Custom – 2013 Honda Goldwing F6B test: a golden Bagger – Feast your eyes!

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2013 Honda Goldwing F6B review: a golden Bagger

Custom - 2013 Honda Goldwing F6B Test: a Golden Bagger - Feast your eyes!

To those who think that Honda focuses on the design of pragmatic and consensual motorcycles, at the risk of neglecting the pleasure of the senses (ations), the Japanese giant offers the Goldwing GL1800 F6B: the Bagger of all superlatives ! Test.

Eyeful !

On the handlebars of the F6B, regulars of the current Goldwing will not be disoriented: apart from the absence of the huge windshield in the visual field, no difference is obvious. Richly equipped, the Honda offers two storage compartments and a lockable 2.8-liter glove box, as well as half-analog, half-digital automotive-inspired instrumentation..

Both readable and very complete (all details in our Technical sheet on the last page), this backlit console nevertheless shows the weight of the years: if the incredible availability of the engine (it starts again in fifth and last gear at idle located at 750 rpm!) makes you quickly forget the absence of an engaged indicator, having to let go of the handlebars to access the mileage of trips or the air temperature from the dashboard is less easily forgiven.

On a motorcycle of this standard and this price (23,990 €!), The least thing would be to move these controls on the handlebars – where the audio functions are already installed. Honda could also modernize and simplify the functions of its sound system: between the nine switches placed on the left stalk and the fifteen other buttons installed on the fairing return, we get lost a bit. A control centralizing everything, like the BMW multi-controller, would not be luxury.

Spaced enough to promote the lever arm, the handlebars branches naturally fall under the gloves, while the contained width of the tank (25 liters) at the crotch makes it easy to take your marks. Similar in appearance to that of a standard Goldwing, the driving position offered by the F6B differs in some ways.

Starting with the seat height: to make the bike more accessible, Honda has completely redesigned the seat and especially lowered it by 15 mm (725 mm instead of 740 mm). Consequently, the legs are slightly more folded than on a standard Goldwing, without this however causing any real discomfort for a pilot of approximately 1m75..

A little narrower, this saddle is still extremely comfortable, but its welcome is not as "canapesque" as on its more (car) road sister. This slight loss of comfort is linked to the lower thickness of the padding and above all to the elimination of the "half-back" which separates the pilot seat from that of the passenger on the standard Goldwing..

On the F6B, the elevation between the two saddles only supports the lower back, to the – fatally – detriment of comfort. The same goes for the passenger, who doesn’t benefit from the Goldwing’s padded backrest and armrests. And as the back shell is completely redesigned, it is impossible to install the top case of a "Gold"..

The slaughter of kilometers in sections of thousand, in duet and with weapons and luggage, is not really the primary vocation of the F6B. And then … you have to know how to suffer to be beautiful !

Because this small sacrifice in terms of comfort is the direct counterpart of a look that turns (almost) all heads. Not to mention its exceptional finish, particularly in terms of the integration of the electrical network and the quality of surface treatments and welds..

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