A Comparison of Touring Stable Mates

By Warren Birmingham (1939 - 2003), K6PHW

August 1, 2001

Just what is a touring motorcycle anyway? I clearly remember years ago when Harley-Davidson had a magazine picture showing a Southern Pacific freight train running next to a group of couples riding out in the middle of the Mojave Desert. The caption in the advertisement was "…A long slow freight is what touring is all about…"

For some reason, this picture and caption sanctified what became my strong feelings of enjoyment about touring motorcycles. Perhaps it is in part what led me to select a Harley-Davidson over a BMW or a Honda as my first touring motorcycle.

Admittedly the question of defining touring motorcycle properties is subjective in nature. But let me try to give you some objective comparative evidence to draw your own conclusions. These comments came out of a recent 6-state trip that was taken on the new Honda GL-1800A throughout California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona over the 2001 Independence Day week. We might entertain a lively argument about many of these points below, but anyone who travels with company won’t argue much about the concept of at least the "long freight" perspective.

The 1997 Harley Davidson Ultra Glide is the brand new motorcycle I initially bought for touring, although I also use it to commute from Fremont to Santa Clara, CA, a distance of 27 miles each way. I recently bought the newly designed 2001 Honda GL1800A GoldWing, for 2 reasons. First, I wanted something a little different to have a change of pace when I wanted one, and secondly, I wanted to examine first hand and with my eyes and mind the controversy that exists between the Harley UltraGlide and Honda Goldwing rider camps.

I decided that, while I like the Honda, I have not found it to be the tour bike per se that the Ultra Glide is, for many reasons. It looks like a touring machine, but looks alone do not deliver the touring features that many of us have come to expect while on tour. Others have commented as to what beautiful motorcycles both of these are, so beauty or ugliness is simply in the eye of the beholder.

First of all, almost any Honda rider will tell you they like the smooooooth performance of the Goldwing and that the Harley vibrates too much. Let me ask you. When was the last time you rode an UltraGlide? They do vibrate a very little at idle, but at cruise RPMs and road speeds the bikes are similar except for one noticeable thing. At road speeds the Honda transmits a lot more road shock through the handlebars, while the Harley remains quite smooth. Ham radio operators with Goldwings (who have put their equipment mounted on the handlebars) have broken their equipment mounts repeatedly. This phenomenon has greatly added to my fatigue on long trips. The other major difference is in very low speed handling where the Honda, which is reasonably good, still does not come close to the ease of the Harley low speed handling. More about low speed handling later.

Storage space. This I found to be much more limited on the Wing than on the Harley. But even worse, what you can’t get in the bags you have to put on the rear seat. You can see from the pictures that the center trunk opens forward onto the rear seat, so you again have to move all of that stuff off the seat to open the trunk. Then I found that there is also no good place to attach a bungee cord on the Wing, so you have to wrap it around the passenger handles and hook it back on the cord itself. The optional accessory bags don’t fit into any of the storage areas very well and the zippers and zipper flaps are not very user friendly either. The whole concept appears to be an afterthought rather than a planned development by the Honda designers. The space issue can be solved with a luggage rack and bag for the trunk. However, Honda recommends a load limit of 3 pounds for this combination, which is not very practical. Trunk lids have been reported to crack when this limit has been significantly exceeded. Harley, on the other hand, designed their tourpak to open sideways and stores about 1.5 times the volume. Overall, the Harley has about 5 cubic feet of storage space on the bike.

Accessories. The Ultra comes with most items included whereas with the Goldwing this year, almost all of them are accessories, including the CB. This change for 2001 makes it quite costly to get the Honda equipped in the same way the Harley comes stock.

Down shifting is not reliable on the Honda, but neither is it on many other Japanese and German motorcycles I have ridden. Many times I have come up to a light or a stop sign at an intersection, only to find out I am still in either 4^th gear or even neutral after downshifting 4 times from 5^th, and encountering no resistance while shifting. These transmissions seem to "hang up" somewhere in the downshifting process, and the only way I can be sure I am in first is to watch for the neutral light flash as I’m getting into first gear. The Harley transmissions are a marvel of positive shifting every time. The only time I wasn’t in first was when I occasionally screwed up by simply not shifting there.

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). A comparison of the manufacturers’ ratings show that the useful load - that is the difference between the empty weight and the maximum loaded motorcycle weight in the specifications - is 485 pounds for the Harley and 417 pounds for the Honda. These figures do not include fuel, oil, and other fluids. This Honda is definitely a bike for smaller riders and smaller loads. A trailer is one viable option for the Honda, but I have never thought trailers were a good idea for the long haul rider, given the conditions we often encounter.

Design of the Wing’s fairing results in the ride being a bit too warm. I found my shins being burned from the engine heat while out in the desert and had no place to move my feet except the passenger footrest. Because of the one-piece fairing design, the fairing is probably going to hit the rider’s legs while getting to highway boards mounted ahead of the fairing. Getting rider floorboards is a priority for me.

Operator controls. The Wing controls are nowhere near as ergonomic as the Ultra and you often have to take your hands off of the grips to use them. The grips themselves are too small for most riders, giving you additional unnecessary fatigue. Everything should be within easy reach while hands are firmly on the grips. Horns on the Honda are very loud and deserve credit for being so. However, too many times I have bumped the horn switch trying to either reach the turn signals or get into my fairing storage pouch. Blaring horns are very embarrassing in the early morning hours. Horn button’s close proximity to the turn signal lever is shown in the picture.

