The Honda Gold Wing is a series of touring motorcycles manufactured by Honda. Gold Wings feature shaft drive and a flat engine. Characterized by press in September 1974 as "The world's biggest motorcycle manufacturer's first attack on the over-750cc capacity market...",Honda to launch 1000cc flat-4? Motor Cycle News, 20 March 1974, p.1 (front cover). Retrieved 13 March 2022 it was introduced at the Cologne Motorcycle Show in October 1974.
The Gold Wing series Total sales are more than 640,000, most of them in the U.S. market. Gold Wings were assembled in Marysville, Ohio, from 1980 until 2010, when motorcycle production there was halted. No Gold Wings were produced for the 2011 model year, and production resumed in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan in 2011 using tooling transported from the American factory.
The includes a Honda Gold Wing GL1000 manufactured in 1974 as one of their 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology. Through 2012, Honda GL models have appeared eighteen times in the Cycle World list of Ten Best bikes.
Over the course of its production history, the Gold Wing had many design changes, beginning in 1975 with a flat-four engine; by 2001, this had grown to a flat-six. The 2012 model had anti-lock braking, cruise control, electrically assisted reverse gear, an optional airbag, a fairing with heating and an adjustable windscreen, panniers and a trunk, a pillion backrest, satnav, and a six-speaker radio/audio system with MP3/iPod connectivity.
Gold Wing development In 1972, following the success of the CB750 superbike, the company assembled an R&D design team to explore concepts for a new flagship motorcycle. The project leader was Shoichiro Irimajiri, who in the 1960s had designed Honda's multi-cylinder Grand Prix engines and their Formula One V12 engine.
The 1974 Gold Wing with its flat-four shaft-drive powertrain used technologies both from earlier motorcycleThe traditional BMW Motorrad layout, a wet-sump unit construction boxer-twin using shaft final drive, goes back to the R32 model that began production in 1923. and automotive designs.
The Gold Wing was the first Japanese production motorcycle with a water-cooled four-stroke engine.
Target market During its development, the CB750 was known within Honda as their "King of Motorcycles." As it would sit atop the CB750 as the top of the line Honda motorcycle, the project that would become the Gold Wing was informally called the "King of Kings." Honda first envisaged the Gold Wing as a large sport motorcycle, but on learning that customers were "piling miles on touring", Honda reconsidered the bike's design objectives, realising that the primary market for the Gold Wing was the long-distance motorcyclist. In North America a motorcycle suitable to that task would need comfort for the long haul, wind protection, a smooth ride, a comfortable seat, luggage storage, and power in abundance.
In America in the early 1970s, long-distance motorcyclists had only a few manufacturers to choose from: Harley-Davidson, Moto Guzzi and BMW. The H-D Electra Glide was a touring motorcycle with a loyal cult following. It faced strong competition from Moto Guzzi's 850cc Eldorado. BMW motorcycles were smoother and more reliable, if expensive. Other large Japanese motorcycles, such as the Honda CB750 and the Kawasaki Z1 were cheaper but were not ideal tourers with their small fuel tanks and rear drive-chains needing regular maintenance. The Gold Wing was aimed at a newly emerging market segment, namely, a new kind of American long-distance rider who was not likely to buy a Harley-Davidson or BMW but who would open their wallets for a reliable machine offering comfort, endurance, low maintenance, and a smooth, torquey, quiet engine.
The Gold Wing's secondary target market was Europe, where riders prioritised handling and performance over luxury. (The European market's special demands subsequently led to the Honda Pan European).Visordown quote: "The Honda ST1100 Pan European was one of those bikes that quietly got on with doing the job it was designed to do. And that was to provide something just short of a full-dress touring bike in a slightly more manageable (and cheaper) form, at the behest of the European, not US, market. Though other motorcycle manufacturers build touring bikes, no other touring bike has achieved the popularity of the Gold Wing.
M1 prototype & Project 371 In 1972, the project team broke from Honda practice to produce an experimental prototype motorcycle code-named "M1". Instead of the usual transverse engine layout with a chain final drive, the M1 had a longitudinal engine suitable for shaft drive. The M1 had a 1470cc liquid-cooled flat-six engine, (twice the displacement of the CB750). Instead of seeking high performance (as some engineers had wanted), the M1 engine was designed to have a broad torque output and to produce at 6700 rpm, with a top speed of .
The brainstorming team's M1 project was never intended as a production prototype. Nonetheless, the M1 should be seen as the primordial Gold Wing because so many of its distinctive features appeared on the GL1000. The flat-six gave the M1 a low center of gravity, enhancing stability, but the extreme length of the engine/gearbox unit resulted in a cramped riding position. Instead, the project team chose to build a bike with a compact one liter flat-four engine. This bike was code-named "Project 371", and Toshio Nozue (who had worked on CB750 development) took over from Irimajiri as project leader.
First generation
GL1000 The Project 371 team finally settled on a layout that became the characteristic Gold Wing: a liquid-cooled flat-four SOHC engine, with a gear-driven generator that contra-rotated to counteract the engine's torque reaction. Cylinder blocks and crankcase were integral, with the transmission situated beneath the crankcase to keep the unit construction engine as short as possible. Final drive was by shaft.
