ran until 1979 with a bunch of little changes here and there like bigger carbs better breaks and a limited version with some extra doodads like saddlebags the second generation saw a jump to 1085 ccs with a little more power but it was a little outgunned by bikes like the suzuki gs1000 and the kawasaki z1300 this was the first model of goldwing to get the aspen cade version it was the full dresser variant with a massive fairing saddlebags top box lcd instrument panel and other goodies the third gen released in 1983 was then things started to really get good they bumped the displacement up to 1182 ccs making 94 horse and 84 foot-pounds of torque and by the way you can use foot-pounds and pound-feet interchangeably because math one of the problems with previous model year gold wings is that they were just kind of a pain in the butt to work on so rather than making them simpler to fix honda just made it so that they broke less often they added hydraulic tappets to their valves which helped keep the valves in spec basically forever and since it was carbureted if you had the right jets and gas in the bike it would just keep on trucking the bike weighed in exactly one beached whale with the aspen k tipping the scales at 728 pounds dry between oil and almost six gallon gas tank and the big gulp in the cup holder you're talking close to 800 pounds before rider weight in order to make the bike steer a bit easier they reduced the size of rear tire which helped a bit but something tells me if you're out there looking to yourself a 1980s gold wing you're not looking to set any lap records if you splurge for the top of the line aspen cade you got a panasonic audio system with am fm radio a cassette player and a built-in intercom for rider and passenger again you might be laughing at this now but back in the day this was spaceship level stuff also fun fact this is the bike that shade tree picked up not too long ago you guys should definitely go check out his videos i'm gonna gloss over gen four and five so if you wanted the skinny you best pay attention gen four ran from 87 to 2000 and saw a bump to 1520 ccs and 2 more cylinders the flat 6 gold wing was also the first one to break 100 horsepower it was still carved and it looked like this oh and it had an electronic reverse pretty handy if you parked this behemoth on a hill gen 5 was the first fuel-injected gold wing if you don't count the limited edition gen 3 which we're not this one saw another bump in displacement to 1832 ccs and 118 horsepower with 123 foot-pounds it was the first gold wing to feature abs pretty handy if you needed to stop this barge on a dime you'd still miss the dime but hey you wouldn't tuck the front so there's a silver lining and everything lastly this was the first generation of goldwing to be offered with an optional airbag just in case you wanted a motorcycle to be even more like a car as a sister bike to the gold wing honda released the valkyrie in 1997 which was a muscle cruiser looking bike with more aggressive cams and a freer flowing exhaust to increase performance they landed like an eggy fart in a full elevator but it has a full cult following they tried again in 2003 with the rune which is what you get when you ask hot wheels toy car designer to make the next gold wing finally we've reached the pinnacle of touring dad blank life with the 6th gen gold wing this is the model that you'll see in showrooms today it's packing an 1832 cc flat six putting down 125 horse and 125 foot pounds of torque balanced like all things should be it's got a seven speed gearbox with six forward gears and one reverse shaft drive and a staggering 928 pounds wet and ready to ride what's crazy is they had to work some suspension wizardry to make the bike rideable with double wishbone system where you turn the handlebars you actually turn a pair of steering arms which then turn the forks and not only that but the suspension up front is a single shock buried under a million layers of plastic but again who cares about corner carving abilities on a gold wing you're here for the features it's got a giant infotainment system up front with more buttons and gizmos than an f-18 fighter jet we're talking rider modes traction control navigation adjustable windscreen bluetooth fancy speakers and the works i'm pretty sure that if you punch in the konami code on the dashboard the bike will literally take off and just fly away on its own you've got the standard gold wing for 23 900 which doesn't have a top box and passenger backrest and the g-wing tour for 28 300 which is fully decked out with all the passenger accommodations if you're so inclined you can get the golden the dct system which normally i would be against but in this segment i think it makes a lot of sense so clearly the gold wing is the gold standard in touring motorcycles but is anyone actually brave enough to challenge this mighty steed actually yeah there's a lot as it turns out there's lots of manufacturers that want a bite of that sweet sweet boomer pension retirement money bmw has their k1600 line which is the gt and the gtl which are more sport touring oriented and the b and the grand america which look an awful lot like the gold wing and the gold wing tour it's powered by a 1649 cc