Golden Jubilee! Honda mark 50 years of the Gold Wing name with light updates to the GL1800 family

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Honda have given their flagship tourer, the GL1800 Gold Wing, a light update to celebrate its golden anniversary.

First launched as a production model 50 years ago, as the naked GL1000 four-cylinder in 1975, it’s now grown to become an 1833cc flat-six continent crusher – receiving its last ground-up redesign for 2018.

Side view of the 2025 Honda GL1800 Gold Wing Tour 50th anniversary

Updates have been given to both the standard and Tour variants of the bike – including two new paint finishes said to be influenced by models of the past. The 2025 models are expected to appear at this month’s Devitt Insurance MCN London Motorcycle Show, too.

Amongst them is a combination of Eternal Gold and Mahogany Brown, which draws inspiration from the 1988 GL1500 variant – with unique badging also marking the special birthday.

2025 Honda GL1800 Gold Wing Tour 50th anniversary finished in red

Helping the 124.7bhp engine to meet new Euro5+ regulations is an additional O2 sensor, and tweaks to the ECU settings. Options will be available for both manual and semi-automatic DCT settings.

Further nods to the milestone include a Gold Wing emblem on the key and seven-inch TFT display, which come complete with 50th Anniversary and ‘Since 1975’ emblem.

On top of this, the first 1833 bikes sold across Europe (a nod to the engine capacity) will come with a replica model measuring 11 inches long, by six inches high.

Rear view of the Honda GL1800 Gold Wing

On top of this, tweaks have been made to the audio and rider/pillion technology on board, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto available, alongside a new speaker system for better audio at high speeds.

Further to this, a ‘Ducking’ feature will automatically lower background music during conversations over comms, and you get two USB-C charging sockets for smartphones on both the standard and Tour variants.

Watch: 2018 Honda GL1800 Gold Wing launch review video