Before going on sale in the US and in Europe in 1975, the Gold Wing was revealed to dealers in September 1974 at American Honda's annual dealer meeting in Las Vegas, and then shown to the public the following month at the IFMA Internationale Fahrrad- und Motorrad-Ausstellung (International Bicycle and Motorcycle Exhibition; today Intermot) in Cologne.
Small fairings had been mounted on two of the show models at the US dealer show in Las Vegas. These Honda-designed fairings were to be manufactured in the US by the Vetter Fairing Company and sold as Hondaline accessories; but they never went into production after the molds were accidentally destroyed. Consequently, the Gold Wing was issued naked, lacking saddlebags, a luggage rack, and a windshield. This created an opportunity for aftermarket accessory manufacturers, who soon offered a range of fairings and luggage accessories, particularly the Craig Vetter Windjammer series.
The original GL1000 (designated K0) had an electric starter backed up by a kick start lever stored inside a dummy fuel tank, which also housed the radiator expansion tank, electrical components, as well as the air filter supplying four Keihin 32 mm CV carburetors. The real fuel tank was under the seat, in order to keep the center of mass as low as possible. The bike had a dry weight of . 13,000 Gold Wings were sold in the United States in 1975.
There were no significant changes in the standard Gold Wing for 1976 (the K1 model). To mark the United States Bicentennial year Honda announced the GL1000 LTD with distinctive insignia and color scheme (e.g., gold stripes, gold wheels) plus some extra amenities. The LTD was a genuine limited edition with production restricted to about 2,000 units.
In the third model year (K2) Honda began refining the Gold Wing, although the changes for 1977 were small, such as exhaust pipe heat shields, revised seat and handlebar, as well as a new fuel gauge. Weight increased to . The motorcycle division of Honda UK produced 52 Executive GL1000 K1 bikes by adding premium accessories to 1977 Gold Wings.
The engine was modified in 1978 for the GL1000 K3 model, in order to make more torque available at lower engine speeds; the carburetors were reduced in size by 1 mm, the exhaust system was redesigned, valve timing and ignition timing were altered. The kick-start mechanism was removed from the engine, and a reserve lighting module for the headlight and taillight (automatically switching to the second filament when one burns out) was removed from the electrics. A small instrument panel appeared on top of a restyled dummy fuel tank. Wire-spoke wheels were replaced with Honda's new ComStar wheels, but the existing tires with inner tubes remained. Dry weight grew to .
1979 marked the end of GL1000 development with the K4 model (the UK version was designated KZ). Dry weight increased slightly to . for the last Gold Wing to be powered by a one-liter engine. There were only minor changes for this model year, except for the ComStar wheels; new ComStars had stronger steel spokes on aluminum rims instead of the original aluminum spoked wheels that precipitated a 1979 recall (for the 1978 model year). During the final run of the GL1000 in 1979, Hondaline saddlebags and trunk were available, but Honda still did not offer a fairing.
Honda sold more than 97,000 units of the GL1000 in the United States between 1975 and 1979.
Second generation
GL1100(SC02) After five years of the GL1000, the second-generation Gold Wing was released in 1979 as a 1980 model, and the GL1100 would be continued through the 1983 model year. The GL1100 was manufactured in Japan until May 1980 when Honda started assembling 1981 models at the Marysville Motorcycle Plant in Ohio, which had been making frames and parts for various models since 1974. Gold Wings would be built at a rate of 150 units a day for the years 1981–1983. Engines were still being built in Japan, but Honda began to market the machine as being made in America.
The Gold Wing faced competition from Japan in the form of the Suzuki GS1000 with an inline-four engine, and especially in the Kawasaki Z1300 that had a massive DOHC 1300cc straight-six engine with water cooling. Honda responded by increasing the displacement of the Gold Wing, and then followed-up by announcing the first Japanese full-dress tourer. The new engine was more than just a GL1000 with a 3 mm larger bore, the alterations clearly emphasized torque over horsepower. The cylinder heads were modified to improve combustion at low and middle engine speeds, transmission gear ratios were changed and the final drive ratio shortened to make more torque available at highway speeds. The bore size for all four carburetors was again reduced by 1 mm, to 30 mm.
The wheelbase was lengthened over that of the GL1000, and air suspension was added. The GL1100 had an adjustable seat, and for the first time used tubeless tires, mounted on black reverse ComStar wheels. The naked Gold Wing, which would become known as the Standard model, weighed dry. In spite of the fact that there were only minor changes to differentiate the GL1100 '81 edition from the previous year.
Ridden by Emilio Scotto, the GL1100 is the bike that toured the world. Holding the record for the longest distance of any motorcycle total distance of 457,000 miles (735,000 km).
All the 1982 Gold Wings had transmission ratios revised (again) to lower engine rpm at cruising speeds, new brakes with twin-piston calipers and wider tires on smaller wheels. Dry weight for the GL1100 '82 was .