Cycle News Staff | October 20, 2018
Comparison Test | Go West, ol’ boy!
Picture a clear desert road, your perfect partner on the back and either of these two motorcycles beneath you. Sounds good, right? But which one is better if you want to mash those miles? We did the dirty work for you to find out.
The motherships: Honda’s new Gold Wing (left) has a lot to challenge the current class king with in the BMW K 1600 GTL.
This is, hands down, one of the best countries on the planet for motorcycle touring. Between New York and Alaska, we have absolutely everything a bike rider could want, and if you’re going undertake any meaningful journey, what better way to see it all than from the cockpit of either the $27,700 Honda Gold Wing Tour or the $28,844 Premium Package BMW K 1600 GTL?
By Rennie Scaysbrook and Kit Palmer | Photography by Kit Palmer
This is a category under siege as the world looks to smaller bikes with all the mod-cons of larger touring machines like the Wing and GTL. A modern sport-touring motorcycle can do absolutely everything one of these bikes can do, but this premium segment still appeals to the discerning touring rider.
Offerings from Indian, Harley-Davidson and recently Yamaha with their Star Venture all shout the V-twin tune, while Honda and BMW are the only manufacturers to sell machines in this segment with more than two cylinders.
As such, we have two machines with a combined 12 cylinders and 3282cc on test, offering the very best in luxurious motorcycle touring. And to make things different, we chose the Dual Clutch Transmission-equipped Gold Wing, as it’s the latest and greatest offering from Honda to go up against the conventionally geared BMW.
Let’s start with what we know. The BMW K 1600 GTL is the elder statesman in this duo, having been released way back in 2012. BMW arguably dropped all comers with the GTL’s sublimely smooth inline six-cylinder engine, debuting a machine that shot straight to the top of the touring tree and made the Gold Wing look immediately dated.
The BMW’s more upright-riding stance would suit riders coming off higher-barred bikes, such as adventure bikes, better than the Gold Wing.
The machine remained largely unchanged in the proceeding five years, gaining Dynamic ESA (electronic suspension) as a standard feature, along with ABS Pro, Shift Assist Pro for up and down clutchless gearshifts and Reverse Assist in 2016.
The GTL’s bodywork also came in for a tweaking, all aimed at producing a machine that slips through the wind easier and with the rider becoming less tired while doing so.
The Gold Wing, on the other hand, is all-new for 2018. The number-one grand tourer in Honda’s lineup since the 1970s saw very few changes in the last 15 years, but, this year, the ’Wing came in for a thorough overhaul.
A new flat-six engine joins up to Honda’s latest generation of the seven-speed Dual Clutch Transmission, one that first saw action on the now-defunct VFR1200 in 2010. The front suspension utilizes a double-wishbone system similar to a Hassack design (actually, the BMW’s Duolever is also a take on the Hossack), and the rider cockpit has been totally redesigned and has features like Apple CarPlay capability, accessed by a huge seven-inch TFT dash.
What these two bikes have in common is what you’d expect for all touring bikes to have: variable riding modes, cruise control, hill-start-assist functions, electronically adjustable windscreens, heated grips and seats, centerstands, GPS navigation (a separate feature for the BMW), enormous storage capacity, a reverse gear (the Honda even has a creeper-forward gear) and both have horns that sound like they’ve been swiped from semi-trailer trucks.
The BMW’s cockpit (above) is aesthetically more pleasing than the Gold Wing’s (below), although it isn’t as easy to navigate and read.
There’s one thing Kit and I both agreed on with this test, and that’s the fact both engines are outstanding pieces of engineering. The BMW inline six and the Honda flat-six both have more torque than needed for such lazy bikes, accessed through beautifully smooth throttles, and we both found them extremely difficult to fault.
Overall, the BMW feels a touch faster, even though it’s near 200cc less but we’re putting that down to having to push about 70 pounds less and the fact that it’s mated to a traditional manual transmission. In truth, both engines are spectacular, with any grievances nit-picking at best.
But the Honda’s lower-revving nature yielded a resounding win over the BMW in the fuel-saving stakes. Over 191 miles, the Honda used 4.19 gallons of 91-octane gas, compared to 5.02 gallons for the BMW.
Just looking at these two side by side, it’s easy to see the BMW is going to be the sportier of the two. The GTL also runs 17-inch wheels compared to the 18-inch front and 16-inch rear on the Honda, although there’s only a 0.3-inch difference in seat height at 29.6 inches for the BMW to the Honda’s 29.3.
Despite this, the BMW feels far lighter on its feet compared to the Honda. There’s a substantial weight difference of 70 pounds between the two, and the BMW’s choice of 17-inch wheels front and rear makes for a far more nimble machine in the twisty roads circulating or Joshua Tree test loop.
If your touring is going to involve more twisty roads than freeways, the BMW is the pick for you.
