From Goldwing Docs:
I've heard this grumbling more than a few times over the past few years. Goldwing owners, paying as much as $30,000 - a premium price, for a premium product, to purchase the flagship of Honda's motorcycle offerings, only to look at other bikes with far more advanced technology and features. Some of these bikes are sold for far less, and some are being sold by Honda! So what gives?
I mentioned this myself when I did a review on the Cleveland Motorcycle Showlast February. It seemed like there were competitors to the mighty Goldwing popping up left and right, and all of them were bristling with the newest technology: Bluetooth, MP3 music capability, advanced ABS, electrically adjustable windshields, on-the-fly adjustable suspension, advanced HID and adaptive LED lighting, adjustable handlebars, throttle-by-wire, handlebar-mounted system controls, the list goes on and on. All of these things were featured on competitors bikes as well as some other Honda motorcycles, yet not a single one of them is available on the GL1800.
Honda has done very little to the GL1800 for quite a few years now - apart from creating derivatives of the platform (F6B, Valkyrie), the extent of the changes made to the Goldwing have been mostly minor styling and new paint colors. Great things were expected however for the 2015 model year of Honda's flagship, as it is the 40th anniversary for the Goldwing. Rumors abounded: a complete redesign, new engine, new cockpit, advanced technology. Honda, secretive and tight-lipped as ever, offered no clues. So when they finally released the details of the much-vaunted 40th Anniversary Goldwing, it was a bit tough to be anything but underwhelmed: A new paint scheme, a "40th Anniversary" badge, and a special key. That's it.
That said, the GL1800 obviously does have quite a bit going for it, and at the top of the list is the legendary Honda reliability. There are people riding Goldwings of every type as daily drivers with literally hundreds of thousands of miles on them. Most of the new competitors haven't been around long enough to have racked up that kind of mileage.
The grumbling has grown a bit louder, and I have heard from several people who simply refuse to spend $30,000 on a new Goldwing based on, essentially, 1990's technology. Instead of moving from their older Goldwing to a newer Goldwing, they're moving to other bikes entirely. Unlike the situation 20 years ago, where there were no real competitors to the Goldwing, today there are quite a few alternatives, and some of them are excellent bikes.
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Originally Posted by bobbyf6b
