Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Rece ntly, Honda invi ted me m bers of the m otorcycle m edia to Marysville, Ohio , wh ere th e Gold Wings are bu ilt, and we got the chan ce to wi tn ess th e GL1800s be ing bom and, bet ter ye t, r ide th em , Fo r t wo days, we ' to ur ed parts of Oh io on both the 2000 GL1500 and th e 2 0 0 1 GL1800 m odel s. I began the ride on the GL1500 j ust to get reacqua inted with it before swinging a leg over the new GL. A nd , oh , what a difference! It wasn't the o bvio us increase of horsepower that grabbed my attent ion at firs t but it was th e sig nificantly more sta ble chassis. Honda wasn 't kidding when it said that the new aluminum frame has 1 J9 perce nt m o re lateral and 77 percent more tors ional rigidity over its steel predecessor, because yo u can certainly feel it over rough roads and whil e leaned over in the co mers. Th e 1800 has a mu ch more solid and stable feel to it tha n before, and that big bik e "wo bbly" feel up fro nt is all but go ne , too . Th e 1500's mushy sus pensio n has given way to a sturdier bu t sti ll co mfort able ride , and th e anti-dive front end eliminates th at ann oying sudden p itch change wh en ever yo u grab a handful of brakes; instead, the bike rema ins flat and level th rough the tums, even aft er m ak in g mid-corner co rrec t ions. Th e 1800's brakes are notic eabl y stronger , too , and th e ABS is a nic e tou ch . I nev er th ought th e 1500 was underpowered - until I rod e th e 1800. Like th e 1500, th e 1800's m ot or is seamlessl y sm ooth but with ton s mor e power acros s th e board. Slightly m or e vibratio n , howev er , c an be fel t th rou gh th e 180 0 's hand leb ars than the 1500's , which probably has some thi ng to do with the less vibrati on -ab sorbing alum inum fram e. To me , th is is a sma ll pr ice to pa y for th e bi k e's ov erall increased stabili ty . Wind protection fr o m t he new , sportier looking fairin g and wind screen is as good as ever, but ad justing t he hei gh t of t he w indscreen vi a a new r at ch et system is a little cl umsy . (In th e interest of sav ing weight and co st, Honda c ho se not install an elect ric ally adjustable wind scr een , ala BMW.) Our rid e in Oh io o nly co vered a few hundred m iles , hardl y eno ug h to t est a lu x ury touring bike lik e th e Go ld Win g properly , but in that short distance, we ca n ce rt ainly tell th at Mr. Aok i did all of his homework and produ c ed a mu ch- improv ed Gol d W ing . By the tim e yo u r ead th i s , w e 'll ha v e our own GL1800 to tes t and c an start racking up some real tourin g miles. after wh ic h w e'll g ive you a m ore thor ou gh report o n what it's li ke to rid e and live with the new Go ld W ing . Kit Palm er [lj}&J~&J[Ji)@[?!J5J@flIIJ IlOD@ [lj}&J[Ji) \!llOD@ @[J@&J(1@@) 0 IlOD@ !J!J@f5!l @@D@) \!lltl[Ji)@ When Honda began laying the groundwork for the developm ent of th e a ll- new Go ld Wing in 19 9 3 , the decision was m ade to pu t a younqer eng ineer with spo rtb ike design ex perience in cha rge of the proj ect . That m an was Masanori A oki , Large Proj ect Leader (LPL) on th e GL1800 Go ld Wing . At 33 year s of age , Aoki becam e th e L PL for th e NSR250R · an u nus ually you ng ag e fo r a Hond a LPL. By th e time Aoki was selec ted to hea d develop ment of the Go ld Wing, his LPL 's resume, featured a number of high -perfo rm ance motorcycles including the CBR 2 50R R, CBR40 0R R and the C B R600F3 . Masa -san, now 46, is a spo rtbike guy, which is exactly why he was chosen to lead the Gol d W ing design team. We had an o pportunity to interview Aoki o n o ne of his rec ent tri ps to the U .S. Here's what he had to say about one of the m o st am bitious m od el d e v el opm en t p ro jects i n Honda' s history. Wh Y was your background in sp ortbike develop ment import ant ? Q A A The 2001 GL1 800s w ill be available in fou r d ifferent colors: yellow, red, b lue a n d b lack. The red color features ChromaFl a i r , which alte rs the color's hue as lig htin g c onditio ns change. ENGINE TYPE : _ 1832cc liquid- coo led , ho rizontall y o ppo sed six-c ylinder BORE A ND STROKE: 74mm x 7 1mm COMPRESSION RATIO: 9 .8 :1 VALVE TRAIN: SOHC ; tw o val ves per cylinder CA RBURETION : PGM·FI with auto ma tic choke IGNITION: Co m pute r-co nt ro lle d di gital with three-dimension al mappi ng TRANSMISSION : Five-speed including ove rdrive , plus elec tric rev erse FINAL DRIVE: Shaft SUSPENSION Fron t: .4 5 m m fork with anti -dive sys tem; 5.5 inch es tra vel Rear: Pro A rm sing le-s ide swinga rm with Pro-Link; ele ct ronic all y co ntrolled spring pr eload adj ustme nt with tw o m em ory presets; 4 . I inc hes travel BRAKES Fron t: Du al full- flo at ing 296m m di sc s with LBS thre e-p iston c alipers Rear: Single ve ntil ated 316mm di sc with LBS three-p iston caliper (O ptio nal ABS) TIRES Front: 13017 0 R-1 8 Rear: 180 / 60 R- 16 WH EELBASE: 66. 