So, I had the fantastic Honda GoldWing Tour (with DCT & airbag) for 48 hours - Weds, Thurs & Fri. "What travels & adventures did you get up to then Don", I hear you ask. Actually not so much! For the three days that I had the bike it tipped down with rain! I had a great but very wet & windy ride down on Weds. Nothing at all on Thursday - owing to non stop rain & pressure of work. On Friday, for half of the return journey to Doble Motorcycles in Coulsden the skies threw with rain! When I got to Guildford it started to dry up - then the rest of the journey was dry. My route was Waterlooville, A3 to Tolworth, Stoneleigh, Ewell, Banstead, Chipstead, Coulsden.
I'd have loved to have spent much of my 48 hour loan - in the saddle of this lovely bike but the weather truly wasn't conducive to truly having fun on a 383Kg (yes you did read that right) bike. Such a shame. God willing lets see if we can revisit this experience in Spring or Summer next year? When I wasn't worrying about the downpour or the state of the roads - the ride was sublime: smooth but powerful ability to cruise. This would be a wonderful bike to tour on - for rider & pillion. Kim didn't get to go for a ride on the Wing, but she had a go in the rear seat & found it very comfortable. Calli liked it too!
The Gold Wing is a truly impressive machine: 1800cc flat 6 engine, 7 speed DCT gearbox, 4 speaker sound system, SatNav, cruise control, heated grips, heated rider & pillion seats (pillion seat is independently adjustable), perspex air dams offering wonderful wind & rain protection, electrically adjustable windscreen, keyless start, start / stop technology, great luggage capacity, & amazing fuel economy for such a big beast (best part of 50MPG).
The finish is typically top drawer Honda - paint was beautiful in "pearl hawkseye blue". You could imagine the pride of ownership that comes with such an amazing motorcycle. However as I observed in Sept 2018, you'd struggle if this was your only bike - it is very big(!), not sure it's the right tool for scratching round the back lanes on a weekend...
I handed the wonderful Wing back to Paul @ Doble & collected my amazing Ariel from Robin in the service dept. I have to say, I love my CB1000R+ - what an incredible, life affirming bike! It rained for ~1/2 the journey back but because she is so short, light, fast & dynamic - I didn't really notice it! I had to give her a good scrub (Praise the Lord for Muck-Off!) before tucking her away in the garage.
