The Vulture's Chronicles
I've owned a couple of BMW K1200LT
bikes, an 03 and an 06 which is natural for a fellow in
the business of selling BMW motorcycles. I wanted a
change from them as they tend to be a bit more
cumbersome at walking speeds, even after the 2005
revision. On the road, the LT is simply magnificent,
but tough for me to manage with Laurie on the back in
stop and go traffic. The options are limited for big
touring machines; its BMW or Honda. I don't see
anything in the cruiser world that interests me, and I
did try a Harley Electra Glide for a year - I grew to
hate the slow, no cornering clearance, underpowered
pig. Looked good though.
Laurie and I completed a couple long rides on a K1200GT that I owned and she liked the power and that I can manage pretty high corner speeds with her on board. It is fun, she says when I whack the throttle but not fun for me when she gets the fidgets and the bike suddenly changes lines or that she crowds me when I get hard on the brakes. So, I visited the dealership where I sold Honda and Suzuki bikes a while back and the owner offered me a new Goldwing for a steal - cheaper than I could get an employee deal on an LT. I accepted the offer.
I had ridden GL1800s when I was a Honda sales dude, and liked them except for their bulk. But, truthfully, at that time I was more oriented to sport touring bikes and the K1200LT, which is lighter and a better twisty road bike than the GoldWing. My requirements have changed since then and the big Honda suits us well.
I spent a weekend installing a CB unit and antenna. Removing the tupperware is fairly simple once some Internet research is accomplished. The installation instructions, supplied by Honda, suck much worse than comparable instructions from BMW which have their issues; so the getting ready part was tedious. However, after about three hours I got the CB installed and checked out. Seems to work just fine and I had no leftover parts to deal with. I then spent about an hour washing the bike and waxing it to remove any evidence I had been "inside".
Some preliminary observations:
The GL1800 rides well and is quite agile on two lane roads. I was a bit surprised by how well it did. Low speed stability is everything I wanted and needed for two up riding, and Laurie claims to be quite comfortable with no hot spots in the butt. I find the saddle supportive and the rider position fairly comfortable. I added my AirHawk to get a little rise, and that makes the position just about right, but inducing a little back tension. Maybe that will resolve with time in the saddle.
The heated grips are a 6 position thing and seem to work. I have not tried the heated seat but Laurie says hers is not as effective as the BMW. I'll take her word for it, but suspect it will feel better to her when the ambient air temp is 40 degrees instead of 80. It is a common comment on the GL1800 forums however so maybe she will have to wear long johns. I did try the trick little foot warmers. There is a lever on the Goldwing that actuates two little doors down low on the cowling. Open them up and the rider gets heat on his/her toes. Very nice and an sweet addition to the standard knee warmers. Would have been nice on a ride a couple Aprils ago when we encountered 14 degree air temperatures.
Mirrors are good, but the LT's are better.
Brakes are as good as the LT's but not power assisted. They have a nice linear feel, however Honda uses an interesting linking system they claim adds stability. Essentially the front brake lever applies all the brake to the front and one piston on the rear; it does the reverse for the rear brake. At low to moderate brake pressure things feel fine. Harsh the brakes a little off line and the bike stands up a little. Caught me off guard a couple times but now I know what to expect. The LT has a power brake which has its side effects. I prefer the BMW brakes.
Suspension is better in that preload settings can be saved. The ride is firm without being harsh. I do believe the BMW Telelever front is superior for ride quality but the LT rear suspension is manually adjusted for preload, and I always found I needed almost all of it dialed in for the bike to handle the way I wanted it. Apart from the telelever, I'd say the Honda is more convenient and with a wider range of preload available, with a memory setting for two preload conditions.
The GL1800 windshield sucks in comparison to the BMW! I have it in the low position so I can see over it as I like but it may work better, as far as wind noise is concerned, in a higher setting. Another point to BMW; you just have to have electrically adjustable windshields on touring bikes.
Fit and finish is nowhere as good as BMW.
The intercom is pretty old school on the Honda and there is no mic sensitivity adjustment to manage wind noise so one adds aftermarket farkle to make that right. The BMW intercom is a bit better as mic sensitivity can be adjusted to manage wind noise better, and you can adjust volume for front and rear helmets - but the ability to hear your passenger isn't as good. The intercom thing is a toss up: Hear your passenger but tolerate wind noise in your headset on the Honda, or on the BMW have some quiet and not hear her tell you she has to go pee. The radios work equally as good and the BMW provides a single disk CD player - the Honda does not. It is a feature I never use so I don't care.
