If you get sweaty in the crotch riding your motorcycle, you may be interested in Honda’s plans to develop a climate-controlled seat that heats and cools your backside.
It’s like many luxury cars that have venting in the seats to pump in warm or cool air.
In these drawings it seems to be pumped via a duct under the perforated seat.
The plan is revealed in a patent application image that shows a control button on the handlebar switchgear.
It appears the drawing is of a previous-generation Fireblade, but we suspect it will also be used on their Goldwing and perhaps their sports and adventure tourers.
Honda has apparently conducted wind-tunnel tests for the climate-controlled seat.
While it appears the system uses hot air from around the radiator for heating and fresh air from the ram air intake for cooling, there is no air-conditioning to reduce the air temperature.
Controlling the climate
However, there are several air-conditioning patents and inventions that hope to control the climate for the rider.
Another Honda patent is for a stand-alone, tank-mounted air-conditioning unit.
Honda’s air-conditioning patent design
It draws hot air through mesh openings in the sides of a tank bag and passes it over an ice pack stored underneath and a blower powered by rechargeable batteries to blow cool at the rider.
His airconditioning unit features thermoelectric cooling that uses electricity to release cold air. It is similar to those used in wine coolers and mini fridges.
Riding in a hot climate is not only uncomfortable but can be unsafe.
However, they tell us they have changed their business model and now we are working with a manufacturer who will take the product to market. We will keep you updated on progress.
Because AC units are usually bulky, some of the “solutions” feature units that are mounted on the bike.
For example, the bulky 4.5kg BikeAir unit sits on the back seat of the bike and plugs into a special jacket that allows the cool air to flow through.
Perhaps to prove that the new Gold Wing isn’t just for old guys anymore, Honda unveiled a custom Gold Wing at Daytona Bike Week, dubbed “Cool Wing” and built by Kevin Dunn, Duy Nguyen, Jimmy Chen and Ray Tong, of Southern California’s Steady Garage.
The design challenge was to create something that was stylish but without straying too far from functionality. Following an extensive draft process, designer Francis Clemente came up with a design that could stimulate both customizers and purists. Air suspension and batique-style mufflers were examples of elements that were key to creating the build’s silhouette, but a handcrafted leather saddle, bare metal details and scallops in the paint brought the Cool Wing to life.
With one and a half months to bring the project from concept to reality, Steady Garage worked with partners to machine and fabricate special parts. Mooneyes built a mold specifically for the project in order to make the disc covers for the Gold Wing front rim, while Platinum Air Suspension provided air shocks to help achieve the slammed stance without sacrificing the ride height. The onboard air is stored on two Dirty Work stainless steel air tanks, with air supplied by a single Viair 380c air compressor. Maxima Imagen painted over 33 individual parts and Electrical Connection provided dress-up components. Cub Group supplied the industry’s first motorcycle blind-spot monitoring system (BSM), and Rogelio’s Auto Upholstery did a fantastic job with the seat.
“Our team was ecstatic to be the chosen company to build a custom Gold Wing for Honda,” said Steady Garage Co-founder Kevin Dunn. “The project was very challenging due to the Gold Wing’s new design, as there was no guidance from any existing builds or projects that fit our style. Our hope was to build a custom Gold Wing that would be appreciated by riders of all ages, interests and backgrounds. We had to make it look cool without stepping away from functionality. The bike has a lot of attitude, mixed with retro salt flat-inspired discs, scallop graphics and a low seat, and in our opinion the custom colors make it look very cool!”
“The Gold Wing is one of our halo products,” added Honda Motorcycle Shows and Public Relations Manager Chris Cox, “and we wanted to highlight the fact that while it’s rightly known for its amazing touring capabilities, it’s also a very high-performance machine that can be appreciated by a broad range of enthusiasts. Steady Garage embraced that theme for this project, and we’re very pleased with the result. Cool Wing has a youthful, creative, exciting spirit, while still respecting the Gold Wing brand and what it stands for.”
