2025 Honda GL1800 Gold Wing and Gold Wing Tour models celebrate half a century of touring in style.
Celebrating 50 years of touring in 2025, the Honda Gold Wing has always represented the ultimate in two-wheeled travel since its introduction as a naked 1000cc machine half a century ago.
Over those five decades, Honda’s seminal touring flagship has grown in physical size and displacement and has introduced new levels of comfort, luxury and technology to motorcycling. For 25YM, the Gold Wing and Gold Wing Tour gain several detail changes to keep them as the benchmark long distance tourers.
The 25YM GL1800 Gold Wing Tour 50th Anniversary edition homages iconic Gold Wing models of the past, with two new evocative paint finishes and unique badging. Channelling the 1988 GL1500 is the bold Eternal Gold and Mahogany Brown Metallic combination, subtly updated for 2025. Alongside this is a refined Bordeaux Red Metallic finish, which is finished with black and gold graphics and discreet gold lettering and detailing.
Pride of place on the centre console and Smart Key is the Gold Wing emblem, with 50th Anniversary and ‘since 1975’ detailing. Its crisp 3D, two-tone chrome design merges the strength and dignity of a lion’s head with the majestic wings of an eagle ready to pounce with open talons. The comprehensive digital dash has also been updated to display a unique start-up animation.
To also mark this important birthday, the first 1,833 Gold Wing 50th Anniversary models sold in Europe will include an exclusive, limited-edition half-and-half scale replica. This premium collectible, measuring 11 inches wide by 6 inches high, beautifully highlights the evolution of the Gold Wing, featuring the original design on one side and the current model on the other
Keeping up the Gold Wing’s reputation as a platform for not only comfort but also technological innovation, for 25YM all GL1800 Gold Wings receive upgrades to both audio and rider/pillion connectivity, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality enabled and new, improved audio system speakers to deliver a high-quality, rich sound at all speeds.
The 25YM final revisions are based around the addition of an O2 sensor and updates to the ECU’s settings, ensuring Euro 5+ compliance for both the Gold Wing and Gold Wing Tour.
The 25YM GL1800 Gold Wing Tour 50th Anniversary DCT and airbag will be available in the following colour options:
- **NEW** Eternal Gold and Mahogany Brown Metallic
- **NEW** Bordeaux Red Metallic
The 25YM GL1800 Gold Wing Tour DCT and airbag will be available in the following colour options:
- **NEW** Digital Silver Metallic
The GL1800 Gold Wing is available exclusively in a beautiful, brand-new Mat Ballistic Black 50th Anniversary edition paint scheme completed with full size, subtly softened Gold Wing logos on the rear panniers.
Gold Wing timeline:
1972: The beginning
A new design team is assembled under Soichiro Irimajiri, who headed up the design of Honda’s five-cylinder and six-cylinder road racing engines in the 1960s. Their brief is to explore the outer limits of the Grand Touring concept. How refined and luxurious can a motorcycle be when it is designed from the outset as a machine for covering big distances? The team creates the top-secret M1 prototype. Powered by a liquid-cooled, horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine with shaft final drive – features that will subsequently find their way onto the production Gold Wing as it evolves – the M1 blends superb performance with unrivalled refinement.
1975: GL1000 Gold Wing
The first production Gold Wing is a revolution, opening up new possibilities for long-distance motorcycle travel. With world-class power from its unique 999cm3 liquid-cooled horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine, the GL1000 Gold Wing combines peerless cross-country speed with a level of refinement never before experienced on two wheels. Gold Wing customers redefine touring, riding further and faster than had been possible before, confident in a machine that from the very beginning enjoyed a legendary reputation for complete reliability. In 1976 Honda celebrates the Gold Wing’s success with the stunning Gold Wing Limited Edition model, and in 1979 the first Honda of America manufacturing plant opens, reflecting the fact that 80 percent of Gold Wing production is being exported to the United States.
1980: GL1100 Gold Wing & GL1100 Gold Wing Interstate
Where the GL1000 defied categorisation with its blend of superbike power and touring comfort, the GL1100 – released after five years of intensive consumer-led development – firmly establishes the Gold Wing as a Grand Tourer par excellence. The larger 1085cm3 engine is developed for torque rather than power, while a longer wheelbase offers increased stability and more room for the rider and passenger. The air-assisted suspension sets new standards for motorcycle ride quality. At the same time the GL1100 Interstate introduces the idea of turn-key touring, with its factory-fitted fairing, panniers and top box.
1982: GL1100 Gold Wing Aspencade
The most luxurious Gold Wing to date offers an unparalleled range of standard features, from LCD instrumentation and a CB radio to an onboard air compressor.
1985: GL1200 Limited Edition
The Gold Wing’s market position is underlined by the discontinuation of the standard, unfaired GL1200 and the introduction of the GL1200 Limited Edition, complete with computerised fuel injection, a four-speaker sound system, cruise control, auto-levelling rear suspension, a travel computer and metallic gold paint.
1988: GL1500 Gold Wing
The brief is exacting in the extreme: the new Gold Wing has to be quieter, smoother, faster, more comfortable and even better in the corners. The GL1500 development team evaluates 15 different machines in 60 prototype stages. The result is a six-cylinder luxury tourer so accomplished that it establishes a benchmark that goes on to dominate motorcycling for more than a decade.
2001: GL1800 Gold Wing
A full eight years in development, the GL1800 model takes the Gold Wing to previously unimaginable heights. Steered by Masanori Aoki, whose CV includes the CBR250RR, the CBR400RR and the much-lauded CBR600F3, the Gold Wing becomes a dynamic sensation. In Aoki-san’s words: “My job is to add more fun factor, to build a Gold Wing with the kind of acceleration and handling people normally associate with sporting machines.” Alternative engines are tested but ultimately rejected and in 2001 the GL1800 is launched. The bike’s horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine is mounted in a box-section aluminium frame for superb road holding, handling and stability. In the course of the bike’s development no less than 20 technological innovations are patented.
2006: Industry-first airbag
The 2006 model introduced initially in the USA featured and the world’s first airbag on a production motorcycle, as well as revised taillights and instrument panel.
2011: New styling
The Gold Wing receives a new look under the styling concept of “majestic aggression”. The vitality and excitement of the bike’s handling and performance are reflected in looks that are at once elegant, imposing and dynamic. Luggage capacity is increased to 150 litres and a new six speaker audio system offers multiple connectivity options.
2013: Gold Wing F6B
The custom-styled Valkyrie (1996-2003) and unique, limited edition Rune (2003) – both sold in the USA – had used the Gold Wing engine. In 2013, the Gold Wing family gains a true second member with the stripped out, long and low Gold Wing F6B: a unique custom-touring motorcycle with Bagger styling, big on excitement and flair.
2014: Gold Wing F6C
A third machine takes the Gold Wing name. Low, mean and muscular, the Gold Wing F6C injected a jolt of adrenaline into the power cruiser arena.
2018: GL1800 Gold Wing
Brand new from the wheels-up, the 2018YM Gold Wing featured an all-new engine and frame, designed in unison to optimise packaging and maximise rider enjoyment.
Depending on the variant, up to 48kg was saved compared to the previous generation. An all-new link fork front suspension arrangement allowed the engine to be moved further forward and provide high-quality suspension control and front-end stability. The redesigned flat six-cylinder engine was optimised for size, but still delivered an avalanche of torque and power, and featured throttle by wire control, transferred to the road by a new six-speed manual, or seven-speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). New features like the Smart Key system, Apple CarPlay and Bluetooth connectivity brought even more convenience.
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