The Honda Goldwing GL1800 Luxury Edition

The Honda Goldwing seems to have been around forever. When it was first released in 1975, the Honda Goldwing was a 1000cc flat four and took touring on motorcycles to a whole new level. Following the Goldwing 1000 can the 1100 from '80 to '83, the 1200 from '84 to '87 and the 1500 from '88 to 2000. All Honda Goldwing's were powered by flat four-cylinder engines, the original 6-cylinder having been abandoned because Honda management thought it made too much power. Finally, in 2001, the Honda Goldwing GL1800 with a flat 6-cylinder 1800cc engine was released.

Since 2001, the Honda Goldwing GL1800 really hasn't changed a great deal, so it was a pleasant surprise when Honda said it was about to release the Honda Goldwing Gl1800 Luxury two-years ago.

The Honda Goldwing GL1800 Luxury, weighing in at a healthy 380kg dry, the Goldwing GL1800 feels surprisingly light for its size. It is easy to ride and manueuvre and, although road width and conditions play a major part when making U-turns or just turning, it becomes a lot less awkward once you remember that you have a reverse gear. That makes life with a Honda Goldwing GL1800 Luxury a lot easier.

If you've never ridden a Honda Goldwing you'll be impressed by how nice and smooth the GL1800 Luxury is to ride. The 1822cc flat 6-cylinder, two valve engine develops 117 horsepower at 5,500rpm and 167Nm of torque at only 4,000rpm, with redline at 6,000rpm. By today's standards, it's a remarkably low-revving engine.

In top gear it pulls away with ease at just about tickover. If you need to overtake, just drop it back a gear or two and it's quite quick. The Honda Goldwing GL1800 Luxury also now runs self-adjusting silent and maintenance-free cam chains instead of the old belt system that served them so well for so long. Valve adjustment is now an under-bucket shim arrangement. The first adjustment isn't due until you've covered 48,000 kilometers.

The Honda Goldwing GL1800 Luxury, being a large motorcycle, it is a bit low, so you have to be a little careful at the start and learn not to throw it too hard into corners otherwise you will scrape stuff, a lot of stuff.

The Honda Goldwing Luxury model still has all of the normal bells and whistles, but it is now the first production motorcycle ever to be fitted with a rider airbag. It was bound to happen. The version also comes with an easy-to-use satellite navigation system; this only comes with the Luxury and is designed specially for this model.