I just got rid of my 63 plate Goldwing last August after having it for two and a half years . Pros and cons: Pros: Comfortable heated seats, smooth engine. you get both feet on the ground, Cons: 170 mile fuel tank, heavy beast for commuting, Unless you are handy with the spanners, it is very, very expensive to have anything done to it. Even to change a rear tyre. Tyre fitting companies not interested in doing so, unless you take the wheel off.So you have to do it yourself or take it to a Honda stealer which will add £100 to the cost of your tyre. Talking of wheels I had 3 new sets of wheels fitted to my bike until the warranty ran out, and the same issue of peeling lacquer was still happening to my last set of wheels. The bike had only covered 6,000 miles. The 1800Gold wing has been plagued with ABS/ Brake recalls since it came on the market since 2004 and Honda have not rectified the problem of it yet. The Air bag version is now being re-called due to the system exploding and injuring the rider with metal fragments. And the air bag model is around an hour and a half just to change the air filter by an experienced mechanic, as the air bag has to be dismantled and this is easier said than done. Disconnect the battery, remove both fairings and then the tank then the airbag then you have access to your air filter. The bike suffers from old technology, only half of the switches illuminate on the handle bars and dash. The built in Garmin GPS requires you to pay around £200 for an updated SD card which you can only purchase from Honda. No Bluetooth. I bought a 650 Versys in the end to commute to my work as the Wing was
hard going. Buy one by all means if you want to head for the states, but remember you'll be stopping every hour to refuel at around 45 mile to the gallon at 70 mph... Paid £25,000 for it new, traded it in for £14,500..
I thought they were bulletproof on residuals, so no better than BM in the corrosion department and reliability? GW is supposed to be the flagship
So is the pre 2001 better?