The Cool Wing will be on display at multiple events this year including the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and the Americade Rally.
The decision is based on a joint study by Euro NCAP and Australasian NCAP which concluded that automatic emergency brakes would lead to a 38% reduction in real-world rear-end crashes at low speeds.
With motorcycle companies such as Honda and others now considering this sort of technology, we have to wonder whether motorcycles will be the next with mandated auto brakes.
Emergency brakes rumour
The Honda Goldwing rumour is based on some patent images that allegedly show two forward-facing cameras.
It is suggested these could only be used for monitoring traffic in front to avoid a rear-end collision.
They would be connectedto an Adaptive Driving Assistance System (ADAS) to slow the bike, prompting the rider to activate the brakes, possibly with extra assistance.
The auto system would be connected to the Goldwing’s combined braking system and Inertial Measurement Unit.
It sounds like a similar system to the one used in Honda’s Civic and CR-V cars.
The car system also monitors lane position, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and speed limiting, so these could also be added to the Goldwing.
There is no confirmation from Honda of the emergency brakes rumour, nor when it would likely be introduced.
Honda added a vast array of electronic wizardry: electric windscreen, seven-speed automatic transmission, hill start assist, idling stop/start, traction control, smart key, electronic suspension, four engine modes, LED lighting, auto-cancelling indicators and Apple CarPlay that allows iPhone users to use their device.
Yet it has a smaller fuel tank, almost a third less luggage space and shed up to 48kg in weight.
The original Honda Super Cub C100, in the Japanese “sea and sky” livery. Photo courtesy Honda.
“You meet the nicest people on a Honda.”
The year was 1963 and American Honda, which opened its doors in Los Angeles barely four years prior with eight employees, wanted to change the way car-loving Americans saw motorcycles. When Honda came to the United States in 1959, fewer than 60,000 motorcycles were sold here annually, with most of those being domestic and European models larger than 500cc.
Dealers were skeptical of this bold, upstart new Japanese company, essentially telling 39-year-old General Manager Kihachiro Kawashima, “Good luck, but you’re just splitting a small pie into even smaller pieces.” Undaunted, Kawashima responded: Fine, we’ll make the pie bigger on our own. And the key to that bigger pie was the 50cc CA100, the “nifty, thrifty Honda Fifty,” known in Japan as the Super Cub.
“To succeed in the U.S. is to succeed worldwide. To take up the challenge of the American market may be the most difficult thing to do, but it’s a critical step in expanding the export of our products.” –Takeo Fujisawa, Senior Managing Director and co-founder of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Honda’s “You meet the nicest people” ad campaign has become the stuff of legend, and it almost single-handedly changed the American motorcycle industry forever. Image courtesy Honda.
The Super Cub was designed to be accessible: a bike anyone could ride, rugged enough to handle the rough unpaved Japanese roads and with a quiet, fuel-efficient engine. Honda fitted it with its first-ever semi-automatic centrifugal clutch transmission, meaning gear changes were initiated by simply toeing the gearshift lever, no clutch required. The Japanese model was painted a lovely “sea and sky” combination of dark and light blue with a contrasting red single seat, reportedly inspired by Mr. Honda’s penchant for wearing a red shirt and driving a red sports car.
The American version, meanwhile, had two-up seating and a bright, toy-like red and white paint job that reflected American Honda’s strategy of marketing the Super Cub as something fun and unthreatening, the perfect accessory for modern youths of the Jet Age. It was a marked departure from the image most Americans had of motorcycles and “bikers” in general, personified by somewhat dangerous, black leather-clad young men, a la Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.”
And it was a booming success. In 1961 Honda sold 17,000, in 1962 35,000 and in 1963, the year of the “You meet the nicest people” campaign, 90,000 CA100s were sold in the States.
The Super Cub’s new image was “unlike anything that Americans had imagined before. It was that of a completely new vehicle; a motorcycle that simply didn’t seem like one.” –Kihachiro Kawashima, General Manager, American Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
American Honda Motor Company got off to a humble start at this small, unassuming building on Pico Blvd. west of downtown Los Angeles. The building is still there, albeit with a new owner. Photo courtesy Honda.
