The Honda GL1800 Goldwing Motorcycle -

Honda GL1800 is unveiled to world in August 2000

Honda made motorcycle history when they unveiled the first 2001 Honda Goldwing Motorcycle in August of 2000.  They kept everything so secret, nobody really knew what they had done if anything to the remarkable GL1500 Goldwing.  Honda did a masterful job keeping the GL1800 so secret, until they unveiled the motorcycle, nobody really knew anything.  Magazines who somehow find things out were just blown away and taken by surprise.

Technology Forces Change to the Honda GL1500 Goldwing

Although the GL1500 Goldwing was so popular, Honda could not sit back and keep the flagship design the same and just keep making the engine larger.  What they did is start from the ground up when designing the Honda GL1800 Goldwing.  Although the GL1500 handled very well, as technology and performance pushed ahead, the bike would have to be lighter if it were to have more power and a larger heavier engine.

The New GL1800 Design Emerges

Reducing weight is the hardest thing to do on any large motorcycle, If Honda was to accomplish this they realized they must start from the ground up.  They started with an All New Alloy Frame which comprised of only 31 parts compared to the previous GL1500 model that had 130.  The new frame was stiffer than before and much lighter, this allowed for a much larger engine designed for the GL1800.  The new larger engine and frame still weighed 40 lbs less than the GL1500 engine and frame, Honda designers had done exactly what they had hoped to do. The larger heavier engine was still less overall weight compared to the previous model GL1500 that was so popular all over the world.

GL1800 Comfort with High Performance Power & Handling

Honda efforts allowed the worlds Goldwing riders and younger riders to a machine that could out-perform some of the fastest sportbikes.  It offered comfort and state of the art handling never seen before in a bike classified as a touring motorcycle.  The GL1800 was much more practical than before, instead of a weekend bike, more and more people were turning it into a daily commuter.  The bike was now light, comfortable for two people and powerful, along with all the technology to make your riding experience better like Intercom, Radio, MP3 Input Jack, ABS, GPS Navigation, CB, CD Player, Fuel Injection, yes this bike can make anyone not want to ride anything else. 

Conclusion

Here in 2007 the bike has changed very little with the exception making history again with the first Motorcycle Air Bag System.  Wow, what's ahead for the Honda Goldwing Motorcycle certainly excites me.  I personally have embraced this bike since the first release in 1975 when I started working for Honda at age 16. 

We specialized in Goldwings and I grew up doing just that, I never realized it would be a life long passion and career.  Today, how a father would feel about his child, I feel so proud to have evolved with this motorcycle since its beginning, today with Wingstuff.com we help our Goldwing friends all over the world find what they need. 

My wife and I started Wingstuff.com to help people, today we help people all over the world, while maintaing what has become the world's largest Goldwing website.  Along with our huge retail store and warehouse, we employ 16 happy people who love coming to work each day helping all of you.  I hope you enjoy our enhanced website with member pages, member pictures, wish lists and product reviews.  Enjoying web programming, I spend most of my days making Wingstuff.com the best it can be for all of you to enjoy.. 

I wrote this story to share facts and information about my favorite bike, my passion for it, and how it became such a big part of my life over the years.  Hope you enjoyed it and learned a few things in the process..  
Family, Friends, Goldwings, what more can you ask for in life..  :)

Rick Arnoldo,
President  - Wingstuff.com