The GTL is more an overgrown sport-touring motorcycle than a traditional touring steed in cornering performance. Matched to that stupendous motor, a much sharper steering angle, and a near three-inch shorter wheelbase, the BMW will zip from corner to corner with outstanding ease, the linked brakes keeping everything on line and offering more than ample stopping power and excellent feel at the lever and pedal.
Combine this with the knife-through-butter feel of the up and down Shift Assist Pro, in isolation the BMW is an absolute peach of a touring motorcycle. Playing with the different modes in the Dynamic ESA exposes the different sides to the BMW’s personality, with my personal preference being the Road setup for a slightly more comfortable ride at the expense of some extra cornering stability. The Dynamic ESA will still vary suspension damping on the fly, but allows you to set the parameters at which it works.
You sit much more upright on the BMW—it’s a riding position people coming from adventure bikes, for example, would find more accommodating compared to the sit-in position of the Gold Wing.
With more relaxed geometry, the Gold Wing is not going to carve corners with as much ease at the BMW, but it does so with greater stability.
Yet, there’s an issue with the BMW in that it’s far from stable at sustained high speed compared to the Gold Wing. The BMW’s front-end can be flighty on the freeway, making for a surprisingly tiring ride as you’re constantly trying to correct the bike’s trajectory, especially if you’re in some form of sidewind at 70+mph. There’s a lot of bodywork high up with the BMW, especially at the rear as the top box is substantially taller than the Gold Wing’s, and this can also have a bearing on high-speed stability.
The Gold Wing, on the other hand, sits lower to the ground and its dual-wishbone front-end design is a marvel of stability. The Gold Wing doesn’t have the same cornering agility as the BMW—it’s a far more sedate riding experience—but it’s certainly more enjoyable over a long ride. Honda has designed the Gold Wing’s cockpit so you can watch the suspension tie-rod ends bouncing up and down as you glide along.
Those tie-rod ends bounce up and down, showing you how hard the suspension is moving and how little shock gets transmitted to the rider.
This is marketing, pure and simple, to show the rider how hard the suspension is working and how little shock is transmitted. It works, too, and makes you realize Honda has hit a home run with the suspension on the Gold Wing. It’s not agile—after all, this is a bike weighing over 840 pounds fully fueled—but the suspension is near perfect for this style of riding. This is touring, and comfort must be king.
The Honda’s (above) flat-six keeps the center of gravity ultra low compared to the taller inline six-cylinder unit of the BMW (below).
There’s hardly anything to choose between the Wing and Beemer in the braking department. Both bikes have linked systems and both need to haul up extremely heavy loads, and both do it exceptionally well, but the Wing’s seven-speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) is another ace up its sleeve.
Working in tandem with the selected riding mode of either Rain, Econ, Touring or Sport, the DCT will change characteristics according to how the rider operates the machine. For example, if you’re in Econ mode but you need to quickly gun the throttle to get away from the truck that’s blindly merging into your lane, the DCT will respond with an instant kickdown of gears and acceleration in the same manner it would if you were riding in Sport mode.
When accelerating in Econ or Touring mode from a standstill, it’s quite remarkable how smooth the DCT shifts are. In Econ mode, you barely register the shifts, as the system keeps the revs low and lazy and reaches seventh gear as soon as possible. Sport mode could be regarded as surplus to needs, because it holds a shift and keeps the revs high in corners the same way you would on a much smaller, sportier bike when you’re really going for it. Kinda pointless, given the bike’s overall characteristic.
In terms of the overall riding experience, both Kit and I gave our nod to the Gold Wing. It’s just a better machine for the intended audience, but riding is only one part of a maxi-touring test, there’re other parts like luggage and electronics to get through.
An area the BMW has definitely got the goods over the Honda is the extra luggage capacity, and use of it. Both machines have ample storage space, but only the BMW can fit two full size helmets in the top box. The Honda gets only one and some room for a jacket, which, when you’re riding two-up on a bike worth over $30K, isn’t up to scratch. There are no helmet locks, either.
Storage wars: The BMW (above) wins the all-important helmet test, easily fitting two full size helmets in the top box (Honda pictured below).
The BMW’s luggage capacity, while only five liters more than the Honda’s, is better thought out with more space where it’s needed. As a result, the Beemer is slightly wider at the sidecases, but you get better options for storage than the Honda.
On the flip side, the Honda’s electronics are much easier to operate, especially if you have an iPhone and can hook it up to Apple CarPlay and hear the two front and rear speakers. The cockpit of the BMW is neater and more orderly, although to operate the BMW’s four front speakers plus the various dash systems requires you to memorize all the cues via the jog wheel on the left handlebar. This can prove to be rather frustrating, as the Honda has it laid out right in front of you with easy access to the massive seven-inch TFT display, compared to the smaller Navigator GPS system that you can detach from the BMW.
