Honda Gold Wing F6b

Honda Gold Wing F6B

RIDING IMPRESSION

Call it what you like, but you’ll like what you call it

YOU WOULDN’T THINK that simply removing the top trunk from a behemoth of a motorcycle like a Honda GL1800 Gold Wing would have much effect. After all, a fully gassed GL tips the Toledo right around 900 pounds, so how much difference could hacking off that trunk possibly make?

As it turns out, quite a lot. Especially when that surgery includes axing enough other equipment to drop overall weight by a claimed 62 pounds. But that’s how Honda created its new F6B “super-bagger.” Not only is the trunk history, also gone is the Wing’s reverse gear and related mechanisms, its cruise control, its electronically adjustable rear suspension and its tall, manually adjustable windshield. Shock preload now is adjustable only by hand with a knob under the right sidecover, and the windshield is a short, fixed one.

The outcome is a bike that feels and accelerates and handles almost like an entirely different machine. The 1832cc opposed-Six engine is the same torquey powerhouse as always, and the aluminum frame, single-sided swingarm, front suspension and tripledisc brakes also are identical to those on the big GL. But the F6B feels much lighter, faster and more manageable,

starting from the moment you first climb aboard.

Most of that difference is due to the absence of the trunk. Without that big box’s considerable weight, all of which was very high and behind the rear axle, the F6B becomes an impressively agile handler, whether darting through urban traffic or charging around corners in anger. The standard GL is an amazingly capable corner carver for a bike of its enormity, but the F6B smokes it in the twisties. Fast cornering on a conventional Wing is nervously exciting because you know that you and the bike shouldn’t be able to do what both of you are doing. Fast cornering on the F6B is just plain fun.

When you’re not riding aggressively, the F6B is very much a Gold Wing. As usual, the engine is ethereally smooth, the ergonomics all-day comfortable, the ride plush and well-controlled— though revalved damping makes the rear just a bit more taut. The low-profile windscreen can’t provide as much wind/weather protection as a full-length shield, so unless you’re very short, you get nailed with some turbulence up around the helmet.

The F6B comes with es» sentially the same AM/

FM, iPod/MP3compatible sound

system as before, but there is no trunk, so there are no rear speakers. And since the levers for operating Gold Wing saddlebags also are normally on the trunk, the F6B’s bags instead open with a lever under each passenger grabrail and lock/unlock by inserting the ignition key into tumblers just above the rear lights.

Honda offers the F6B in two versions: the standard model for $19,999 and the Deluxe (with passenger backrest, centerstand, selfcanceling turnsignals and heated grips) for $20,999, both in either black or red.

This is not a traditional motorcycle, no matter what it is called. But then, neither was the original GL1000 Gold Wing way back in 1975. Since then, Honda has sold more than 550,000 GLs in one form or another.

If Honda is on-target, the F6B could add some serious numbers to that total. □

For some, it’s a bagger For others, it’s a sporttourer

For everyone, it’s big fun No cruise control No rebound damping adjustment From behind, its ass looks fat