This Honda Feels Like A Gold Wing Without The Extra Weight
The Honda Gold Wing has always been the benchmark among touring bikes. It takes the spotlight by having the right balance of comfort, performance, luxury, and practicality. Despite being the gold standard for touring motorcycles, it has a weakness: weight.
While many accept that trade-off, another Honda model delivers a similarly well-rounded package without the extra weight. Surely, it can never match the luxury appeal and grandeur of the Gold Wing. But packing similar levels of versatile cross-country potential while costing less than half as much makes a strong case for this underrated sport-tourer.
What Makes The Honda Gold Wing So Special
The Honda Gold Wing is the ultimate luxury touring motorcycle that helped put Japanese manufacturers on the map, locking horns with the big guns from Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle. It has been proving its cross-country versatility and reliability for over half a century now. Consistency has always been the key to the Gold Wing’s success.
Honda has been refining its various unique engineering components over the years. One example is the flat-six engine layout, which has remained unchanged since 1988. Because of the famed Honda reliability, it is common for older Gold Wings to exceed 100,000 miles. In fact, a 2015 model surpassed 700,000 miles on its original engine with just annual maintenance and preventive care.
Matching The Gold Wing’s Versatile Charm Is Tough For Fellow Touring Bikes
The current-gen Gold Wing is the only motorcycle in the world offering a seven-speed Dual-Clutch Automatic transmission. Complementing its unkillable nature are versatile underpinnings that help this sizable touring bike move more nimbly than many of its rivals. This is thanks to a unique suspension setup comprising a double-wishbone layout up front and a Pro-Link monoshock mounted to a single-sided swingarm at the rear.
There’s ample space for the rider and pillion, and an accessible seat height of 29.3 inches makes it an approachable tourer for many. The sharp styling is functional, with a neatly integrated electronically controlled windscreen and sculpted fairings aiding in wind deflection. The technology suite is top-spec and is loaded with comfort, convenience, and safety features to uphold its luxurious mile-munching DNA.
Its Heft, However, Gets In The Way
The Honda Gold Wing is a near-perfect touring motorcycle that is actually paving the way and inspiring rivals, including the mighty BMW K 1600 lineup. However, there is a catch. All the uncompromised luxury, comfort, and six-cylinder punch add a lot of heft to this tourer.
It sure is the case with all low-slung touring bikes. In fact, Honda has tried its best to minimize its weight disadvantage, as the standard Gold Wing bagger weighs 806 pounds. Nonetheless, it’s still heavy, especially when considering riding it in the city or along winding mountain roads.
Maneuvering this land yacht is no child’s play. But what if we told you that there is another Honda touring bike that can offer comfort, convenience, luxury, and sportiness, albeit at less than half the price and with a curb weight more than 250 pounds lower? The lesser-appreciated Honda NT1100 DCT is the surprise Gold Wing alternative.
The Honda That Performs Like A Sports Bike But Rides Like A Tourer
This tall, standing, and comfortable, mile-munching Honda is powered by a Fireblade-derived four-cylinder sports bike engine.
Price: $11,999
This is a solid alternative to the Honda Gold Wing as it uses a similar formula, packing top-spec technology and comfort features to keep the rider and pillion cocooned in luxury. Giving the NT1100 sport-tourer an edge is its fusion of long-distance comfort and sportbike-grade dynamics. This makes it a very versatile motorcycle for long-distance touring, with ample add-on storage and convenience features.
But it is its ability to be a breezy daily commuter and a confident corner carver that gives it the edge over the Gold Wing while retaining a similar premium appeal. A major contributor to this is its much lower curb weight of 547 pounds compared to the Gold Wing’s 800+ figure. Being priced at under $12,000 gives it outstanding value, too, as the Gold Wing starts at $25,500.
Its Tractable Parallel-Twin Engine Can Do Both Highway And Urban Duties With Ease
The Honda NT1100’s 1,084 cc parallel-twin engine has proven its versatility with both adventure and sporty duties. Honda deploys the same engine on the dune-bashing Africa Twin ADV and the neo-retro Rebel 1100 cruiser bike. It also powers the forbidden Hawk 11 café racer, further strengthening its sporty side.
