HA! I see what you did there.
This is not how I roll.
This is not how I roll.
this is something that I've been shaking my head about for decades. When a m/c design team decides that a bike will come with factory hardbags, what goes through their heads when they decide things like "it seems like a great idea to route the exhaust really high, and put a big sideways "U" in the saddlebag for clearance, nobody will mind that inconvenience". Hard bags should maintain their primary shape on both sides, mufflers and other hardware can be routed around the bags, not the other way around. These are big, bulky bikes that really don't need that much optimization for weight, ground clearance, etc. so it seems like working around the bags, like on the ST1100 isn't really that hard of a design task.The side bag storage space is problematic. On the swingarm side there is a big intrusion for the pumpkin that takes up the sweet spot in the bag. The other side isn't as bad, but they're still 30L vs the ST's 35L. .
Thanks for the link!By far the best review of the new Wing: http://wingstuff.com/blog_detail/66013_2018_gold_wing_first_ride_review_by_fred_harmon
The author is very active and well respected on the GL1800 forum.
Having had a couple wings in the past... the reverse is definitely a great feature.. especially for us short-legged people... lol.. Heck, I wish my Super Ten had reverse sometimes.Nice review. Only flaw I've read in that review is that he said the "standard" Gold Wing does not have reverse (unless he was referring only to the manual version, but he stated "the one without a trunk" so that would seem to include both Gold Wing models). Only the manual version of the Gold Wing (without trunk) does not have reverse, the DCT version of the Gold Wing does per what I read in on the Honda site. What both of the Gold Wing models don't have is the 4 electronically adjustable preload settings feature, which is only on all versions of the Gold Wing Tour. Not trying to be picky, but that is one item (reverse) I'm interested in and one of many reasons I lean to the Gold Wing DCT. The electronic preload is nice but I'm willing to do without that one since I tend to set and forget things like that.
I'm interested in seeing what changes they make, due to customer feedback, in the 2019/2020 models. Will they increase fuel capacity, storage capacity or whatever else the consumer wants?