1995 Honda Gl1500 Gold Wing Se
1995 Honda GL1500 Gold Wing SE
CYCLE WORLD TEST
HERE'S A TWO-wheeled, fully equipped lesson in survival and adaptability.
When Honda introduced its Gold Wing as a 1975 model, it meant the bike to be a rolling demonstration of technical excellence, a powerful, smooth machine that could be everything to every rider.
The bike was conceived and introduced as a big, comfortable generalist that showcased Honda’s abilities.
Consider its name. The wing, of course, is Honda’s corporate emblemand how wonderful and perceptive, for don’t motorcycles allow us the nearest thing to winged freedom? So to build something called a Gold Wing clearly signified what Honda thought of this product. It was to set the gold standard for motorcycles.
Now, 20 years later, the Gold Wing does exactly that, but in a way those who originated it probably never dreamed. For the bike that was the standard-setting standard now is the standard-setting touring bike, a machine that defines its class, a machine by which all other touring equipment is measured.
The 1995 model year represents the 20th year of production for the GL. Over the years it has moved from a lOOOcc Four to the present 1500cc Six. The double-decade anniversary seemed to Honda an appropriate time for an upgrade to the bike, which has been essentially unchanged since it was introduced in GL1500 form in 1988. But what to do, besides the usual and expected cosmetic changes-the new chrome fairing garnish that gives the Wing a smile like a mouth filled with new orthodontia, and the “20th Anniversary” plaques? How, indeed, do you improve on a machine so completely developed as this one?
You don’t, not really. But you can change it, make it just a little different. Honda did that by rethinking the bike’s seat height, and, by connection, its suspension calibrations. To try out these changes, and to once again sample this watermark touring bike, we traveled to Honda of America Manufacturing, in Columbus, Ohio-known in Honda-speak as HAM-where, since 1980, all Gold Wings have been assembled. We didn’t merely take delivery of our testbike. We watched as it was assembled, we rode it off the end of the assembly line, and then we rode it home to California. The trip totaled five days and 2710 miles, and it provided some fresh perspectives and appreciations of the 20th Anniversary Edition GL1500.
Perhaps the most telling perspective remains unchanged: This is one huge motorcycle, a road-going yacht of a touring bike. Its dry weight of 883 pounds means that if you nose it into a downhill parking space, you pretty much need its electric, starter-operated reverse to back out. Its size means enough comfort and luggage capacity to sustain a couple on a week’s trip. But that same size also means the bike is not easy to throw a leg over. Wing riders speak and Honda listens. Those riders told the company’s researchers they wanted a lower seat height, and that’s the object of most of the non-cosmetic changes to the ’95 GL. Honda’s engineers lowered the bike’s seat height by a little more than an inch, partly by carving a half-inch of foam out of the seat and reshaping what was left-they also recontoured the side panels to match the new seat shape-and partly by the use of heavier springs with less preload, the result being about a half-inch lower ride height. The suspension systems themselves are bog-standard-a conventional fork, aided by air pressure, and a twin-shock swingarm, also aided by air pressure, with rear pressure levels adjustable by an on-board compressor.
It’s a two-edged sword, because suspension travel is the key to a smooth, magic-carpet-like ride-something the builders of European cars have always known. The old Wing had light springs and not a lot of
damping. Honda, in its best PRspeak, says it was designed to provide a ride like that of an American luxury sedan. This new version, it says, rides more like a Lexus or a Mercedes-Benz.
That’s a clever explanation, and indeed, at least on smooth surfaces, the 1995 GL1500 does have a more taut, controlled feel. Thanks to this, and to its relatively low center of gravity, it’s as nimble and light on its feet as, say, a big, heavy guy who is a great dancer. It is, after all, a big, heavy guy, and it’ll dance nicely as long as the tempos are slow ones. Pick up the beat with rough roads, though, and you find that things don’t work as well as they might. What happens
when you impact a big bump depends on how much air you’ve pumped into the rear suspension. Not enough air, and the bike bottoms heavily, front and rear. Pump in enough to minimize bottoming, and the impacts still are harsh, if somewhat better controlled.
