Now on its 45th model year, the Gold Wing is looking a lot more sporty these days thanks to a major weight loss program for 2018. That Pearl Glare White paint and blacked-out engine, wheels and frame on the Tour and Tour DCT models is new for 2020.

As Honda?s flagship model and a luxury touring bike that is near and dear to the hearts of many a Rider reader, we have written quite a lot about the Honda Gold Wing over its 45 model-year lifespan. The latest 2018-and-newer generation, in particular, has received more than its share of our scrutiny, in part because it is so radically different than the previous gen, but also because our coverage began way back in September 2017 with leaked images of the all-new bike. Then we flew to Japan the next month with just three other journalists for a (6 hour!) tech briefing and first ride on camouflaged prototype Gold Wings around Honda?s Twin Ring Motegi racetrack. In January 2018 my wife Genie and I traveled to Austin, Texas, for the bike?s U.S. introduction and two-day first ride in some wonderfully chilly weather, and not long after that we put the new Gold Wing head-to-head with the BMW K 1600 GTL in a comparison test here in balmy Southern California.
All of those reviews, stories and more on the GL1800 can be found on our website and in 2017-2018 issues of Rider. In revisiting them for this story and after putting about 600 miles on the 2020 Tour model featured here, I found that our assessments of the bike and most of the ...