Unfortunately, like most booms the Super Cub ran its course in the U.S., with sales peaking in 1965 and then declining until the model was retired in 1974. It was replaced by the larger displacement C90 and C70 Passport, the last step-through Honda motorcycles sold in the States, which themselves disappeared from our shores after the 1983 model year.
The Super Cub lived on elsewhere, however, especially in Southeast Asia, where reliable, efficient, rugged and inexpensive two-wheeled transportation is a necessity. As of October 2017, more than 100 million Super Cubs had been sold worldwide, the most by far of any motorized vehicle in history. Meanwhile, the unassuming Super Cub had started a revolution, introducing Japanese motorcycles to the American masses and throwing the door wide open for the “Japanese Invasion” that swept the U.S. motorcycle and automotive markets in the late 1960s and beyond.
The 2019 Honda Super Cub is just as much time machine as it is motorcycle. At a glance it can be hard to differentiate between old and new. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
Return of the Super Cub
The year 2019 marks American Honda’s 60thanniversary and also the return of its breakthrough model, now dubbed the Super Cub C125. Based around the air-cooled 125cc single used in the Grom and the Monkey, the 2019 Super Cub is almost as much a time machine as it is a motorcycle.
Fuel injection replaces the carburetor, 17-inch wheels are cast rather than spoked and carry modern tubeless tires, the front disc brake has standard ABS, there’s no kickstarter and the instrument is a combination LCD fuel gauge/odometer/tripmeter/gear indicator with analog speedometer. But the bike still uses that same semi-automatic centrifugal clutch–since utilized in everything from Honda’s mini dirt bikes to ATVs–and it looks almost exactly the way it did 60 years ago, in the classic Japanese “sea and sky” livery.
Analog speedometer and LCD gear indicator/odometer/tripmeters/clock/fuel gauge. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
Since every story must start at the beginning, our press launch ride started at the original location of the American Honda Motor Company, a small, nondescript white building on Pico Blvd. west of downtown Los Angeles, where we swung a leg over our time machine–er, motorcycle.
The first clue this is a 2019 model, not a ’62, is the key–or lack thereof. The proximity-sensing fob locks and unlocks the side cover storage (large enough to hold the owner’s manual and not much else) and seat, under which are two helmet lock hooks and the fuel filler, and enables the ignition. Turn the ignition knob to “on,” thumb the starter button and the Super Cub purrs to life.
The new Super Cub’s keyless ignition lets you remotely lock/unlock the seat and side cover. As long as you’re in close proximity it enables the ignition as well; simply push the knob to activate, then turn it to the “on” position and thumb the starter. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
For a rider used to clutching or even Honda’s own automatic DCT transmission, it takes a bit to get used to the lack of a clutch lever while continuing to toe a shifter. Neutral is at the bottom, then it’s all up from there, gears one through four. The lever itself is a heel-and-toe design, and a couple of testers remarked that it was easier to push the heel plate for upshifts, especially with thick boots on.
The transmission uses a centrifugal clutch and a standard spring-loaded clutch plate; when you toe (or heel) the shifter the clutch plate pulls away, the gear changes and the plate returns. The system responds best to an easy-going pace, befitting the Super Cub’s personality. I found that pushing rather than jabbing the lever and operating the throttle just like I would on a traditional bike–rolling it closed slightly during shifts–resulted in the smoothest operation.
Wheeee! You won’t win any drag races, but the 125cc single has enough get-up-and-go to keep up with traffic…up to about 55 mph, that is. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
Like the Grom and Monkey, the Super Cub isn’t designed for speed–55 mph is about the most you’ll comfortably do, and 45 is even better–but the larger 17-inch hoops bestow a stability the other two lack and make it feel more like a “real” motorcycle. Our test ride meandered south and west, including plenty of impatient L.A. traffic, hills, road construction and even a police escort along the sandy boardwalk in Redondo Beach. The Super Cub handled it all with charm and grace, coaxing smiles from scowling, gridlocked drivers like a lion tamer soothing a roaring beast.
