Honda Gold Wing motorcycle goes on a diet for 2018
The Honda Gold Wing is one of the most recognizable model series from the Japanese manufacturer. For a long time, the Gold Wing name has stood for a cushy bike with a lot of creature comforts, and in its 2018 redesign the company wanted to scale back the heft a bit. The next-generation bike was to be a sharper version of itself.
As Gold Wing project leader Yutaka Nakanishi puts it: "We wanted our new Gold Wing to maintain its luxury but to be a much more 'rounded' motorcycle. A machine as useful to its owner around the city as it is out on tour. And more exciting to ride than ever. So we started from a blank piece of paper and made the Gold Wing sharper and lighter, and added all the technological hardware and software the modern rider could wish for."
As a result. the 2018 Gold Wing is a new bike from the ground up. It's still the manufacturer's premium tourer model, but it has shed as much as 105 pounds compared with the previous generation bike. The 1833cc, flat engine is still six-cylinder, and it now has four valves per cylinder instead of just two, producing 125 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 125 pounds-feet of torque at 4,500 rpm. The power unit has been moved forward 40mm, as well as the riding position.
Since the bike has been downsized and there's a brand new aluminum twin-beam frame, it should be a lot more agile to ride. But a Gold Wing wouldn't be a Gold Wing without luxurious amenities: for example, there's a 7-inch full color TFT display for infotainment, and the bike is now compatible with Apple CarPlay.
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Honda Gold Wing motorcycle goes on a diet for 2018 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Oct 2017 10:15:00 EDT.
