In 2002 I was itching to put a large touring bike in the garage. I had reached the place in my life where I was not going to settle for anything less than the best. Of course, the best is relative and completely subjective to a personal point of view. I wanted something reliable, a bike that I could put 10,000 miles on in one trip and not worry about maintenance issues and such. I wanted state of the art technology. It had to be comfortable, but just as important it had to be fun. I've owned Goldwings before and I've had an ElectraGlide. But I knew that I had to include BMW, Kawasaki and Suzuki in my search.
During the summer Carole and I were commuting to Santa Cruz frequently. Across from her hairdresser was a Harley Davidson shop. We stepped in there a few times to look over the Ultra Glides. They were impressive aesthetically and felt comfortable sitting still. But there was a stigma about Harley reliability that I wasn't able to clear from my mind. You've heard the old stories about leaks and such. Plus, the technology was pretty much old school. The prices were pretty high but I heard plenty of stories about Harley's maintaining their resale value. But further research revealed that HD was beginning to run into an over-stock situation and a lot of the high resale value was based on low miles. Which ever bike I ended up with was not going to be low mileage, and resale is never truly a consideration for me anyway.
I went to a local BMW shop and took a look at the K1200LT. It was another impressive looking bike but seemed to be under-powered when compared to other state of the art touring machines. It also had an extremely high center of gravity. The price was also unjustified in my book. The relatively low number of dealerships across America bothered me as well. Dealer support when on the road is always a consideration for long distance touring. The cost of scheduled maintenance also turned me off. And then there was the intangible.... the bike just didn't appeal to me.
I looked at the Kawasaki Vulcan, all of the Suzuki models, the Yamaha FJR and V-Star, and several other metric touring bikes and nothing appealed to me at all. I then visited a Honda dealership and took a look at the GL1800. I fell in love. It was 100% appeal right away. I started doing my home work on the bike and learned about ABS, Linked Brakes, anti-dive, dual radiators, and quite a bit about new fuel injection systems. In the fall I knew which bike I really wanted, but it was a family decision and Carole still had a fondness in her heart for the Harleys.
In the spring of 2003 we continued our quest, now having the bikes narrowed down to the FLHTCUI and the GL1800. What surprised me about both dealerships that we were bouncing between was that no one was really trying to sell me a bike. With just a little effort from either dealership I would have owned their machine. Instead, I was on my own. I was totally slanted toward the GL1800 because of the technology, the infrequent maintenance schedule, the power, and the price. Carole was admittedly swayed toward the Harley because of the lifestyle. And heck, considering that motorcycling is a lifestyle, her reasons were as valid as mine. In early May we were at the Honda dealer and saw an Illusion Blue Wing sitting on the showroom floor. I put my arms around the fairing and I could have sworn I felt the bike hug back. Carole saw this and I could see her heart melt.
On May 29 we were celebrating my birthday at my mother's house in Washington when Carole handed me a birthday card. Inside was a brochure for the GL1800 with the simple words, "Ride your dream" inscribed inside. On June 5 I rode home on my brand new 2003 Illusion Blue GL1800. It had no accessories on it at all. The next couple of years proved one thing; there is not a better touring bike on the market for me.
This is not your father's Goldwing. Comparing the GL1800 to the GL1500 is like comparing Porsche 928 to the Porsche 924. They really are two different classes of bikes. The GL1800 has power to spare. It has an extremely high and flat torque curve. In other words regardless of which gear you are in when you open the throttle, you better be holding on. The bike accelerates smoothly all the way through its rpm range, and smoothly includes fast. The bike feels heavy when sitting still, but as soon as it gets to around 3 mph it loses most of its weight and begs you to challenge the most technical roads.