Modern LED headlight is highly visible for daytime riding. Traditional front fairing design allows some wind protection for those chilly mornings. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
The little single, which probably generates 10 horsepower on a good day, feels smooth and comfortable, thanks at least partially to rubber pads on the rigid-mounted footpegs and the thickly padded red solo saddle. There is no adjustability to either the 26mm inverted front fork or the twin rear shocks, and no passenger accommodations (Honda does offer a nice accessory chrome luggage rack, however). Parking involves dismounting while holding the 240-pound bike upright, then lifting it onto its centerstand (there is no sidestand, nor is there a parking brake).
Our pack of Super Cubs got a police escort onto the pier at Redondo Beach, where tourists and locals alike gawked at the stylish blue-on-blue motorcycles. We just grinned back. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
After rolling through the green hills of Palos Verdes, we turned our backs to the sea and cruised to the Honda North America campus. Our time machines had brought us full circle, from 1959’s single, humble storefront with eight employees to the sprawling, 101-acre North American headquarters of the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. Honda had one more surprise for us, however.
Blocks away from the main campus, it maintains a private collection of cars and motorcycles, from the first Civic to milestone motorcycles to the latest IndyCar racecars. There they wheeled two bikes out of the museum, a 1961 Japanese-spec C100 Honda 50 and a 1980 C70 Passport, and let us take them for a quick spin. Pull the choke knob and give it a kick–the smooth purr feels immediately familiar. Three gears instead of four, a drum brake up front, but otherwise these were the same fun, easy to ride motorcycles we’d been traveling on all day. The circle closed, the story begins again.
The author takes a spin on a 1980 C70 Passport, the last step-through Honda motorcycle model to be sold in the U.S. Honda North America’s Jon Seidel rides just behind her on the new Super Cub. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
The Super Cub represents everything Honda was and has become, especially in the U.S. where it, aided by some deft marketing moves by American Honda, almost single-handedly altered American motorcycling culture forever. We’re happy to see it again, and maybe it will even inspire a whole new generation of “nice people” to take up two wheels.
2019 Honda Super Cub C125 ABS. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
2019 Honda Super Cub C125 ABS Specs
Base Price: $3,599 Website: powersports.honda.com Engine Type: Air-cooled single, SOHC, 2 valves Displacement: 125cc Bore x Stroke: 52.4 x 57.9mm Transmission: 4-speed, semi-automatic centrifugal clutch Final Drive: Chain Wheelbase: 48.9 in. Rake/Trail: 26.5 degrees/2.8 in. Seat Height: 30.7 in. Claimed Wet Weight: 240 lbs. Fuel Capacity: 1.0 gal. Avg. MPG: NA
2019 Honda Super Cub C125 ABS. Photo by Drew Ruiz.Side cover holds small tool kit and not much else. Photo by Drew Ruiz.2019 Honda Super Cub C125 ABS. Photo by Drew Ruiz.Heel/toe shifter is designed to be easily used in anything from thick riding boots to slick dress shoes. Photo by Drew Ruiz.
Bigger doesn’t always mean better, and fortunately for those of us looking for a fun, affordable motorcycle there are more choices than ever. Nearly every manufacturer now offers at least one model that will fit just about any rider’s size and/or budget.
Scroll down for Rider’s 2019 list of Best Bikes for Smaller Riders and Budgets. When possible we’ve included a link to our review, making it easy for you to get a real ride evaluation. We’ve also included the 2019 model year’s U.S. base MSRP (as of publication), seat height and claimed wet weight (when a wet weight was not available from the manufacturer, the claimed dry weight is listed). For more details, you can read our review, which includes comprehensive specs, or click on the bike’s name to be taken directly to the manufacturer’s page.