in line 6 putting down 160 horsepower and 129 foot-pounds of torque 70 of which is available at 1 500 rpm it's got all the touring features you'd expect abs cruise control heated seats and so on but it's also got dynamic electronic suspension adjustment to smooth out your ride on the fly what's interesting is that bmw really wants you to think of the 1600b as a bagger which is a little odd to me when i think bagram i might automatically jump straight to indians and harleys with big air cooled engines that make a lot of noise not these sedans on two wheels i guess in that sense the gold wing is a bagger as well but i somehow don't think i'll be seeing a patched up one percenter on a gold wing outside of coyote ugly any time soon the k1600b will run you a cool 23 195 and the grand america is 26 295. for the extra money you'll get a bluetooth audio system engine protection just in case you want to chuck it down a trail a taller windscreen and a top box now if you're debating between the beamers or the hondas don't forget that not only will a bmw require you to wear a one-piece highlighter yellow banana suit or it won't run but you'll also need to take it to that one bmw shop in town for every little thing no one does their own maintenance on a bmw they just load it up in a trailer and take it in every few months for an oil change don't be a bmw guy get the honda if you want to stay in the big four yamaha will sell you either the star eluder for 22 499 or the star venture for 26999 and if you're wondering if those are the same bike but one has a top box and a taller windscreen you'd be right you get a cookie it's coming in the mail right now it should arrive between tomorrow at 10 a.m and friday but however the gold wing and the star line has a big old 1845cc air-cooled v-twin putting down 126 foot-pounds of torque it's got a depleted uranium frame lead line saddle bags and rims forged in the heart of a dying star at least i think it does otherwise i'm not sure how they managed to make it weigh over 950 pounds now while its engine might not be as sophisticated as the gold wings you do get ride by wire with cruise control traction control and two power modes the venture model has a seven inch touch screen to allow you to scroll through the settings interact with your phone via bluetooth and all sorts of car-like distractions that you really don't need when you're riding a motorcycle the starbucks are cool but if you're going for a v-twin competitor to the gold wing you might as well just get a harley speaking of which the harley road glide is probably the only competitor on this list that can match the gold wings in terms of sheer icon status the road glide is basically the king dick harley and while the indian challenger is a better bike it just doesn't have the curb appeal of a blacked out road glide it's a classic an icon for a reason you don't get the top box on this one but it is cheaper at 21 699 bucks which is not something i'd ever thought i'd be saying about it harley but then again the panamerica exists so who the hell knows you get an infotainment system speakers cornering abs traction control drag torque control which is basically a slipper clutch and hill hold it's a little smaller than a gold wing with only 1753 ccs and 111 foot pounds of torque but you do get that authentic harley experience and while this is a subjective point it is nice to see a lot of metal on the bike the honda is lighter at 787 to the harley's 855 but since the bike's not meant to carve up a corner i'd rather it be heavy and metal than light and plasticy you have to co-sign on being a harley owner but the road glide is probably the most common alternative the goldwing out there and it has a cult following for a reason so if you've made the decision to eschew the leather daddy lifestyle and the high vis nerd bmw lifestyles and get a gold wing what are some of the common problems you might encounter none it is a gold wing you literally cannot kill it people complain about phantom clutch levers on the dct version where they reach for the clutch out of habit or that some of the internal areas are hard to get to do a need to service the bike but otherwise gold wings are essentially immortal and you'll probably pass them down to your grandkids if you want to ride to the horizon and back there's literally no bike better on the market the goldwi is an icon for a reason fact the number four is the only number with the same number of letters as the meaning of its name goodbye you've made it to the end of a yami noob 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Channel: Yammie Noob

Views: 128,704

Rating: 4.8385906 out of 5

Keywords: motorcycles, yammie noob, new rider, newbie, motorcycles for beginners, yammie noob beginner bikes, yammie noob beginner, riding on the highway, honda goldwing, honda goldwing 2021, honda goldwing 2021 review, honda goldwing history, harley road glide, bmw k1600, bmw k1600b, bmw k1600 grand america, bmw k1600gtl, harley, harley bagger, yamaha star venture, yamaha star eluder, yamaha star eluder vs honda goldwing, yamaha star eluder vs road glide, goldwing vs harley davidson

Id: DJfMRxsGfa4

Length: 11min 20sec (680 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 29 2021