The Gold
Wing has been around for well over two decades now and in 2001 the new Gold
Wing is lighter, more luxurious and a great deal more powerful than
ever before.
The new 1,832cc engine delivers 118
horsepower and 125 lb./ft of torque. The cylinders are
horizontally opposed (flat / boxer) and 6 in number.
The engine
revs freely and emits quite a nice bark through
the exhaust system.
With an aftermarket exhaust, I
reckon it would wail a bit like an Aussie six-pack Chrysler Hemi.
Two 40mm diameter
injection throttle bodies are fed from a 7 liter air box. The injectors are
Keihin high pressure units with four nozzle tips in each injector.
A little surprising is
the fact that the engine has only two valves per cylinder.
As you would expect the
engine is electronically controlled and has a built in knock sensor to help
things along when fuel quality could be questionable.
An automatic choke is
fitted and works just fine. The gearbox has 5 speeds
and works very well.
It would be nice if the shift was a little more
positive but I suppose that is the nature of the beast with touring
motorcycles.
Two side mounted
radiators are employed to help keep the whole show nice and cool and is
designed to direct hot air away from the rider.
Like a lot of us sports bike fiends I have
expressed my previous thoughts to Gold Wing riders
like, "Why don't you just buy a car?". They seldom bother
replying, as they probably get sick of silly comments from the uninformed.
After now travelling many hundreds of kilometres on Honda's flagship tourer
I can tell you here and now the Gold Wing is most definitely a motorcycle in
every sense of the word.
It handles much better than you would
imagine and is easy to change direction on.
Due to the low 'c of g' the Gold
Wing makes it easier to make changes of direction than on a hard-core sports
bike, hard to believe but true.
Of course here I am
talking about general changes of direction in traffic etc. and not slamming
from full lean angle to full lean angle. No, the Gold Wing is not a
sportsbike, and neither does it pretend to be, but I
doubt a decent pilot on the Gold Wing be left too far behind
on most roads.
The Wing accelerates off the line quick
enough to put most sports bike punters in their place from the traffic
lights.
1st gear is good for around 65kph, and if you change to 2nd quick
enough the back tire lights up with wheel spin as the prodigious torque
overcomes the amount of grip afforded by the touring rubber.
The frame is aluminium
and uses the engine as a stressed member.
The Pro
Arm single sided swing arm suspends via a single shock with over 100mm of
travel and incorporates the shaft drive system.
45mm forks are fitted up
front with a cartridge damper and have 140mm of travel.
They work quite
well for such a large touring motorcycle and gave me no reason for concern
during my time with the Gold Wing.
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