BMW F 750 GS
2019 BMW F 750 GS (Photo by Kevin Wing)
BMW F 750 GS
$10,395
32.1-inch seat w/ optional 31.1-inch seat or 30.3-inch seat
493 lbs.
A Honda Neowing leaning three-wheeler looks likely to be coming soon, possibly as a replacement for the ageing Goldwing.
Honda has now applied for a patent for the power steering of its Neowing leaning three-wheel concept (pictured above) unveiled at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show.
If it does go into production, Honda would be following the bike tracks of the Yamaha Niken leaning three-wheeler.
And why not? The Niken has scored some sales success in Europe.
Leaning three-wheeler scooters have been around for about a decade, but Yamaha is the first with a big-capacity three-wheeler.
Yamaha Niken
We’ve ridden several leaning three-wheel scooters and they are great fun.
The advantages are more front-end grip, better handling and increased braking performance.
However, the disadvantages are extra weight and price.
The Niken is based on the triple-cylinder MT-09 which sells for $12,299 (plus on-road costs) up to $15,499 for the Tracer model and $16,999 for the Tracer GT.
Niken starts at $21,999 with a GT model coming in March 2019. That’s about a third more expensive!
Niken
Powerful Neowing
While Yamaha’s three-wheeler is powered by an 847cc triple, Honda’s Neowing could be a lot more powerful.
The concept featured a four-cylinder horizontally-opposed engine with electric motors in each wheel.
However, the patent drawings for the electric power steering do not show the engine, only the complex steering system.
Neowing patent drawings (Image: Morebikes.co.uk)
They also don’t show any electric motors in the front wheels.
But it would need to be powered by a hefty engine to cope with the extra weight and power requirements of the steering system.
Yamaha’s Niken is marketed as a sport tourer.
The Neowing could be more of a tourer, perhaps to take over from the ageing Goldwing with its six-cylinder boxer powerplant.
Some might say these leaning three-wheelers are not strictly motorcycles.
But if they provide the same thrill as a motorcycle, yet with more grip, then who cares!
With fresh “Neo-Sports Café” styling, an updated engine and chassis, throttle-by-wire with multiple riding modes, new instrumentation and a lower curb weight, Honda’s CB1000R gets a new lease on life. Photos by Kevin Wing.
Since its 2011 debut (read our Road Test Review here), the Honda CB1000R has languished. It arrived when American buyers weren’t particularly interested in naked bikes, and its mediocre performance and ho-hum styling didn’t help. But what a difference a few years can make.
Naked bike sales have more than doubled since 2012, and the average buyer is 45-55 years old with two decades of riding experience–middle-agers (like me!) who don’t want bikes that look like they rolled out of a video game. Honda has responded by transforming the CB1000R from a run-of-the-mill naked sportbike into a modern café racer.
The CB1000R’s smooth in-line four packs a punch above 7,000 rpm, and the entire package is tidy and refined.
Park the previous CB1000R next to a new one and you’d never know they’re so closely related. Replacing the swoopy bodywork is a stocky profile with harder lines, more exposed metal and a classic round headlight nacelle housing a modern LED. Black paint with bits of contrasting silver and machined edges on the engine give the new CB1000R an edgy, industrial look.
But the reinvention is more than skin deep. Honda says the CB’s liquid-cooled, 998cc, DOHC in-line four generates more output–121.8 horsepower at 9,900 rpm and 69 lb-ft of torque at 8,400 on Jett Tuning’s dyno–thanks to larger ports and reduced pressure loss in the intake, more valve lift, higher compression, forged rather than cast pistons and larger throttle bodies, and a lower gear ratio adds more snap during acceleration.
Classic round nacelle houses a modern LED headlight.
We could only make a partial dyno run due to the bike’s electronics objecting to the stationary front wheel, but it still made roughly 10 percent more horsepower and torque. The new exhaust, steel mono-backbone frame and aluminum frame pivot plates are all lighter than before, and curb weight is just 465 pounds, down 17 pounds.