Display systems. Riding in the desert can be hot on any machine and sometimes we all want to know just how hot the ambient air actually is. On the Honda the temperature gauge requires you to find a small, un-illuminated button just so you can see the temperature digitally displayed for about 10 seconds. Certainly not too neat at night!

Fumbling for that and forcing riders to take their eyes off the road at any time, but most especially at night, is plainly not good foresight. The Harley has an illuminated gauge on the instrument panel that you can see anytime, with just a quick glance. (Author’s ham radio equipment can be partly seen in this picture.)

Handling. The Honda gets high marks on power and cruise handling. But the very low speed handling just won’t even approach that of the Harley and in my opinion it is almost unacceptably bad for a touring machine. Coupled with the low speed handling issues, I believe that the linked braking Honda uses is a concept that does not belong on a touring motorcycle. This concept does not sit well with me for handling during a loss of tire air, or for any stability recovery action where use of only one brake is mandated.

With regard to specific braking comments, I found that the rear brake pedal application initially either gives no braking at all or suddenly gives too much with progressive application. I almost have dropped this bike several times because I had to suddenly grab the front brake as time was running out to safely stop. My foot also tends to settle down on the rear brake pedal during cruising, which then disengages the cruise control. I believe that adding floorboards will solve this problem, but floorboards have been slow to be developed by the aftermarket folks. Footpegs are one of the biggest annoyances on the motorcycle as they interfere with backing the motorcycle and they hit the rider’s shins, whether the electric reverse is used or not.

Cruise control recovery is way too slow in returning to set speeds. Once the speed is set, the bike will drift off 5mph before the system catches it. My mechanic was later able to correct this, but it was certainly a major distraction on my 6-state trip.

Seating position while somewhat comfortable was a bit awkward. The old saying that you sit down in a Harley and sit on everything else is prophetic. Ergonomically speaking, the seat is a little too high and I’m too close to the lower part of the fairing. The reach to the handlebars is not bad, but causes a backache because the bars are a bit too low. I’m not sure a Corbin seat, which is an inch further back and an inch lower will work. Certainly it needs a backrest in any case. In defense of the stock seat Wing, I’m used to the adjustable Air Zeppelin seat and backrest I’ve equipped for the Harley. This is an iron-butt seat and is the only one I have found to date to be comfortable enough to complete a 1000-mile ride in one day.

Gear train and whining noises are comparatively quite noticeable with the Wing because the Harley has very little. I do have stock exhaust pipes on both of these machines. In first gear with the Honda, I find that the gear ratio is too low, and is hard to match engine speed while turning and clutch slipping in very tight turns. It can be downright dangerous unless you are very careful. With a little too much throttle and with a responsive engine, the bike straightens up from the tight turn and shoots out into traffic. Engaging the clutch with too low an engine speed results in serious engine braking even at low speeds and the bike wants to drop. The solution is to slip the clutch entirely while going slowly or use second gear. Obviously this gear was designed for quickness and performance, not at all for handling.

Engine stop switch location is in a bad spot on the Honda. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stalled bumping this switch wearing gloves where I couldn’t feel it. It took a while to figure out what was wrong the first time it happened at the toll plaza of the Dumbarton Bridge and in traffic. It still happens with the replacement switch even after the recall installation for this problem.

Antennas on the Wing became an issue even when folded down. They are too stiff and in your way when you are walking around the bike in close quarters (like my garage with the 2 bikes in it.) The Harley antennas by comparison are flexible and move easily out of the way and store more easily. They also fit through the motorcycle cover.

Keys for the Honda are much larger and more inconvenient to carry around. By the way, any HD shunt key shown opens the HD fuel door if you ever lose your key and need fuel to get home. Your personal key is needed only to unlock the ignition switch from the locked fork position. Most operators leave the switch unlocked until they leave the motorcycle unattended. At least you know you don’t have your key before you normally lock it.

Safety. There is one final thing that is worthy of comment. Harley touring wheels have a unique design where the rims are shouldered and prevent the tire from becoming completely free of the rim during a loss of air while riding. This is standard on all police bikes. On one recent ride, a Wing rider suffered a blowout on the rear tire that somehow caused the motorcycle to oscillate and wobble, eventually throwing the rider and passenger to the pavement. I have had a total of 2 blowouts on earlier Harley products, a 1980 FLT and a 1988 FLHTC. I rode the motorcycles to the roadside from freeway speeds without any hint of handling problems. I know of Honda riders who also have never had a problem with blowouts, but it is my strong feeling that blowouts on the Harley are just a little more forgiving and handling more stable with these wheels and the lower center of gravity, even while riding 2-up.

There is little argument that these things are small potatoes taken separately. But cumulatively they became quite an annoyance on a trip that was intended to be enjoyable; not riddled with petty oversights that could have been avoided in the motorcycle design. Harley factory designers are all riders that try their stuff out before offering it for sale. Honda might want to consider trying this approach for the touring market. However, this author suggests that the touring market is not at all what Honda was shooting for with this model.