Seats play an important part in suspension-they’re part of the system. But bottom the Wing hard on a hot day, when the seat foam has gone soft, and you find that the seat’s suspensive qualities have disappeared-you feel the jolt, especially if you’ve been in the saddle long enough to pack the foam so that your butt impacts the seat pan. The bottom (you should pardon the expression) line is this: This year’s Gold Wing is not as comfortable a partner for extended days in the saddle as previous Wings have been. But it’s still a pretty effective tool. If you’re not, say, an Iron Butt Rally rider-and really, who is-if you take your tours in small bites, and if you like taut suspensions and lower seat heights, you probably won’t find much to complain about.
You certainly won’t be able to complain about the Gold Wing’s extraordinary engine. Assembled in Honda’s Anna, Ohio, engine plant, this is the first component mated to the Wing’s bare frame (an enormous, steel twin-spar weld-up) during the assembly process. This takes all of 2.5 hours, bare frame to engine-powered line-off. This remarkable sohc, 1520cc opposed-Six allows you to cruise all day at 70, revs at about 3000, feeling no vibration at all. It’s as smooth as an electric motor, and the throttle grip may as well be a rheostat. Turn it, you speed up, turn it the other way, you slow down. Cruise, and you can barely hear it-just the muted, Porsche-like hum of the twin exhausts, barely audible over the noise of the tires. It’s surprisingly frugal, too, enough so that if you’re careful with the throttle, you’ll be rewarded with 200-mile fuel-fill intervals. The transmission contains five speeds, and as always, their selection is somewhat clunky and noisy, and there’s a bit of whine in the bottom four gears. The engine has so much torque that once you’re in top gear, you’re pretty much set: no downshifting to pass trucks. All you’ve really got to do is roll the gas on. This thing pulls hard, right from its 800-rpm idle speed on up to its 5500-rpm redline and beyond. Top gear is an overdrive; in fifth the engine won’t pull to its redline. That’s fine. This bike is about comfort and style, not speed. That is carried through in its linked brake system, with the brake pedal applying the rear and left-front caliper, and the brake lever applying the right-front caliper. Odd, isn’t it, that Honda applied neither the ST1100’s ABS system nor the very sophisticated “smart” linked brake system of the CBR1000 to this new Wing?
It is the Wing’s orientation to comfort rather than toward speed, combined with other features, that sets it apart from most other machinery. Start with the fairing: It’s a huge barn-door-sized hunk of plastic that provides very good wind protection while subjecting the pilot to a minimum of buffeting. The windscreen is nominally adjustable up and down, but with an adjustment range on our testbike of about 3/4 of an inch, this seems more a gimmick than a benefit. Even at that, it does a fine job of keeping light rain off the rider and passenger. In hard rain, however, both had better have a rain suit. The fairing’s multitude of vents definitely falls into the benefit category, allowing the rider to pretty much direct air where he wants it, or to all but isolate himself from unwanted airflow. The mirrors provide a betterthan-average rear view, but over rough roads, this year’s firmer suspension jounces them, causing them to show you just shapes that lack detail.
The Wing carries a couple of items not unexpected on a touring bike, but not usually found on more ordinary motorcycles: built-in AM/FM/cassette and CB radio systems. These aren’t the only items that make the Wing seem more auto than bike-it also has a cruise-control system and, of course, that Reverse that so seems to intrigue onlookers.
But more than that, it’s got luggage capacity, three huge cases' worth.
And on the SE version, fitted soft inner luggage is part of the package, making it especially convenient to pack for a trip. The luggage lids are clamshell-like devices, protected from rainfall by rubber weatherstripping. The bike’s ignition key locks all three closed, and also locks access to the bike’s helmet locks, which are situated under the tour trunk.
