The Touring Engine Designed To Make Long-Distance Miles Disappear
What is touring, really? In the world of two wheels, put simply, it is getting from point A to point B by taking the scenic route. You can do that on almost any type of motorcycle, too. A Honda CBR650R? Sure. A Kawasaki KLX230 S? Of course, though that’s going to come with a lot more compromises than the former. And that’s really what touring on different motorcycles comes down to: compromises.
Riding position, wind protection, luggage capacity, and a dozen other things start to matter as the miles pile up. But there’s one compromise you might not notice right away, yet ten minutes into a ride, it can become the only thing you think about. We’re talking about the engine. You need something long-haul friendly here, and that’s where a certain Honda shines.
Why Peak Power Is The Wrong Thing To Look For In A Touring Engine
It starts with the kind of power it makes, and more importantly, where in the rev range it makes it. A touring engine doesn’t need to chase a huge peak-power figure if it can give you a healthy spread of torque without having to be worked hard. That makes passing slower traffic easier, keeps the bike moving cleanly when the road starts climbing, and means you aren’t constantly reaching for another gear every time the pace changes. When you’re doing that for hours rather than minutes, that relaxed delivery starts to matter a lot more than a big number on a spec sheet.
Then there is everything that happens around that power. Smoothness, manageable heat, sensible fuel consumption, and low vibration all become increasingly important when the road keeps stretching ahead of you. The best touring engines give you enough performance to make progress without constantly demanding your attention, allowing riders to focus on the road rather than what the engine is doing underneath them. That sounds straightforward, but getting all of those traits into one powertrain is no small engineering exercise, and few motorcycles have had as much time to prove that formula as the one we’re about to get into.
The Gold Wing’s Massive Engine Has Proven Itself Over Hundreds Of Thousands Of Miles
If you want to get all of those qualities into one engine and get an engineering exercise like this right, it wouldn’t be unwise to bet on the Japanese. Enter the Honda Gold Wing, and more specifically, its 1,833cc horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine. Spend enough time around long-distance riders and motorcycle forums, and you’ll quickly find that the Gold Wing is almost synonymous with ridiculous odometer readings.
There are documented examples of Gold Wings reaching well beyond 400,000 miles, including Emilio Scotto’s 1980 GL1100, which covered 485,000 miles during a 10-year journey around the world. Another Gold Wing owner documented 440,000 miles on a 1975 GL1000. But this reputation wasn’t built overnight, and neither was the flat-six that eventually became the heart of the Gold Wing.
Honda Has Spent Decades Learning What Long-Distance Riders Want
The Gold Wing looks like it was born to be a proper long-distance tourer, but that wasn’t quite how the story started. Honda’s first Gold Wing, the 1975 GL1000, was developed as a flagship high-speed machine for the U.S. market, with a 999cc liquid-cooled flat-four at its heart. It was the riders who began turning it into something more, adding fairings and luggage and using it for long-distance two-up riding.
Honda took notice. By the time the GL1100 arrived in 1980, the engine had grown to 1,085cc and was deliberately tuned for torque rather than maximum output, and the model itself had been redesigned as a tourer. The GL1200 then pushed that formula further, with Honda chasing more composure and comfort as the model’s following in North America continued to grow.
Went From Four Cylinders To Six For A Reason
Here’s where the story gets interesting: Honda had actually explored a flat-six before the first production Gold Wing ever existed. The M1 prototype was a 1,470cc liquid-cooled flat-six with shaft drive, created as Honda’s attempt to explore the outer limits of the grand-touring motorcycle. Its six-cylinder engine proved too large and complex for the production bike Honda wanted to build, so the company scaled the concept back to the more compact flat-four GL1000.
The six-cylinder idea never really disappeared, though. When Honda began developing the next-generation Gold Wing in the 1980s, engineers even used the M1 engine in a GL1200 chassis to compare a six-cylinder configuration directly with the existing four-cylinder setup. By 1988, Honda had its answer. The GL1500 arrived with a new 1,520cc horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine, after an extensive development program that produced 15 different prototypes.
Honda wasn’t simply chasing more cylinders or more power. It wanted an engine that was quiet, silky smooth, and powerful enough to take the Gold Wing further into luxury touring, while retaining the low-mounted boxer layout that had become central to the motorcycle. The result was the engine configuration that would define the Gold Wing for the next three decades and eventually evolve into the 1,833cc flat-six we have today.
Six Cylinders Bring A Different Kind Of Touring Character
Six cylinders aren’t there simply to make the Gold Wing sound exotic. The current 1,833cc flat-six produces 126 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 126 pound-feet of torque at 4,500 rpm (Honda Japan’s published figures; Honda does not officially publish horsepower and torque figures for the North American market), giving it substantial performance without needing to spin particularly high.
More importantly, six opposed cylinders make for an inherently well-balanced engine, with the opposing pistons helping reduce vibration. The firing intervals are also closely spaced, so the delivery feels exceptionally smooth as the engine builds speed. On a motorcycle that can spend hours at highway speeds, that combination of low vibration and effortless torque is a major part of what gives the Gold Wing its distinctive touring character.
Honda Made The Gold Wing’s Engine Bigger And Lighter At The Same Time
Honda didn’t simply enlarge the old six-cylinder engine to create the current Gold Wing. For 2018, it redesigned the powerplant around a more compact architecture, increasing displacement to 1,833cc while adopting a Unicam four-valve-per-cylinder cylinder head. That change helped Honda make the engine 13.9 pounds lighter, while the front section was shortened by 1.1 inches.
The result was a considerably more compact powerplant despite the increase in displacement, with the low-mounted boxer configuration retained to keep the engine’s mass down in the chassis. Honda also used the redesign to improve the engine’s breathing and efficiency, giving the flat-six a much more modern foundation without moving away from the configuration that has defined the Gold Wing since 1988.
Other Mechanicals Are Equally Touring Oriented Here
Obviously, when you buy a Gold Wing, Honda doesn’t just hand you the engine and tell you to figure out the rest yourself. The 1,833cc flat-six sits inside a much more modern chassis than the early Gold Wings had, with an aluminum frame and a double-wishbone front suspension. The Gold Wing uses upper and lower arms to control the front wheel, allowing Honda to position the engine closer to the front wheel while keeping the bike’s mass low. A single-sided swingarm and Showa suspension, with electronically adjustable damping and preload, are present, too.
Then there’s the drivetrain. The DCT adds automated shifting and an overdrive seventh gear for highway cruising, and both versions get a reverse function because, at more than 800 pounds, backing the Gold Wing out of a parking spot on foot isn’t exactly anyone’s idea of fun. Power reaches the rear wheel through a shaft drive, eliminating the regular cleaning, lubrication, and adjustment that come with a chain.
Standard Or Tour: Is The $4,000 Upgrade Worth It For Long-Distance Riding?
Honda currently gives North American buyers two versions of the Gold Wing. The 2027 Gold Wing starts at $25,700, while the Gold Wing Tour starts at $29,700. The Tour adds the equipment that makes sense when the motorcycle is expected to spend days rather than hours on the road, including a 61-liter trunk, 60 liters of integrated saddlebag storage, and electronic preload suspension. That gives the Tour 121 liters of total luggage capacity. Whether the moolah is justified is for you to decide.
Sources: Honda Powersports
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