As for the CB; well all the controls are to hand and the installation is easy to do on the Honda - CB on a BMW appears to be an afterthought. Both systems work well and cost about the same retail. Easier to install on the Honda, but not by a huge margin.
Honda Navigator: Well that is easily controlled from the left control stalk on the handlebar, It is highly visible and it does what you want a GPS to do. But, you cannot load routes made with Garmin Mapsource nor does it show your GPS speed. Initially, I was a bit pissed, but soon figured if I read the operator's manual, I would learn how to lay in a route. It just takes some steps and it really is a car GPS, not a motorcycle oriented unit. I think that is lame but it isn't a huge deal as I'll add a second GPS anyway. I use two on Iron Butt rides all the time.
The fuel economy on the Honda is 40 to 45 mpg not the typical 47 to 52 I got on the LT. The good news is the beast drinks regular, but I'll have to ride a million miles to see the benefit in cost offset. Point to BMW - I'd rather have the miles per tank.
So there it is; a BMW rider moves to the dark side and buys a Honda. The big BMW K1200LT is a superior machine in most dimensions except rider saddle comfort, and low speed handling. Both bikes, however, are big and require good sense when handling them. It is interesting to note that both Honda and BMW will have revised models out in 2011. For the price I paid for my GL1800.....well they will have to be really special to coax me onto one or the other.
Updated October 10, 2009
I finished a 3300 mile ride to the Trinity Atomic Bomb site in New Mexico using the GoldWing. I have to say I am impressed with the bike after this trip. It has the best motorcycle headlights known to man, and it handles most roads very well. Only the tight technical roads present a problem and really you just have to slow the pace down - it is a big touring machine after all.
The heated grips and heated seats are better than the BMW, in my opinion, as I was able to adjust the heat level to any of 6 preset levels thus finding a temperature range I could live with. The BMW is warm or HOT with no in between.
I got used to the windshield and found it functions well in the rain if I'm on the Airhawk, as the wind-stream blows the rain water down my face shield, just like the BMW. Unfortunately, I stopped using it because my back ached while using it. It turns out that the saddle was comfortable without it and my back pain eased significantly. If it rains, I use the Airhawk so the wind blows the rain off my face shield. Otherwise the low setting and bare saddle is just fine.
I was warm at 26 degrees and nice and comfy at 80. About the only complaint is the range. At 40 mpg one gets 200 miles before a fill up is needed. I'm used to a 250 to 300 mile range using premium on the BMW - the Beemer is therefore more economical using the higher priced fuel. Who would have thought that?
Basically - the GoldWing is a nice touring bike with good points and some disappointments - just like most motorcycles. I prefer the BMW K1200LT overall, but I'm happy with the Honda as it meets my mission requirements exactly.
Laurie and I completed a couple long rides on a K1200GT that I owned and she liked the power and that I can manage pretty high corner speeds with her on board. It is fun, she says when I whack the throttle but not fun for me when she gets the fidgets and the bike suddenly changes lines or that she crowds me when I get hard on the brakes. So, I visited the dealership where I sold Honda and Suzuki bikes a while back and the owner offered me a new Goldwing for a steal - cheaper than I could get an employee deal on an LT. I accepted the offer.
I had ridden GL1800s when I was a Honda sales dude, and liked them except for their bulk. But, truthfully, at that time I was more oriented to sport touring bikes and the K1200LT, which is lighter and a better twisty road bike than the GoldWing. My requirements have changed since then and the big Honda suits us well.
I spent a weekend installing a CB unit and antenna. Removing the tupperware is fairly simple once some Internet research is accomplished. The installation instructions, supplied by Honda, suck much worse than comparable instructions from BMW which have their issues; so the getting ready part was tedious. However, after about three hours I got the CB installed and checked out. Seems to work just fine and I had no leftover parts to deal with. I then spent about an hour washing the bike and waxing it to remove any evidence I had been "inside".
Some preliminary observations:
The GL1800 rides well and is quite agile on two lane roads. I was a bit surprised by how well it did. Low speed stability is everything I wanted and needed for two up riding, and Laurie claims to be quite comfortable with no hot spots in the butt. I find the saddle supportive and the rider position fairly comfortable. I added my AirHawk to get a little rise, and that makes the position just about right, but inducing a little back tension. Maybe that will resolve with time in the saddle.
The heated grips are a 6 position thing and seem to work. I have not tried the heated seat but Laurie says hers is not as effective as the BMW. I'll take her word for it, but suspect it will feel better to her when the ambient air temp is 40 degrees instead of 80. It is a common comment on the GL1800 forums however so maybe she will have to wear long johns. I did try the trick little foot warmers. There is a lever on the Goldwing that actuates two little doors down low on the cowling. Open them up and the rider gets heat on his/her toes. Very nice and an sweet addition to the standard knee warmers. Would have been nice on a ride a couple Aprils ago when we encountered 14 degree air temperatures.
