2025 Honda Gold Wing Tour (50th Anniversary)

A Car With Two Wheels

The Gold Wing has been the S-tier touring benchmark for 50 years. The 2025 Tour model is Honda's anniversary-edition reminder that nobody else really tries to compete with this thing in its own category. 1,833cc flat-six. 125 horsepower. 125 lb-ft of torque. 833 lb wet. Reverse gear. Electronic windscreen. Wireless Apple CarPlay. Rearview mirrors that look like they came off a BMW 3 Series. "This is like a very weird car hybrid motorcycle thing."

Chase specifically requested the manual-trans model (not the DCT) because he wanted to experience the gearbox himself. What he got was a first ride that made him reset his entire mental model for what a big bike can do. Gold Wings always score well. This one scored 71, Good Tier, and the fact that it didn't push higher is almost entirely the price tag and a couple of engine-braking quirks.

Performance highlights

1,833cc horizontally-opposed six. 125 horsepower, 125 lb-ft, 833 lb wet, 5.5-gallon tank. Throttle response scores 7. Three modes: Rain (power way down), Touring (the sweet spot. Still "throws you back"), and Sport ("sport mode is literally just for giggles"). No abruptness off closed throttle, but there's a specific engine-braking pop when you chop the throttle at low speeds that's almost certainly a shaft-drive artifact. It's the one chink in an otherwise seamless package.

Acceleration earns 7. The 40–80 roll-on in sport mode was legitimately quick. Chase's description: "the pickup of a truck where you don't expect it to have any get up and go, but when you do, it's really exciting and makes fun noises." This isn't a 40–80 contender against the Panigale or the M 1000 R. But for a 833-lb tourer, the fact that it gets there at all is impressive.

Agility is the honest 5 and the place a Gold Wing will always lose points. Standing still, you feel every pound. Moving at even 5 mph, the weight disappears. "The only time you can really feel that this bike is 854 lb is when you are stopped or barely moving." That's genuinely a Honda engineering trick. Chase has ridden heavy Harleys where the weight "drifts away," and the Wing does that trick even better. But a Wing is never going to flick like a supermoto. It's never going to carve like a super sport. 5 is accurate.

Brakes rate 8. Linked front/rear, pulling the front lever engages both. Combined with the soft plush suspension, the Gold Wing stops with zero front dive, which is a weird sensation the first time you brake hard. "A suspension that's this comfortable, I would expect a lot of front dive, but there's like no dive at all." The mass shows under truly hard braking, but composed is the right word.

Suspension is 7 and the double-wishbone front end is the Wing's actual superpower. "I don't know what Honda has done with the suspension on this bike." Road bumps that would shoot Chase's spine through his brain stem on a normal bike get almost completely erased. The downside of that plushness is corner control isn't its strength. Tuned for comfort, not sport. Which is the correct call on a tourer. The Ducati Skyhook on the Multistrada V2S still gets Chase's "best overall suspension" nod, but for ultimate comfort, this is the winner.

Rider experience & tech

Comfort is the flat 9 and is the reason this bike exists. "This is easily the most comfortable motorcycle, but the suspension is so strange." Seat is wide, firm, and infinite-mile. Legs are out in front in "chair mode." Bars come back to you. The electronic windscreen, fully adjustable on the fly, actually works: Chase's quote from the highway, "I literally don't feel wind. That's where I start feeling wind. Do you guys see my hand all the way up there?" Preload is adjustable for rider / rider + passenger / rider + bags via one button press. Every ergonomic decision here is right.

Tech scores 8. Wireless Apple CarPlay. Wireless Android Auto. Keyless ignition (key lives in a cubby). Cruise control with cancel-by-forward-throttle-rotation. Six-speed manual with genuinely smooth shifts. Reverse gear, yes, actual reverse; hit R, hit the starter button, throttle does nothing, the bike walks itself backward. Hill hold. An electronically-adjustable windscreen. Linked ABS braking. Traction control. Three ride modes plus Econ. The point-missed is the main center screen, unless you're in CarPlay, it's underutilized; Chase would've wanted throttle-input or bike-stats visualization there. Minor nit on a bike this feature-dense.

Ease of use is 7. Not higher because the control density is real. Buttons on the left cluster + buttons on the tank + mode button + menu scroll wheel + windscreen toggle + preload selector. Once you've mapped it, it all makes sense. For a new Wing owner, plan on a week of parking-lot familiarization.

Versatility is 7. Tour: S-tier. Two-up touring: S-tier. Commute on the highway: excellent, minus the parking-lot acrobatics required to get there. Commute in stop-and-go: workable if you're patient. Twisty canyon: better than you'd expect (it tips in with disarming ease), but you're not going to chase sport bikes on it. Off-road: absolutely not. Fun-for-the-money is 6. Not because the Wing isn't worth its money, but because $28,500–$29,200 is genuinely car-money, and Chase's on-camera comparison was that it costs about what his Subaru does.

The Chase Score & final thoughts

With a Chase Score of 71/100, Good Tier, the 50th Anniversary Gold Wing Tour lands exactly where every previous Wing does: fantastic at the one thing it's designed to do, scored down by the fact that "one thing" is a narrow category. 34 ride points + 37 usability points = a machine that's all about the comfortable miles.

Buy it if you're a long-haul rider, if you're planning an Iron Butt, if you ride two-up, or if your commute has a lot of highway and you want the ultimate "get there not-tired" machine. Skip it if you want thrills, if $29k is out of budget, or if you don't ride far enough to justify a sofa with a shaft drive. Chase's on-camera close: "I don't need a Gold Wing in my life, and it costs basically what my freaking Subaru does. But damn, dude. I don't get it. I'm so impressed with what Honda can do with such a large motorcycle and make it this good." From a guy who's thrown leg over 1,800+ bikes, that's as high a compliment as a tourer gets.