The Story So Far

I must admit, I was surprised when I got e-mailed from Vancouver Island, with a link to Steve Saunders Goldwing Page, telling me about the photo pages which included the London New Years Day 2001 Parade shots taken by Niall Gorman, and I didn't even know Niall was taking any pictures. To cap it all, this was only a few hours after the parade ended! Anyway, here's the story so far.

I first laid eyes on the 1800 at the Munich Bike Show, and thought at the time it was too much like a BMW in appearance, but the Illusion Red on the turntable, under spotlights really did show it off well. When I managed to get into the publicity DVD from Honda, I could then appreciate all of the points of such a radical change. It is a completely new machine, nothing is interchangeable from the 1500. I have had 2 1500's, and have had much pleasure from each, but thought the advances listed were worth going for, so went searching for a supplier.

Back in October, I contacted John Preston, of "Bushtec Trailers" in Tennessee on another matter and curiously asked him if he knew where I might find an 1800, quickly. His advice directed me to Jim Creasy's motorcycle shop, in Lexington, Tennessee and sure enough, Jim was expecting 8 new Wings. I ordered one there and then. A few days later, I sent a fax, confirming which accessories I wanted, and agreeing the price. I can tell you that it was discounted already.

We then had a wait, to get final delivery dates, originally set at around Nov 15th, but changed to Dec 8th, some hold-ups at the factory. In the meantime, I was trying to arrange for flights, to & from Lexington for passengers plus freighting flight for 1800 home,

as well as trying to find an insurer. David Grist of H-C Travel in Hampshire was my saviour here. I had used his services previously and they proved successful again.

On Dec 7th, we flew out to Nashville, and were picked up by Clowis, from Creasys, who took us on the 2 hours drive to Lexington.

When we arrived, the welcoming group awaited us, including Beverly, Jim's secretary who had done nearly all of the arranging of sales, delivery, registering etc. The 1800 looked stunning in the cold wintery sunlight, with all the shades to be seen from whichever angle you looked at it. I took it for a familiarization ride of about 5 miles. Riding it was easy, it doesn't appear to be as bulky as a1500, is very responsive to throttle, and handles well. Braking was a revelation, so positive and easy to bring speed down with very little effort, even using only the handbrake. After much swapping of tales and plans made for our stay, we unloaded our bags that we had brought with us into the new Wing luggage and found ample space for everything we normally travel with. Off we went, two-up for a little ride round the local roads, which were quiet, dry and mostly smooth. Now we could get familiar with the different layout and effects of the multitude of knobs and switches, and there are many changes in this area, from the 1500's.

The next 2 days found us out and about taking to Interstates and country roads, including a run of 100 miles to Memphis, to see Gracelands, and thoroughly tried out the 1800's suggested attributes. It lived up to the all that was said of it. Comfort for 2 greatly improved, handling, braking, engine responses, suspension, slipstreaming from windscreen, hot handlebars, audio etc, all were superior to anything that I had ever found on any other 'bike. Didn't try "higher speeds" being considerate to new machinery, and taking note of advice from my passenger (she lets me know when it's fast enough!), but I must say we enjoyed it all.

We found time to visit "Tulsa Accessories" factory in Lexington, to chat to Allen & Phyllis Smith, the owners who we had met previously at WingDing in Billings, and Allen showed us the screen he had developed for the 1800, in case anyone needed to change. There are more bits planned, to accessorize the 1800!

The next stage of our trip was to ride down to Atlanta for the flight home. The onboard temperature gauge showed 27F, cold but dry.

This is where the plans had to be amended. The airport had an embargo on shipping hazardous cargoes, which the 1800 was, so we had to divert to Orlando. Leaving Atlanta in sleet and 32F was fun! but when we rode down the Interstates, I saw the temperature gradually going up to 70F by evening time, when we stopped at a motel. The CB came in very handy on that part of the trip, chatting to truckers that were doing all of 80mph, and passing us. I had the cruise set to about 65/70 mph, legal limits.