As before, the CB1000R has a cast aluminum, single-sided swingarm, which showcases the new, wider 10-spoke rear wheel. The swingarm is shorter but the longer frame stretches the wheelbase to 57.3 inches, up from 56.9. Revisions to the suspension include a fully adjustable, upside-down, 43mm Showa SFF-BP fork, a lighter spring and revised settings for the Showa shock and increased travel front and rear (4.7/5.2 inches, up from 4.3/5.0). Returning unchanged are the excellent Tokico binders, which tell the rider exactly what’s going on and scrub off a little or a lot of speed with minimal effort, and 2-channel ABS is now standard.
New Showa SFF-BP fork is fully adjustable. Radial-mount calipers are the same as those on the CBR1000RR and ABS is standard.
The new CB1000R exudes refinement, the sort of civility and precision that’s been a hallmark of certain Hondas for decades. Whereas the previous model’s throttle was overly sensitive, the new throttle-by-wire never misses a beat, and there are now riding modes (Sport, Street and Rain) with preset levels of throttle response, engine braking and traction control, plus a User mode allows the rider to set any combination of these parameters and turn traction control completely off.
It may look like a bare-knuckle brawler, but the CB1000R has the poise and agility of a ballet dancer. Light with a solid chassis, the CB turns in and transitions from side to side with ease, and its Bridgestone Battlax Hypersport S21 tires provide flytrap grip. Even with aggressive inputs, it keeps a cool head, rarely getting out of shape. Adding to the CB1000R’s refined feel is its smooth engine and silky 6-speed transmission, aided by a new, low-effort assist-and-slipper clutch.
New digital instrumentation is easy to read, and a multi-colored light on the right can be programmed as a shift light, as an indicator for riding mode, eco riding or gear position, or several other functions.
Regardless of riding mode, power delivery is always linear and predictable, though when the revs drop in slow corners there’s not enough grunt to rocket launch toward the exit. Keep the revs above 7,000 rpm and everything is golden.
Comfort is also part of the appeal of naked bikes among middle-aged riders. Decades of full-time employment, often seated at a desk, has given us love handles and chronic lower back pain. Motorcycles with upright seating positions allow us to have fun and still be able to walk the next day. That’s true of the CB1000R, which requires little forward bend to reach the handlebar and has a flat, comfortable seat, though the footpegs are high so knee bend may be an issue for some.
Seat is firm but comfortable; even at 32.7 inches there isn’t much room between it and the high footpegs.
Reinvention is no easy task. The 2018 Honda CB1000R looks and performs better, with more distinctive styling, less weight, extra power, technology like ABS and throttle-by-wire, new instrumentation and more. But as much as I appreciate refinement and civility, the CB1000R needs more of the mojo–more bark from the exhaust, more grunt at low rpm–that transforms a motorcycle from a machine into a delivery vehicle for emotion.
Nearly concurrent with the birth of the magazine you’re reading now was the introduction of a motorcycle that would become virtually synonymous with two-wheel touring, Honda’s Gold Wing. The first Wing, the GL1000, grew larger and gained displacement over the years until in 2001 it reached what some riders considered the apex of its evolution, and others saw as an unfortunate step past perfection.
Nobody complained about the engine, a smooth flat six with fuel injection, two valves per cylinder, a hundred horsepower and a torque curve that seemingly had no beginning and no end–it was just always there, whenever you twisted the loud handle. The shaft drive that had been standard since the beginning was now incorporated into a single-sided swingarm for easier rear-wheel service. Also standard was a reverse gear–not just handy but almost mandatory for maneuvering the nearly 900-pound Wing in tight spaces–and linked brakes, with ABS an extra-cost option.
From Rider, April 2009.
Where the GL1800 significantly departed from the script written by its ancestors was in the handling department. Its grace and stability at speed was almost physics-defying, giving many touring riders their first taste of dragging hard parts in the corners well before the chassis sent any alarms upstairs. The frame itself was made of aluminum spars hefty enough to support bridges, and used the engine as a stressed member. Some 2002-model frames, however, were prone to cracking, and were the subject of a factory recall.
