Cruise not a luxury option
Honda is slowly realizing that it cannot protect its precious GoldWing by making it the only bike in its line with cruise. It may have worked in the past, but the competition is heating up. Cruise is no longer a luxury feature, but expected in any touring capable bike. I ride the ST1300 and it took me about $130 in parts and some labor to get a full cruise working. It maintains speed on hilly terrain and responds properly to brake activation and declutching. Honda could have done the same in the many years they have had this essentially unchanged model. In their desire to protect the GoldWing, Honda has lost many riders to competitors like FJR and BMW R1200RT. I guess they have figured out it is better to have a rider buy a Honda bike with smaller margins than lose them entirely to competition. When we read that BMW was offering a bagger version of their K1600 bike, I knew Honda cannot sit idle and had to come with cruise, ABS and adjustable shield. It looks like their strategy is to trickle these features down across model years to make upgrade compelling.