At Orlando, we checked with the air freighters, "Virgin Atlantic" and US Customs, dealt with the paperwork, and handed the 1800 over for safe keeping. A hired car was our transport for the next 2 days, which enabled us to get to Daytona Beach and Kennedy Space Centre. We then came home on the 18th Dec and collected the 1800 from Gatwick on the 19th. It was great to see it had arrived home intact. There's always that fear that something might get damaged, but so far so good.

Now I had to deal with British Customs. I had all the relevant papers ready and showed them the Bill of Sale (without the accessories) and they worked out my taxes. YOW!, HOW MUCH. I had forgot about VAT on taxes. The hidden costs!

Now I was a little depressed, but after filling up with petrol (another shock, from 71cents a gallon to 84p a litre) I got under way, remembering to ride on the left. Having achieved some 1420 miles so far, I reckoned I could speed up a bit, on my own round the M25. That 'bike is quick!! The lights are superb, both front and back. Handling is so much more sport orientated, it is easy to adjust to fast riding when wanted. Brakes inspire confidence to, allowing rapid progress, even in the dark.

Having now tried it out on slow riding, as in the London Parade, I reckon that this evolution of the Goldwing concept has been every bit as worthwhile as all the previous revisions of the marque.

Update January 27th, 2002.

During the early part of last year, I used the 1800 for regular riding, in all weathers, and enjoyed it immensely. The heated grips certainly are worth having, they give enough heat and a regulated to differing temps, but most importantly, the bikes electronics sense when the battery is losing too much juice, so the grips turn off automatically, thus saving the dead battery scenario. Riders of 1500's with hot grips know what can happen if the generator doesn't put enough into the battery.

I kept a close eye on the bike and its several parts, could not work out why the CB would not transmit, or at least, it did in some circumstances, like being parked up near another Wing, but out on the road, no joy at all, even though I could hear others from way off, miles out of sight. Still got to get that fixed. One dissapointment was to see how quickly the wheels oxidized and no amount of hosing and buffing would keep them clean for more than a few days. It is not really practical to have to polish the alloy every few hundred miles or on a daily basis. I tried to find an anodizer to plate them, but the metallurgists reckoned the preparation bath would pit the alloy too much for a nice finish, so declined to do it for me. The same problem came up when considering having them chrome plated. The platers would not guarantee the job for more than one year, so another no no.

I had powder coated two 1500's sets of wheels, but they did not shine, although they did look clean most of the time, and certainly made maintenance easy. NO crevices or corners for road muck and brake dust to lodge in. My way of dealing with the 1800 was to have them painted in high gloss silver enamel, by a firm who do auto wheels. The very sporty types used by BM's and Mercs always seemed to look good. To give the shine additional strength, I had several coats of lacquer added, so now my wheels hardly look different from the original, and they stay easy clean as well.

Trips were made to Belgium and Holland, as well as France, but without a trailer for camping, as I had no suitable hitch at that time. However, knowing I wanted to camp sometimes, I ordered a trailer and hitch from Bushtec in Tennessee, and went over to collect it.

This was part of my big holiday to USA for Wing Ding, and so picked up the very first Bushtec trailer which had been made to match the 1800 with the Illusion Red paint and matching tail lamps, whilst over there. During that trip, I experienced the speedo fail that others have had, after stopping to a photo shoot in strong sunlight. Unfortunately, the Honda factory sent the Euro speedo to the dealer who had arranged the swop, which has the abs warning light on the dash. So now I have a dashboard with a permanent red warning light, indicating ABS failure. Bit confusing, 'cos my 1800 is non-ABS !

The other problem which showed was the failure of the side stand kill switch. This meant I could ride off with the stand down. I found out that it was caused by a cable serving the hot grips being nipped where it entered the left side grip cover, but it took a long time to trace. Many people have been asking about tyre wear, and several US Wingers could not believe I had done over 10 thou miles on mine, and they didn't show any irregular wear patterns, where there's could be seen to be wearing strangely. I know a UK rider who is on his 4th set in 12 thou miles! I swapped mine at 12500 miles, only because the rear had worn flat section, making town corners uncertain for stability senses. We are getting ready for this years trips and Belgium and France on are on the list, together with a 6 week trip to USA & Canada for Americade and Wing Ding, and look forward to more memorable miles. TTFN Peter

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