That wasn’t the only cause for criticism of the GL1800. Some of the improvements were fine, such as a larger radiator and fans and a higher-output alternator (from 1100 watts to 1300) in 2006. But two-up riders panned the GL18’s smaller bags and trunk compared to the GL1500’s, and felt the pilot’s seat placed the passenger too far to the rear to reap the benefits of the otherwise effective fairing and windscreen. The optional airbag on 2006-and-later models raised a few eyebrows among those who already thought the big Wing was just a car without doors.
The automotive analogy almost perfectly described the GL1800’s reliability, as well as its character, which some riders say is the very definition of bland. But there’s no denying that when it comes to the used market, the Wing gets the job done as well as or better than anything in the class for the same money.
The Gold Wing graces the cover of our February 2006 issue.
They’re more likely than most bikes to have been dealer serviced for most of their lives, so ask for receipts, and have a local dealer run the VIN to make sure the bike has been brought in for all recalls and service campaigns. Leaking fork seals aren’t too common, but they are a major pain to replace, so look for oil weeping down the fork legs, and check the condition of the brake and clutch fluid; flushing and replacing the fluid in the linked brake system is another service headache.
Try every setting and button on the stereo, the intercom and the navi system, and make sure the rear shock preload adjuster works. Function-check any add-on lights and accessories, and if you’re feeling brave and the seller isn’t looking, give the ABS a workout, too. Expect to pay anywhere from $7,500 for a first-year GL1800 in fair condition up to $12,000 for a 2011 model, excluding value-adding accessories.
From Rider, February 2006.
2001-2010 Honda GL1800 Gold Wing
PROS Long on power, competence and comfort.
Reliability above average, dealers everywhere.
CONS Short on personality, low-speed maneuverability and ease of service.
Excess weight can become tiresome.
Engine: Liquid-cooled, 1,832cc flat six, fuel injected, 2 valves per cylinder Final Drive: Shaft Weight: 898 lbs. Fuel Capacity: 6.6 gals. Seat Height: 29 in.
2019 Honda Monkey in Banana Yellow (Photo by Kevin Wing)
They say you meet the nicest people on a Honda…and there are few bikes as nice (or as gosh-darn cute) as the Honda Monkey, with styling inspired by the legendary Z50 and a 125cc air-cooled single borrowed from the best-selling Grom. This thing is so fun, the monkey metaphors write themselves! Check out our video featuring Managing Editor Jenny Smith.
Rather than new models or a radical V4-powered Fireblade as widely tipped, Honda showed up at the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan with a range of updated CB models including a more off-road-oriented CB500X (pictured).
2019 CB models
2019 Honda CB500X
Honda’s mid-sized CB range has been very popular in Australia for years, especially the more recent 500 models.
Leading the charge with desirable updates is the 2019 CB500X all-roader now with better dirt capabilities.
It features increased suspension travel, more clearance, a 19-inch front wheel and a more aggressive tyre tread.
Meanwhile, the CBR650R replaces the CBR650F with more power, updated “Fireblade” styling, 5kg weight-loss, a more sporty riding position and a new LCD instrument panel.
The CBR500R also looks sportier redesign and the engine has been revised for better response in low-to-mid-range revs.
CB500F and CB650R now come with an assist/slipper clutch, a more powerful twin-cylinder engine and and cafe-racer styling.
2019 Fireblade
The 2019 Fireblade gets an upgrade in its electronics package.
For example, traction and wheelie control are now separate so you can adjust them separately; ABS now has less intervention above 120km/h for 15% more deceleration; and the ride-by-wire throttle reacts faster for more engine braking and power delivery.
But that’s it for the updates, unless you consider new paint. The base model comes in black and silver or red and white, while the SP tricolour has darker blue accents.
We may have to wait another year for the rumoured V4 model.
There is no word yet from Honda Australia on when these updated models will arrive in Australia or pricing.
We expect they may hold off until floor stock is cleared.
