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The Gold Wing History
Visit the Photo Album and view the History of
The Gold Wing from 1975 to 2001
Honda didn't invent Touring on a Motorcycle
They just reinvented it again and again!
1972 As the bounds of workable displacement were being pushed farther back (CB 450, CB 750, Kawasaki Z-1) every few years, Honda began an engineering project to explore the outer limits of motorcycle design. It was again time to build a corporate flagship and revise the limits of what was possible. But just how big, how powerful, how wild could a two-wheeled vehicle be and still be a motorcycle? In the closing weeks of 1972, Honda put together a design team led by Soichiro Irimajiri, who headed up design of the five- and six-cylinder road racing engines of the 1960s.The team develops the M1, a top-secret prototype designed to explore the outer limits of the Grand Touring concept. The super-fast M1 features a liquid-cooled horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine with shaft drive–features that surface in the Gold Wing line in years to come.
1974
After two intense years of development, Honda unveils the GL™1000 at the Cologne show in October of 1974. Honda positions the Gold Wing as a landmark machine and touts its many revolutionary features. The public at large, however, is unsure how to position the GL. Its hot-rod engine performance places it near the top of the Super Bike class, yet its remarkable smoothness, comfort, reliability and roominess soon endow the Gold Wing with a reputation for open-road prowess.
1975
The first production model GL1000 came out in 1975, and was in production until 1979. The bike was listed as a touring bike, but it came as a bare bike. Other than minor changes in the exhaust system, this bike remained virtually unchanged for its entire run.With more than 80 percent of Gold Wing production being exported to North America, a vital need arose to build a production plant in the U.S. Although Honda had been building overseas plants for more than 25 years, the move to America in the 1970s was risky. To most consumers, Honda’s made-in-Japan quality was its strongest selling point, and building in America could jeopardize this hard-earned reputation–not just for the Gold Wing, but for all Honda products for decades to come. Nevertheless, Honda forged ahead, and on September 10, 1979, the first Honda of America Manufacturing (HAM) plant begins production.
1980
The GL1100 was introduced for the 1980 model year. Honda’s research shows the passenger plays an important role in the purchase decision, so Honda creates the most innovative Gold Wing yet. One of the biggest changes (beside a 1085cc flat 4 cylinder engine) was that they introduced the Interstate model. The Interstate model was equipped with factory-installed fairing and luggage–huge advantages for long-haul travel. This is the start of their turn-key touring machine, a trend all competing manufacturers would follow.
1981
May 1981 saw Goldwing production moved from Japan to Marysville, Ohio, USA. This has to have been a very clever and well thought out move by Honda, creating jobs for Americans to produce their flagship motorcycle in the USA. Many may dispute the fact that the Gold Wing is made in America but 1981 was the start of another American made motorcycle.
1982
In quick succession, Honda introduces the concept of luxury touring with the Aspencade. Amenities abound in standard trim, including LCD instrumentation, stereo, CB, on-board air-compressor and thoughtful touches such as the handy storage pouches in the passenger backrest. At the same time, through the use of Redpages in its advertising, Honda underscores its technological edge.
The introduction of the GL1200 brings a larger, more sophisticated engine and significant changes to the chassis as well. A new 16-inch front wheel helps provide an ease in steering effort that was unknown in a full-dress touring machine.
With introduction of the GL1200, Honda immediately starts R/D on the next generation Gold Wing which will dominate the touring motorcycle industry for over a decade.
Following the success of its Marysville Motorcycle Plant, Honda builds an engine plant in nearby Anna, Ohio, to build Gold Wing engines. Just as Marysville’s success paved the way for Honda’s auto manufacturing in America, the Anna Engine Plant moved from manufacturing GL engines alone to building powerplants for Civics and Accords. At Anna, all casting, forging, machining and heat-treating processes necessary to turn raw materials into finished, sophisticated engines reside under one roof. One associate proudly observes, “We do what seven Honda plants do in Japan.”
In 1988 a completely new "fourth generation" Gold Wing appeared, the Honda GL1500 Gold Wing. This is the first new version of the GL engine since the prototype of 1972. The development of this model started in 1984, when the GL1200 was introduced. This was the first massed produced flat-six cylinder horizontal engine. The massive engine had a displacement of 1520 cc. The GL1500 continued in production until 2001 and had many innovative improvements and changes made during it’s production. Honda continued to improve all aspects of it’s flagship. This model was continued and became the 25th anniversary model in 2000. The Gl1500 lasted 13 years as the premier touring bike. The only bike to try and keep up with the GL1500 was the BMW K1200LT and that was to change soon.
The next-generation GL begins to take shape under the guidance of Masanori Aoki, a sport-bike enthusiast who has already headed up development of high performance bikes including the CBR®250RR, CBR400RR and the CBR600F3. “We set out to keep 80 percent of the Gold Wing’s touring capability,” Aoki says. He also adds, “My job is to add more fun factor, to build a Gold Wing with the kind of acceleration and handling people normally associate with sporting machines.”
After considering flat-four, flat-six and flat-eight engine configurations, customer response overwhelmingly points to a flat-six of about 1800cc displacement.
The Gold Wing’s 20th anniversary represents a major milestone, an event that Honda celebrates enthusiastically with three commemorative models and the publication of a special hard-cover book that details the entire history of the Gold Wing.
The one-millionth Honda motorcycle made in America rolls off the Marysville assembly line. Appropriately enough, the millionth model is a Gold Wing; this commemoration is altogether fitting, since the success of the Gold Wing and that of Honda in America are intertwined.
In January 2000, the Marysville Motorcycle Plant is thoroughly redesigned to build the new Gold Wing. As part of this process, the engine production line is transferred from Anna to Marysville to facilitate the new Gold Wing production.
The Gold Wing’s new era officially begins when the first complete GL1800 rolls off the Marysville assembly line on October 10, 2000.
2001
If you thought that the Gold Wing could not be better, and more beautiful, you would be wrong. With the introduction of the new Honda GL1800 Gold Wing the future of motorcycle touring was advanced, again. his revolutionary new model was introduced at the Intermot exhibition in Munich (September 13-17, 2000). The GL1800 was a completely new model with a flat-six engine with a displacement of 1832 cc.
The word “new” cannot do justice to the GL1800. Two numbers alone tell a big story: 118 bhp and 125 lb./ft. of torque. Don’t try to find other bikes that compare, because there aren’t any. In terms of power, comfort, dependability and options, the new Gold Wing is literally in a class of one.
Likewise, the list of motorcycles offering a box-section aluminum frame begins with the word “Gold” and ends with “Wing.” And that’s only the beginning. Before the GL1800 was completed, Honda would patent more than 20 technological innovations that were incorporated into this amazing high-performance luxury touring motorcycle. This model has an extruded aluminum frame that is made from only 31 parts, as compared to 130 parts on the Gl1500. The GL1800 frame also weighed 25 pounds less, but was more rigid. The design changes also made the bigger bike weigh 40 pounds less!
This Model is currently in production and is still leading the motorcycle industry with improvements such as the first motorcycle air bag.
Honda is still continuing to continue to improve the Gold Wing and even though some may dispute it, but they are the undisputed King of Touring Motorcycles.
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