John Marshall's Home Page
Back to Interstate Page!Note:
The following
is part of an EMAIL, edited to protect both the guilty and the innocent, sent to
a friend who is actually considering getting rid of his Harley and trying either
a Valkyrie or a GL 1800.
-----Start
of EMAIL message-----
Following, on the basis of about 400 miles of experience, is a GL 1800 report
along with comments and comparisons to the Valkyrie Interstate that I recently
traded.
I picked up my new Wing 2/12/01, to honor Honest Abe, and parted with my
Valkyrie. Before I left the
dealership, I did spend a little time alone with my beloved Valkyrie, to say
goodbye. I thought that you would want to know that!
Now to the new bike:
My first impression was that the bike was lighter (it is actually heavier) than
the Valkyrie. This is, I assume, a result of near flawless weight distribution.
The center of gravity of this bike is very low. Another observation
related to balance and weight distribution is that I can easily center stand the
new Wing in tennis shoes. Center
standing the Valkyrie Interstate, using the after-market center stand, is truly
a Herculean task. Another first
impression is that the exhaust note is not quite as muted as that of the stock
GL 1500, and it is lower in pitch and much more mellow than that of the stock
Valkyrie exhaust. It is also much
quieter than the stock Valkyrie exhaust, perhaps too quiet.
The fuel injection works flawlessly; start it and go without concern about a
choke or engine temperature. The dash layout and controls are more attractive
than those of the GL 1500 and much less confusing and more attractive than those
on the Valkyrie Interstate. The
dash is both attractive and functional. The clocks, gauges and displays are
clear and easy to read and do not require you to take your eyes off the road.
Furthermore, the audio controls are intuitive; they are far less complex
than those of the Valkyrie Interstate. Of
course most things, including nuclear physics, are less complex than the audio
controls on the 'State.
The power delivery is seamless, and the torque could only be described as
awesome, and this evaluation is made with a new engine with only a few miles on
it.
The transmission is much improved. Honda transmissions have, over time, been
mediocre at best, but apparently Honda has decided to do something about that. I
would rank this transmission right up there with the recent Kawasaki bikes,
whose transmissions I consider the standard of excellence in the industry.
Gone is the old familiar "clunk" when you drop into first, and
subsequent shifts are more like the smooth shifts of a chain-driven bike than
the frequently clunky shifts of a shaft-driven bike.
The fairing is smaller than both the fairing on the GL 1500SE and the fairing on
the Valkyrie Interstate, and yet the wind protection seems as good or better,
and turbulence and wind noise seem reduced when compared to both of the above.
I gather that means that Honda has, finally, tried to make a fairing that
is aerodynamic rather than "cute."
I should add to this, that I have never ridden a Wing with a Tulsa
windshield, and I have no idea what the passenger would experience on the GL
1800.
It is a bike that is very difficult to ride at safe and sensible speeds. It
wants to go fast, very fast, and it does not feel like it is doing that. Of
course, being a Wing, it simply does not shake.
Now, the coup de grace:
All the above neat things are trivial compared to the handling. This is a racing
bike disguised as a touring bike. You have heard it said of a bike, "it
corners like it is on rails." Well,
this baby does that. There are going to be some mediocre crotch rocket pilots
out there that are going to be embarrassed, perhaps literally to death, by this
bike. The recent Wings, to be charitable, are mediocre in the handling
department. The Valkyrie is a great handling bike, particularly the Tourer,
which handles better than the Interstate. But the Valkyrie is ultimately limited
by frame-flex, as are most street bikes. You can get a Valkyrie down deep into a
corner, and if the road has any undulations in it, you get frame-flex, which, if
you didn't back off, will lead to a classic "tank slapper."
As a test, I took the GL 1800 through some of my favorite local corners. In all cases I could easily exceed my previous best on these
corners by 5-10 mph without any hint of trouble. I think I could have done
better but I didn't want to lean too hard on a new engine, or scratch up a new
bike, or an old body.
Put in another perspective, there are many bikes out there, some with only 600
CC, that generate more horse power then the GL 1800, but there are very few, if
any, stock bikes that generate more torque. The GL 1800's super-rigid frame will
allow this bike to go into corners at simply crazy lean angles, and it will stay
put when you apply some of that vast torque exiting the corner.
So, the fact that your average crotch rocket will go 175 mph in a
straight line is not going to count for much when its rider high-sides into the
weeds trying to power out of a tight corner chasing, or being chased by, a GL
1800. Naturally, if the crotch
rocket pilot were modestly skilled, neither the Valkyrie nor the GL 1800 would
stand much of a chance against any of a large number of contemporary street
racers.
How would I compare the Valkyrie and the GL 1800 to your Road King, in terms of
handling and performance? About
all I can think to say is that your Harley has a slightly better paint job!
-----End of EMAIL message-----
Note Added: Will all GL
1500SE riders want to switch to the GL 1800?
No, I think not.
First of all, the GL 1800, equipped comparably to the stock GL 1500SE, is
hideously expensive.
Secondly, the GL 1500SE and the GL 1800 are bikes of very different character.
Comparing these two bikes is analogous to comparing Cadillac and BMW
automobiles. These are both superb automobiles, but they are quite
different philosophically. The
Cadillac pampers you with a soft, luxurious ride and seeks, by all the
engineering tricks available, to isolate you from the machine and the road.
The BMW, in contrast, seeks to put the driver in touch with both the
machine and the road. To the Cadillac owner, the BMW seems a somewhat harsh driving
environment, lacking the cloud-like ride and the slow, carefully moderated
response to driver input they have come to expect from a luxury car.
To the BMW owner, the Cadillac seems disconnected from the road, lacking
the quick, crisp response to subtle driver input they have come to expect from a
luxury sports car. Neither approach
is “right” or “wrong”; they are just different.
Will present Valkyrie owners want to switch to the GL 1800?
In my opinion, the new Gold Wing will prove to be VERY attractive to
present Valkyrie owners. Clearly, I am not a good source of unbiased information on
this question because I did switch. However,
to me, the GL 1800 is more Valkyrie than Gold Wing. It is a sport bike disguised as a touring bike, and it rocks!
John
Marshall
Hurricane, UT
March 10, 2001
*************
John Marshall's Home Page
Back to Interstate Page!