6 inc hes RAKE (Cast er An gl e): 29 .25 TRA IL; 109 m m (4.3 inc hes) SEAT HE IGHT: 29 .1 inc hes DRY WEIG HT : 799/792 pounds FU EL CAPACITY; 6.6 gall ons COLORS: lIIusion Red, Pearl Bl ue, Pearl Yellow, Bla ck MSRP: (Base ) $17,499; (Fully loa ded ) $27,499 Fi rst , I had to learn En gli sh . Next I had to le am how people enjoyed the Gold Wing . Th er efore, I w en t to many, many rallies. In two year s I went everywhere, and d id increased fue l eco no my comes fr om im p roved eerodynern ic s and decreased frontal are a. We also added a larger fuel tank: 25 lit er s compared to 24 liters fo r the prev ious model. a lo t of lo ng -distance rid ing . I went o n a 2220·mile trip from A nchorage, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington . It's a long way between gas stations o ut the re . I leam ed how important fue l range is to the Ionq -dlstence rid er. w ere ther e any other characteristics you built in to Q A Q A We develo ped m or e than 20 new technologies. A nd all Let 'S t alk about the chassis , Why us e an aluminum po wer. W e wer e afte r m or e of a m otor cycle feeli ng . a lot more character in ter ms of a power hit, a nd a m ore freerevving cha racter. Th e GL1500 engine has good po we r and torque, but it sig ns off early. You get to the rev limiter very quickly. The new Gold Wing 1800 engine has a much more hig h performance feel , especially at higher rpm. frame ins tead of steel? Q A A lot of sport bikes have an aluminum fr am e becau se it is eas ie r to manipu late rigi dity a nd li g h t weig h t throughout t he stru ct ure than with steel. These same q ualities all ow ed us to build the Gold Wing frame with specific strength and rigidity qualities where we needed the m . Al uminum also projects a much more sporty image tha n steel. While it was very effi ci ent, the frame on the previous m od el HOW did you arrive at the 1800cc eng in e si ze? was not beautifu l. This new fram e is an important part of th e machine's style. Also, there is the question of ma nufacturi ng A We asked o urse lves what displacement is best to m eet emission sta nda rds and fue l consumption. as we ll as optimum horsepower. torque and weiqht balance com pared Th at is the Honda way. We start by leaming technolo - on th e optimal displacement, so we asked American riders. efficiency. Rigidity is very high with the new frame, and th e number of parts is drastically reduced. The alu m inum fram e is also 25 pounds lighter than the steel frame. to the current model. Ultimately , it was still difficult to decide gy. Motorcycles have to have a sporty feeling and good handling. That's a motorcycle. Hon da wanted to make the the very stringent durability standards that applied to th e 1500 also apply to this 1800cc engi ne . the ne w engine to make it sportier? T he GL1500 engi ne has an electric m otor q uality to th e More character. More excitement. Th is eng ine (GL1800) has Q HOW many new technologie s were developed for t he Gold Wing? Ninety percent of them liked the J800. next Go ld Wi ng like a sports model, withou t losing any touro nc e you 'd arrived on t he op t imal eng ine co nflgura- ing c apability. That's a vital foundation. My j ob is to add NOW that the new Gold Wing is completed and in pro Q du ct ion. what is your goa l for th e marketplace? A M y hope is that the peo ple who buy the new Gold Wing enjoy riding it as much as I have enjoyed building it. t ion , how d id y o u de cid e t he distance Gold Wing m or e fun factor to th e ma ch ine , to bu ild a Gold Wing with th e Q kind of accele ratio n and handling peop le normall y assoc iat e should go on one tank of fu el? with spo rti ng m achines. A Q How lon g wa s t he Gold Wing in development ? o ur original target range was 234 miles on one tan k of fu el, but we'r e getting m or e than that now . I know th at number very well. Th er e are m any gas statio ns between Cal i fomia and New York. But I w as touring on the Trans-Alaskan A T he pr oj ect started in 1996. After I sp ent three ye ars in Highway betwee n A nc hora ge an d Seattle, and th ere ar en't the United States, I retu m ed to J apan in 1996 on Feb - many stations out th ere. Ran ge is a very important number. ruar y I . An d on February 3 , we started. What did yo u leam about culture and t ouri ng in the Q Un ited Stat es t hat was im po rtant t o bring back t o Japan f or development of this new mo torcy cle? Our target wa s to im pro ve fu el co nsum pti o n by 30 per c ent at 75 mph co m pared with th e pr evi ou s eng ine, m ost of which wo uld come fro m t he efficiency of fu el injection . Th e G old Wing FI sy ste m i s t he same ba sic h igh -pres sure design as CBR 11OOXX and CB R9 29 RR. T en percent of t he cue I ... neVIl's N OVEM BER 15, 2000 21

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