The NT1100 produces 100 horsepower at 7,500 RPM and 82 pound-feet of torque at 5,500 RPM. The torque surges early, which helps this sport-tourer have a meaty low- and mid-range performance. This notably contributes to its peppy urban performance and swift highway runs.
Complemented With An Automatic Gearbox That Enhances The Riding Experience
Its standard six-speed Dual-Clutch Automatic transmission is a game-changer for riding comfort and convenience. It offers the best of both worlds with scooter-like twist-and-go acceleration in Auto mode. For those who crave more engagement, Honda offers a manual mode that uses two neatly integrated handlebar shifters to mimic paddle shifters. Other advantages of this automatic gearbox include no stalling, reduced fatigue, improved fuel efficiency under certain riding conditions, and enhanced low-speed maneuverability, especially on steep winding roads.
Versatile Underpinnings Help The Honda NT1100 Even Take Corners With Conviction
Like the engine, the NT1100 shares its frame with the Africa Twin and the Rebel 1100. Its semi-double cradle frame is suspended on 43 mm inverted Showa SFF-BP front forks and a rear Pro-Link monoshock. Both ends offer preload-adjustability and 5.9 inches of travel.
Braking duties are courtesy of dual 310 mm discs coupled to radial-mounted four-piston calipers. The rear gets a single 256 mm disc coupled to a single-piston caliper. Its 17-inch lightweight alloy wheels, shod with 120-section front and 180-section rear road tires, help give it confidence-inspiring cornering.
The Tourer That Balances Luxury, Performance, And Practicality
All-day ergonomics without sacrificing sluggish handling helps this Yamaha prove that a sport-tourer can be both comfortable and agile
A Futuristic Design That Is Highly Practical
Honda has done a commendable job of balancing futuristic styling and practicality on the NT1100. The front fascia gets a sharp fairing design with angry-looking DRLs in the headlamp assembly. It is strongly reminiscent of the Honda X-ADV scooter. The design of this sport-tourer is front-heavy, resembling a prancing animal even when stationary.
The front is populated by a two-piece wind deflector, an adjustable windscreen, and a lower wind deflector that extends to the handlebar ends. Honda also provides dedicated slots for auxiliary lights to avoid disrupting the design’s edgy flow. The rear section of this tourer is intentionally minimal to accommodate optional side cases and a top box with ease.
Most of its optional accessories are focused on improving the NT1100’s long-distance comfort, convenience, and capabilities. Dimensions are tight here, with a wheelbase of 60.4 inches, a seat height of 32.3 inches, and a curb weight of 547 pounds. These figures help make the NT1100 a comfortable city bike. The quick-release properties of the luggage system also help reduce bulk when needed.
The Best Technology Suite For The Price
Honda impresses by loading the NT1100 with top-spec technology features for the price. In fact, it punches well above its weight in terms of its feature list. The cockpit is adorned with a large 6.5-inch TFT touchscreen and a secondary slim LCD just below it. The former helps access all connected features, including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It even displays incoming calls and messages via Bluetooth.
The smaller screen below displays vital info, including speed, gear shift indicator, warning lights, and riding range, among others. In terms of safety and assistance, the NT1100 is loaded with features like a six-axis IMU, cornering ABS, traction control, Rear Lift Control, and even Wheelie Control. Further enhancing the riding experience are five ride modes (Urban, Rain, Tour, and two custom modes), ride-by-wire, and heated grips.
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The Honda NT1100 DCT Flexes By Being Good At Everything
This Honda sport-tourer gets everything just right for an aggressive price tag. This is made possible by the parts-bin sharing that Honda uses across many of its motorcycles. It reduces R&D costs while helping Honda reallocate funds to differentiating features, making the NT1100 a more polished motorcycle.
Its price tag of under $12,000 makes it an easy VFM choice among sport-tourers. The NT1100’s value proposition is so strong that this liter-class bike is more affordable and versatile than many value-packed middleweight rivals, such as the $13,070 BMW F 900 XR, the $12,599 Yamaha Tracer 9, and the $12,845 Triumph Tiger Sport 800.
Source: Honda Powersports
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