The touring bike that makes highway miles feel easy

Motorcycling is freedom. You become part of the landscape and experience everything it has to offer. Unfortunately, this means you’ll feel hot, cold and wet when those are the prevailing conditions. Meet the touring motorcycle, a solution to all your problems while covering great distances quickly.

With a country as big as the US, you need a touring bike that can ride the superslab all day without getting tired or tiring the rider out. That’s what the big American tourers are made for. Then the rest of the world took notice and came up with their own interpretations. Now there’s one that’s the default choice for most. This is the touring bike that makes highway miles feel easy.

The Honda Gold Wing Tour DCT is the touring bike that makes highway miles feel easy

The Gold Wing Tour is one of America’s darlings when it comes to the automotive world. It was designed with this country in mind, and it’s so well designed that Americans can choose it over American tourers time and time again. With its powerful yet torquey engine that also happens to be one of the smoothest powerplants on the market, it’s no wonder this is the tourer that makes highway miles easy. The Gold Wing Tour DCT costs almost $30,000, which is common in this segment. It has pretty much everything you need, but if you opt for the six-speed manual you can get $1,000 off the price.

The world’s only engine of its kind (sort of)

The Gold Wing’s longitudinal flat six did not always have six cylinders, but the layout was always the same. The horizontally opposed configuration was chosen to lower the center of gravity and shorten its length. This engine is one of the smoothest you will experience – and you will only experience that in the Gold Wing. This engine has a cylinder capacity of 1,833 cc and the bore and stroke are the same at 73 mm. It has a relatively high compression ratio of 10.5:1.

The current generation is the first to have four valves per cylinder, and Honda’s patented Unicam SOHC head keeps it narrower than it would have been with a traditional DOHC setup. The result is almost 125 horsepower at 5,500 rpm, and just over 125 pound-feet at 4,500 rpm. It’s tempered by a by-wire throttle with riding modes and a six-axis IMU that allows traction control in corners. Cruise control is of course present.

A unique DCT with seven gears

The DCT is well-known technology. But it is placed lengthwise and has seven speeds here. It also has a reverse gear to help the rider reverse the Gold Wing into a parking lot. The rider also has manual control over the gear changes if necessary – although in reality that won’t be the case as this gearbox is intelligent and changes the shift points depending on how hard the rider is driving the Gold Wing. Honda has opted for a drive shaft to transfer the power to the handlebars, meaning no maintenance is required while driving!

Big changes for this generation of chassis

Like the major four-valve change to the engine, this generation of Gold Wing also saw some major changes to the chassis. This is a double-spar aluminum frame that uses the engine as a stressed member. The front suspension was radically changed for this generation with a double wishbone setup replacing the telescopic forks.

This allowed the engine to be positioned further forward in the chassis, improving weight distribution and reducing the rider’s reach to the handlebars. The rear suspension is a single-sided swingarm with a single Pro-Link shock absorber suspending it. As a premium touring car, it has electronic rear preload adjustment and the damping automatically adjusts itself.

The front wheel (18 inches) has a larger diameter than the rear wheel (16 inches) and the brakes follow suit. Twin 320mm discs are paired with six-piston fixed calipers and sintered brake pads at the front, while at the rear a 316mm disc and three-piston floating caliper of the same size as the front wheels are used. The brakes are linked and provide ABS when cornering.

Long and low – just as Honda wrote it

This is a 103-inch long motorcycle with a 67-inch wheelbase, so yeah, it’s definitely not small. The wheelbase is slightly shorter than the previous generation, which makes maneuvering slightly easier. The seat height is just over 29 centimeters. Curb weight is 847 pounds wet for the automatic, which is fantastic for the class considering the engine. A 5.5-gallon fuel tank is large enough for decent fueling action, thanks to the efficient gearbox.

A list of features that reads like a wishlist

A 7-inch TFT screen takes center stage – literally – flanked by old-fashioned analogue dials for speed and rpm. And on either side of these dials (and on the underside of the tachograph) there are also inverted LCD screens. It may sound messy, but it is logically organized and on the go you have all the information you need at a glance. The Gold Wing offers wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, but unlike the Africa Twin, the TFT is not a touchscreen.

There are a number of buttons on the tank and the handlebars for the various functions. The audio system is standard and adjusts volume with speed. The navigation system even works in tunnels. Other standard features include heated grips and seats, individual temperature controls for the driver and passenger seats, electronic opening and remote luggage locking, keyless ignition, all-LED lighting and self-off indicators.

The options list is not long. That is not necessary, given the number of items that are standard on the Gold Wing. However, it has one of the most interesting options lists. It includes the world’s only motorcycle airbag, a CB radio and a ‘Homelink’ button that can be configured to open your garage door remotely.

Honda Gold Wing Tour DCT Competition

There is no shortage of competition for a full-dress tourer like the Gold Wing. Then let’s work our way to whatever comes closest. The Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager ($20,199) is Japan’s only other full-dress tourer on sale today. It hasn’t been updated in a long time, so it’s for those on a budget. The BMW R 18 Transcontinental ($24,395) is more affordable than the other options in the segment, but doesn’t quite meet customer expectations.

The Americans have some incredibly strong candidates. The Harley-Davidson Street Glide Ultra ($30,749) is an icon and is really good as a product. It is also a standard choice for many people looking for a full-dress tourer. However, it is quite pricey. The Indian Roadmaster PowerPlus ($32,499) is priced even higher, although it has an immense list.

It seems strange to say this, but the German option seems to be the reasonably priced option here. The BMW K 1600 GTL has a base price similar to the Gold Wing and likes to be driven hard, so it will certainly be a great highway companion. It also gets brownie points for being the only other production motorcycle today with a six-cylinder engine.

Honda Gold Wing Tour DCT vs BMW K 1600 GTL

Source: Honda Powersports