Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

1984 Honda Gold Wing IPart 1 10,000" LESO• • ,.OURI G CLASSIC.. By Jim Wolcott "Welcome to California" read the sign, and the one just beneath it proclaimed that I was about to enter the city limits of Blythe. The day had started in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and if I continued at the present pace, would end in a warm bed just south of Los Angeles - still some 250 miles 24 to the wesl. Underneath me was Honda's latest version of the venerable Gold Wing: a machine which had hummed without complaint throughout the trip. I squinted into the sunset, with my mind filled with the idle thoughts that accompany a longtouringday... when I was jarred back to reality by a bright red light in the rear view mirrors. My helmet was off and on the handlebars as I looked down to see a pair of polished black boots march up alongside the big Honda. The officer glared at me from behind mirrored sunglasses while removing his gloves one finger at a time. I was doomed. "Well," he gru££1y announced while studying the motorcycle, '.'tell me about the bike!" What? Huh? My mind raced while I tried to understand his question. Aha! Of course: a test bike, with no license plate. [ dug the registration out of the glove box and passed the packet of papers to the officer. "The bike actually belongs to Honda - I'm just testing il. Here's my business card." He shuffled through the documents for a moment, and passed them back to me. A smile broke across his face. 'The registration's fine. But I want to know about the bike. Just bought one... it's still on order. You know, what's it like to ride?" Well, during the next hour or so we had a chat about the various changes to this newest Wing, talked about motorcycles in general, the 55 mph speed limit, and what it was like to patrol this desolate stretch of desert. And for the first time in my life I was able to say "goodbye" to a police officer without having to sign one of his wretched pink forms. Prior to its October, 1983 introduction there was considerable speculation as to just what Honda's latest touring motorcycle would be. Rumors were rampant that the newest Wing might sport a laterally-mounted V-6 engine as a replacement to the sturdy flat four. Further speculation involved features such as an automatic transmission, double overhead cams operating four-valve combustion chambers, radial tires... not to mention various bits of electronic hardware that would stir waves of jealousy with NASA personnel. This speculation ceased on that October morning when the 1984 Gold Wing was finally wheeled before the motorcycle press at Willow Springs Raceway. It was suddenly clear that this was not to be'the year for a complete rethink of the design. Rather, this latest King-of-Wings proved to be an evolutionary step: a conservative, second-generation Wing. A Gold Wing with an unmistakable family resemblance. The engine heads the Iist of changes for this latest Wing: all new [rom the crankshaft oul. The layout is still the familiar liquid-cooled flat four, with a five-speed transmission powering the rear wheel via shaft drive. DispIacementis up from 1085ccto I I82cc, primarily due to increased stroke: lengthened from 61.4mm 10 66mm. Anticipating the increased power and torque from the new engine, rod journals were increased in diameter from 48mm to 52mm - a substantially beefier design. Piston diameter has been increased a mere lmlm, from 75mm to 75.5mm, but the news is the redesigned piston crown. These new pistons team up with a revised contour to the cylinder heads to provide a more squish and more charge turbulence in the combustion chamber. Which brings us to the cylinder head: where the most interesting and useful evolution of this new powerplant has taken place. In spite of the increased displacement, the intake valves of the '84 Wing have actually decreased in size from engines of previous years. Why the smaller valves on a bigger engine? Honda has observed that Gold Wing owners were typically (ahem) less than conscientious about keeping the engine revving within its powerband. In simple terms, most Wing engines were lugged rather than downshifted. Smaller intake valves result in a higher intake port velocity at low revs, and therefore provide superior combustion when a lugging engine is mercilessly subjected to fullthroule. But smaller valves also mean less intake flow at the higher revs, which cuts down on peak power. To compensate for this, Honda went to slightly wilder cam timing to pep up performance on the top end. The net result of the increased displacement, smaller valves and the changes to the cam timing is an . engine which produces just slightly more power than last year's Wing. The difference is that low-rpm torque has been increased a whopping 30%. At any engine speed above 2,000 rpm, a twist of the throttle will make the bike surge forward. To top off this combustion package is a newly designed electronic ignition. As before, both the spark triggering and advance circuits are electronic. For the '84 Wing, an electronic vacuum sensor located in the intake manifold retards the timing if the throttle is whacked open while the engine is under load. Sort of a high-technology version of vacuum advance. This circuit engages only with the transmission in the fourth and overdrive gears - to prevent surging that might occur when accelerating in the lower gears. For the two top gears, the results are unmistakable. Downshifting almost becomes optional, and passing trucks on the Interstale becomes a m;llter qf simply dialing on more throule: As for the potential Wing owner, the most financially rewarding feature of the new engine has to do with decreased maintenance: the 1984 Gold Wing features hydraulically self-adjusting valves. The new system is sim ilar to the one pioneered on Honda's Shadow, and keeps the valves in tune by means of a series of small hydraulic capsules. Each capsule is attached to an eccentric rocker shaft, and can rotate that shaft when expanded. The rocker shaft is designed so that as it rotates, the pivot point of

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