Honda Goldwing Review

Overall Rating

About the most comfortable mile eater money can buy.

Big and very heavy - don't drop it!

I owned a Honda Goldwing a few years ago it was an 1100cc model on a V plate (1979) I was at a time in my life when I believed (wrongly) that I'd grown out of sports bikes and needed something comfortable with which to tour on. I naturally went out an bought a 'wing' or 'Lead sled', or 'Aspencrate' or 'flying mattress' - there are so many nicknames for this enormously heavy mile cruncher which since it's introduction back in the mid seventies has grown bigger and fatter (like me) as the years went by; what started as a 1000cc 4 cylinder machine has ended up today at nearly twice the capacity and currently stands at 1800cc with 6 cylinders. This new 21st century monster is just short of 18k to buy and has just about every luxury you could think of and will take you wherever you wish to go be it Tesco's round the corner or around the world if you're the adventurous type. The original bike was designed to take you a long way in relative comfort (compared to other large capacity machines of the day) and there really wasn't anything like it on the road back then. Never enormously powerful but always possessing adequate power to be able to cruise comfortably for as many miles as you needed to and being a Honda was remarkably reliable too. A thirsty beast was the Wing and the weight and width made you nervous of any parking that might require moving it backwards, but once on the move, especially on big A roads and motorways the wing comes into it's own, the vast fairing would keep you snug and dry, the overpadded seats cosseting your behind and the panniers would hold an enormous amount of luggage as you glided towards your destination music blaring and the envy of everyone you passed. The big engine was as smooth as a velvet codpiece and suspension whilst on the soft and floaty side still managed to cope with virtually everything you threw at it. The Goldwing has been through many changes and guises over the decades and will probably always have it's imitators but echoes of the original will always be there and the original concept remains intact - to be able to go a long, long way in supreme comfort.

Members' Comments onmarco999's Review

• stuart alford on 7th Dec 2008

  I agree with this review because the Wing is awesome and will live on, despite my heart being lost totally to the 1200cc version in years to 1987 - still my favourite.