Speaking of technical roads, the bike begs to be taken through the tight turns and curves of the back roads. Of course this is not to imply that this bike is a sport bike, but I wouldn't say as much out loud standing next to a GL1800... it might be offended. The shorter wheel base, the lower center of gravity, and the higher ground clearance all add up to this bike doing figure eights inside of the tightest circles the GL1500 can make! (thats only a slight exageration) And when you twist the throttle coming out of those curves you feel like you are on the release cycle of a slingshot. I've taken the GL1800 onto the Skyline Hwy in the Santa Cruz Mountains several times and have watched sport bikes disappear in my rear view mirrors. Sure, a lot has to do with the lack of rider skills on a lot of those sport bikes. But I've never ridden a touring bike before that could outrun even a medium skilled sport bike rider before.
Suffice to say, on perfomance alone the GL1800 can not be matched by other pure touring machines, including the GL1500. However, the cargo carrying capability on the GL1800 leaves a bit to be desired. The awkward shape of the saddlebags keep them from being able to hold a full size helmet, although the trunk will hold two full sized helmet. The saddlebag opening mechanism is also suspect, with a service bulletin having been issued to fix the problem on 2001 - 2004 GL1800's (click on this link for a full list of the GL1800 Service Bulletins
). The lid on the trunk is also prone to rubbing itself to destruction. Honda created a weak lid system that relies on little plastic nubs to complete the fit of the lid. However, normal road vabration will rub these nubs down to nothing in about 20,000 miles and then serious damage will be incurred to the lid or at least the fit gets to looking all wrong. You can avoid the problem by installing something where the lid meets the trunk, such as Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers http://www.dixonymachine.com/RBBB.htm or some type of self adhesive felt padding. I put some tubing inside the rubber seal that runs around the inside of the lid but that proved to be just a short term fix. The rattling every time you hit a bump can drive you batty. Additionally, Honda designed the trunk lid so that it doesn't support more than 2 pounds of weight, rendering trunk racks useless. I went ahead an installed a trunk rack and reinforced the lid a little with Star Washers , but its a risky proposition at best when I load the rack up with anything.
The cockpit area of the GL1800 is impressive. The contols are logically placed, the gauges and displays are easy to read, and everything is within easy reach. I'm what I would consider an average size rider: 72" tall with a 34" inseam, 180 pounds, and average length arms. My shoulders, arms, and knees can comfortably ride for 1,000 miles with only stops for fuel. The stock seat is good for about 700 miles before my butt begans to get uncomfortable. I guess I could look for an aftermarket seat and spend around $1,000.00 for a seat that would add another 300 miles a day but I find that most days are far less than 700 miles. I'll live with the pain when I go for distance, that's part of the mystique and challenge anyway, I have no complaints about the cockpit area but there are others that complain about wind buffetting. At about 300 miles on my bike I had added the Tulsa Mirror Air Deflectors http://www.tulsaenterprises.com/1800.html to keep cold air off my hands. They also reduced the buffeting in the cockpit area for the co-rider. Others have gone so far as adding ridiculously large windshields and air deflectors all around the fairing. I guess my experience riding bikes for years with no windshield or fairing has me content with the wind. If I wanted to get rid of the wind I would jump in my car and roll up the windows.
The lights on the bike are second to none. The headlights, turn signals, running lights and brake lights illuminate this bike better than any other bike from the factory. Of course I added even more lighting to make my presence on the road even more obvious, but anyone that claims they didn't see a stock GL1800 coming down the road would probably miss seeing a taxiing airliner as well. The headlights do an outstanding job of illuminating the road at night. Turning on the brights creates daylight! My only recommendation would be to add 55 watt fog lights at your earliest opportunity, don't bother with the Honda brand 35 watt lights. Either way, this beast should have come stock with the fog lights. They do an outstanding job of lighting up the pavement immediately in front of the bike and provide a much more obvious profile during the day and at night.
All in all, this is the most exceptional bike I've ever owned. Its had a couple of safety recalls, and has some issues with fit and finish in some minor areas. But it is a motorcycle and I expect it to need some tweaking. It is the most gnarley touring bike on the road and will eat your fathers GL1500 for lunch. Beware: If you take a GL1800 out for a test drive I doubt that you will ever be happy motorcycling again until you own one. For the first time in my life there is no other bike I wish I owned.