Once you’re packed, loaded and onboard, you find that while the Wing is cumbersome at parking-lot speeds, it lightens up once you get it rolling. Steering is light and quick, thanks to a wide, almost tiller-like handlebar. But steering isn’t especially neutral-in a comer the bar wants constant light countersteer to keep the Wing from falling inward. You soon get used to that, however, and you also become accustomed to the bike’s fine directional stability and to its surprising willingness to be ridden quickly. Even with a load, you can flog around comers pretty smartly before you touch down hard parts-footpegs, crash bars and eventually headers will kiss asphalt. When they do, it’s an obvious signal that you’re trying too hard on a bike meant for more sedate styles of riding. Pump a little more air pressure in the rear shocks to give yourself a little more ground clearance, you say? That helps just a little, with every 10 pounds adding about a quarter-inch of clearance over the 35-to-55-pound range we used. Better to use the Wing the way it was intended.
That’s no bad deal. The GL1500, in any of its three trim levels, is intended as the ideal touring bike, a bike that will cover big mileage while keeping rider and passenger comfortable and secure. While this year’s suspension changes seem less than ideal, the Gold Wing still stands at the head of its class of full-boat luxo-tourers, so much so that the other Japanese manufacturers appear to have all but given up on competing against its excellence.
If anyone does decide to build a bike that beats the Gold Wing at its own game, it’ll have to be a very fine piece of equipment. This 20th Anniversary Edition Gold Wing certainly is.
EDITORS' NOTES
IF I WERE TO WEIGH ANCHOR AND SET course for the Eastern seaboard, my charted route spanning the endless Interstate Strait, a ‘95 Gold Wing would definitely be the luxury liner of choice. Short of a GPS navigation system, Honda’s flagship tourer has all the comfort and convenience any skipper could ask for.
If I happened to drift off course, finding myself on a twisty backroad, no worries. At the touch of a button I can put some wind in the Wing’s suspension and navigate the curves with surprising ease and competence. As for an everyday mount, the Wing is a bit too much of a boat for this pilot. It’s cumbersome at slow speeds, a bear to jockey around in tight places and when used as a lanesplitter, the Wing has all the grace and finesse of an icebreaker forging its way through the Arctic Ocean. Perhaps the Gold Wing’s best quality is its high level of comfort enjoyed by my first mate riding astern-a very important element for a bon voyage. -Don Canet, Road Test Editor
MOST TIMES, I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH excess, too much of a good thing usually being just about enough. But by responding to market demands, Honda has built a Gold Wing that has become, in my humble opinion, just too much motorcycle. And where does it all end? If riders ask for, say, air conditioning, will we be given still bigger Gold Wings equipped with it? Damn, I hope not.
Motorcycling is about being part of your riding environment, not shielding yourself from that environment. That’s what cars are for, and that sort of shield is, to a large extent, what the GL1500 provides. By definition, motorcycling is about minimalism. The Gold Wing is anything but minimalist and the result is that for me, at least, the Wing, in all its uninspiring competence, misses the mark. For my money, if Honda’s own ST 1100, or any faired BMW, isn’t enough touring bike for you, do yourself a favor. Take your car. -Jon F. Thompson, Senior Editor
LOOK, ALL THIS VERBIAGE CALLING THE Gold Wing car-like or even boat-like is amusing, but it misses the point. The GL series has evolved from a standardstyle Four to a fully loaded Six because that’s what a significant number of touring riders wanted. During a time when first Suzuki then Yamaha rolled over and dropped touring bikes from their catalogs, and
Kawasaki wrongly thought the Voyager XII was so good needed absolutely no changes, Honda has refined the GL to a fare-thee-well. Only Harley-Davidson and BMW have made serious runs at the Wing, but the FLH is down in horsepower, wind protection and carrying capacity, and the 11 OORT still is a bit too Euro-centric for the U.S. touring environment. Still unconvinced? Fine, load up an STI 100, an Electra Glide or a K-bike with a week’s worth of luggage, install your sweetie-pie on the back seat. Meet me in Las Cruces, New Mexico, for dinner-ITl buy if you make it. Then let’s discuss the Gold Wing’s shortcomings. -David Edwards, Editor-in-Chief
HONDA
GL1500 SE
$16,199