The Honda also has a wider range of light with the massive LED headlight system, although the BMW’s Adaptive Xenon system is brighter. It’s apples to apples, really, as both systems have the kind of available light you’d expect on a high-end car.
That jog wheel on the BMW controls (above) most of the dash’s functions, whereas the Honda (below) has separate buttons for everything.
Getting one of these bikes depends on the kind of touring you plan on doing. If you’re after a sporty version, go for the BMW. It’s more agile, has that incredible engine and has excellent use of its storage capacity.
However, our vote goes to the Gold Wing. Despite our qualms with the luggage, the new ’Wing is the ultimate touring motorcycle—it’s solid as a rock at speed, has brilliant options and navigation, and the DCT is one of the best features to be fitted to any motorcycle on the market today. Both bikes are brilliant, but there can only be one winner and for us, it’s the Gold Wing.
Either of these bikes are utterly incredible touring machines, but the new Gold Wing (right) gets our win in this shootout.
Second Opinion—Kit Palmer
Comparing the Honda to the BMW is like comparing Coke to Pepsi. Like the two popular soft drinks, both motorcycles are similar in performance and both are very good, but given the choice between the two, give me Coke—and the Gold Wing.
To me, when it comes to long-distance touring, comfort is the most crucial element and, in my opinion, this is where the Gold Wing has a slight, and I mean slight, edge over the Beemer. Yes, the BMW feels a bit more sporty than the ’Wing but when it comes to piling on the miles, I’d just as soon be on the super-cushy Honda.
It feels a bit plusher between my legs than the BMW and, performance-wise, feels slightly more stable and planted than the BMW at speed. Again, not by much, but just enough to win me over.
Honda’s done exceptionally well with the Gold Wing, creating a new benchmark for the class.
Honda hit a home run with the ‘Wing’s new front-suspension system, which, I feel, is why it’s so stable and comfortable cruising down the highways, even at high speeds and over tarmac that’s long overdue for repair.
Another bonus, the Honda seems to get much better fuel economy than the BMW.
I know, the BMW has more storage space than the Gold Wing but not by much, and it really doesn’t matter to me at all that the Honda can’t accommodate a couple of medium-sized full-face helmet in its trunk; after all, it’s always packed with other things anyway, so that’s not a deal-breaker for me.
Overall, it’s a close call between these two amazingly good grand touring bikes. If you’re looking for something a bit more sporty, the BMW might be the bike for you, but I want comfort, so I want the Honda.CN
| SPECIFICATIONS |
2018 Honda Gold Wing ($27,700) |
| Engine: |
Flat six-cylinder, SOHC |
| Displacement: |
1833cc |
| Bore x stroke: |
73 x 73mm |
| Fuel injection: |
Electronic fuel injection system. |
| Transmission: |
7-speed Dual Clutch Transmission |
| Chassis: |
Twin-spar aluminum |
| Front suspension: |
Double wishbone type |
| Rear suspension: |
Pro Arm single sided swingarm with Pro Link shock |
| Front wheel travel: |
4.3 in. |
| Rear wheel travel: |
4.1 in. |
| Front brake: |
Dual 320mm discs with 6-piston opposed Nissin calipers and Combined-ABS |
| Rear brake: |
Single 316mm disc with 3-piston floating caliper and Combined-ABS |
| Front tire: |
130/70-18 in. |
| Front wheel: |
3.50 x 18 on. |
| Rear tire: |
200/55-16 in. |
| Rear wheel: |
6.0 x 16 in. |
| Wheelbase: |
66.7 in. |
| Seat height: |
29.3 in. |
| Fuel capacity: |
5.5 gal. |
| Weight: |
830 lbs. (wet) |
| SPECIFICATIONS |
2018 BMW K 1600 GTL ($28,844) |
| Engine: |
In line 6-cylinder, DOHC |
| Displacement: |
1649cc |
| Bore x stroke: |
72 x 67.5mm |
| Fuel injection: |
Electronic fuel injection system. |
| Transmission: |
6-speed |
| Chassis: |
Bridge-type frame, cast aluminum, load-bearing engine |
| Front suspension: |
BMW Duolever |
| Rear suspension: |
BMW Paralever |
| Front wheel travel: |
4.5 in. |
| Rear wheel travel: |
5.3 in. |
| Front brake: |
Dual 320mm discs with 4-piston calipers, ABS |
| Rear brake: |
Single 320mm disc with 2-piston caliper, ABS |
| Front tire: |
120/70 ZR17 in. |
| Front wheel: |
3.50 x 17 in. |
| Rear tire: |
190/55 ZR17 in. |
| Rear wheel: |
6.0 x 17 in. |
| Wheelbase: |
63.7 in. |
| Seat height: |
29.6 in. |
| Fuel capacity: |
7.0 gal. |
| Weight: |
775 lbs. (wet) |