Mirrors are good, but the LT's are better.
Brakes are as good as the LT's but not power assisted. They have a nice linear feel, however Honda uses an interesting linking system they claim adds stability. Essentially the front brake lever applies all the brake to the front and one piston on the rear; it does the reverse for the rear brake. At low to moderate brake pressure things feel fine. Harsh the brakes a little off line and the bike stands up a little. Caught me off guard a couple times but now I know what to expect. The LT has a power brake which has its side effects. I prefer the BMW brakes.
Suspension is better in that preload settings can be saved. The ride is firm without being harsh. I do believe the BMW Telelever front is superior for ride quality but the LT rear suspension is manually adjusted for preload, and I always found I needed almost all of it dialed in for the bike to handle the way I wanted it. Apart from the telelever, I'd say the Honda is more convenient and with a wider range of preload available, with a memory setting for two preload conditions.
The GL1800 windshield sucks in comparison to the BMW! I have it in the low position so I can see over it as I like but it may work better, as far as wind noise is concerned, in a higher setting. Another point to BMW; you just have to have electrically adjustable windshields on touring bikes.
Fit and finish is nowhere as good as BMW.
The intercom is pretty old school on the Honda and there is no mic sensitivity adjustment to manage wind noise so one adds aftermarket farkle to make that right. The BMW intercom is a bit better as mic sensitivity can be adjusted to manage wind noise better, and you can adjust volume for front and rear helmets - but the ability to hear your passenger isn't as good. The intercom thing is a toss up: Hear your passenger but tolerate wind noise in your headset on the Honda, or on the BMW have some quiet and not hear her tell you she has to go pee. The radios work equally as good and the BMW provides a single disk CD player - the Honda does not. It is a feature I never use so I don't care.
As for the CB; well all the controls are to hand and the installation is easy to do on the Honda - CB on a BMW appears to be an afterthought. Both systems work well and cost about the same retail. Easier to install on the Honda, but not by a huge margin.
Honda Navigator: Well that is easily controlled from the left control stalk on the handlebar, It is highly visible and it does what you want a GPS to do. But, you cannot load routes made with Garmin Mapsource nor does it show your GPS speed. Initially, I was a bit pissed, but soon figured if I read the operator's manual, I would learn how to lay in a route. It just takes some steps and it really is a car GPS, not a motorcycle oriented unit. I think that is lame but it isn't a huge deal as I'll add a second GPS anyway. I use two on Iron Butt rides all the time.
The fuel economy on the Honda is 40 to 45 mpg not the typical 47 to 52 I got on the LT. The good news is the beast drinks regular, but I'll have to ride a million miles to see the benefit in cost offset. Point to BMW - I'd rather have the miles per tank.
So there it is; a BMW rider moves to the dark side and buys a Honda. The big BMW K1200LT is a superior machine in most dimensions except rider saddle comfort, and low speed handling. Both bikes, however, are big and require good sense when handling them. It is interesting to note that both Honda and BMW will have revised models out in 2011. For the price I paid for my GL1800.....well they will have to be really special to coax me onto one or the other.
Updated October 10, 2009
I finished a 3300 mile ride to the Trinity Atomic Bomb site in New Mexico using the GoldWing. I have to say I am impressed with the bike after this trip. It has the best motorcycle headlights known to man, and it handles most roads very well. Only the tight technical roads present a problem and really you just have to slow the pace down - it is a big touring machine after all.
The heated grips and heated seats are better than the BMW, in my opinion, as I was able to adjust the heat level to any of 6 preset levels thus finding a temperature range I could live with. The BMW is warm or HOT with no in between.
I got used to the windshield and found it functions well in the rain if I'm on the Airhawk, as the wind-stream blows the rain water down my face shield, just like the BMW. Unfortunately, I stopped using it because my back ached while using it. It turns out that the saddle was comfortable without it and my back pain eased significantly. If it rains, I use the Airhawk so the wind blows the rain off my face shield. Otherwise the low setting and bare saddle is just fine.
I was warm at 26 degrees and nice and comfy at 80. About the only complaint is the range. At 40 mpg one gets 200 miles before a fill up is needed. I'm used to a 250 to 300 mile range using premium on the BMW - the Beemer is therefore more economical using the higher priced fuel. Who would have thought that?
Basically - the GoldWing is a nice touring bike with good points and some disappointments - just like most motorcycles. I prefer the BMW K1200LT overall, but I'm happy with the Honda as it meets my mission requirements exactly.