I have had 3 previous Goldwings and one other touring bike and have been anxiously waiting each of the past 5 years for Honda to bring out a truly new touring bike. In the past Honda’s flagship bike, the Goldwing, has always been the leader and set the standard for touring bikes. Once the new model was announced I was one of the first riders to purchase the new 2018 DCT Tour from our local dealer.
The 2018 Goldwing has almost all the features we had been hoping for and performs beautifully. The DCT, the windshield, the reduced size and weight, the traction control, the heavier duty brakes, the new front suspension, the extra gears and more all make this an excellent bike.
After buying one of the new bikes though you start to find out that most of the work went into the planning on the mechanical features on the bike and that features like GPS, audio system, CB radio and intercom are severely lacking in functionality and continually frustrating. While you would expect the first year of any new design to have some bugs this bike seems to have far more than it should. It feels like any testing that was done was not by a rider(s) that does tour riding as many of us do. Nor does it appear that bike was tested with a rider & co-rider or a rider, co-rider and another bike trying to use the intercom, CB, radio etc. Once you buy the bike you quickly learn of the issues it has and I am sure at least half of them could have been easily found in pre-testing. The fact that Honda would release this bike as their flagship bike with so many issues I personally find disgraceful on their part.
To add further frustration calling Honda gives you a phone rep that has no idea what you are talking about and, to the best of my knowledge, Honda has made no effort to correct any of these issues by putting out a software update this riding season although they have had months to do so.
To top it all off Honda is now promoting their new 2019 model by saying it has software updates to fix the GPS audio problem.
Now that I have put the summer on the bike and put up with all its issues here is a summary of what I have found. I am hoping that someone at Honda may get this and provide fixes for as many issues as possible.
With every bike there are a few items you wish were different and here are mine. They are all livable but perhaps future years could change them.
- The parking brake is ugly and is subject to being forgotten about both when stopping and starting. Could this not have been an electric one that automatically turns on & off as we are now seeing in many cars?
- Luggage space is smaller but that comes with downsizing the bike
- Many riders ride 2 up and the single helmet fastener at the side simply does not cut it for two up. You should bring out an option to add 2 hangers back under the trunk. There is currently no convenient way to attach or store 2 full size helmets on the bike while you are away from it. I am referring to helmets such as the Shoei Neotec II. If fact since the Neotec II does not use D-Rings it is difficult to attach even one.
- Honda Canada does not provide an option for XM radio on the bikes. From what I have been told Honda feels that XM radio is not suitable for Canadian bikes although all their cars support it. XM radio was also not available in the previous Canadian GL1800s although it was available in the GL1800s sold in the states. I can understand Honda Canada not including it but at least it should have been an option as it is in the US. Why can it not be offered as one now? It is a blessing riding across country and through areas where AM & FM do not pull in well.
Windscreen Ventilation Louver
The button on the louver sticks when it is pressed and most times the louver will not pop up forcing you to fiddle with it while you ride, leave it down or pull over and try to get it to pop up. This is simply a plastic button that sticks even when the louver is open. How long is this going to last before it is broken, and will Honda come up with a repair/fix for it?
Shelter Case
On the DCT Tour they have provided a shelter case to place your cell phone in and connect it to the audio system. To operate it you must push down on the right side of the button to open it. That is fine, but that button sticks and half the time you again must fiddle with the button to get the shelter to open. Again, something you do not want to do while you are riding. How long is this going to last before it is broken, and will Honda come up with a repair/fix for it?
GPS System
Honda previously had a ‘nice’ GPS system and this new one seems to have quite a few new features that could make it a lot better but as it currently sits it is almost useless for the touring rides we do. Maybe a simple ride from A to B would work fine but that is not what we do …. unlike automobile drivers we choose the roads we want to ride and enjoy.
- Entering an address as a destination will often not allow you to enter the street number. After entering the city and choosing the street it bypasses asking for the street number. Not being able to enter a street number can be very frustrating on a street that is several miles long.
- The GPS is limited to only 8 waypoints on a route – if you are planning a day trip out through an area and trying to catch all the good roads 8 waypoints simply won’t cut it. This must be increased, and I would suggest to 32 or more. (This is supposedly fixed in an update to be released Oct 25)
- The GPS needs to understand naming conventions better than it does – the audio system says ‘H’ W’ ‘Y’ 7 instead of Highway 7 and does not understand other abbreviations such as ‘D’ ‘R’ instead or Drive and ‘C’ ‘R’ ‘T’ instead of Court.
- If you get a call while riding there is no GPS audio provided while you are on the call. If you are on a call it is easy to miss a turn and get off route. The GPS needs to play its verbal directions always or at least indicate an upcoming turn.
- GPS audio directions only play when you first start the bike and enter the route. If you stop for gas and then restart the bike the route comes back but there is no audio. I believe Honda is saying that this will be fixed in the 2019 version. (This is supposedly fixed in an update to be released Oct 4)
- In the GPS settings setting the to 'Heading Up 3d' does not seem to always stick – the GPS randomly reverts to the factory default of 'Heading North Up'.
- While the GPS settings are set to 'Heading Up 3d' on main screen – the Guidance (preview screen) on the right side of the display is being displayed as 'Heading North Up'. You now have two displays each showing you a different turn. In reality they are the same but visually they are very confusing. Should both screens not appear the same way?
- I had set the POI indicators to Gas Stations only and normally they are set to ‘POI Off’ on the bottom right of the screen. When I turned them on nothing came up?? Can they not be turned on & off as needed or must they always be on?
Compatibility with Honda’s Trip Planner website
- If you plan a route using Honda’s website https://tripplanner.honda.com and then download the route into the bike it is showing an incorrect address. Pulling apart the .gpx file the proper address is in there but the GPS is not interpreting it correctly. Taking the same file and loading it into my Garmin GPS it works fine.
- A very annoying issue is that if you use Honda’s website and place a waypoint ‘exactly’ on the road when you get to it the GPS it has moved, often down a side road.
- There is also often a difference between the route laid out on the website and what you will get on the bike’s GPS. They appear to calculate the routes differently. I suspect that this might be partially due to the fact that the website gives you the option to avoid highways, whereas the bike gives you the option of fastest or shortest and to avoid Expressways, Toll Roads, Tunnels, Ferries and Carpool Lanes. Perhaps the website options could be updated to match the GPS options.
- Since this is a touring bike it would be very helpful if the GPS also had the option to avoid gravel and unpaved roads.Another variance between the website and the GPS is that even though you zoom completely in and place a waypoint exactly on the road once it is downloaded t the bike it is often moved to somewhere off the road.
System Menu
- If you accidentally go into a menu area not allowed while moving the screen displays the message “'This feature is disabled while vehicle is in motion”. When the menu screen locks you also lose navigation and all other features. The screen stays locked, and you must pull over and stop the bike before it will clear. This is extremely dangerous if you are on a highway! Could it not display the message for 10 or 15 seconds and then return you to the home screen?
- It is possible to choose menu options while riding that will put the display into a ‘locked’ mode. Could this be changed to not allow you to enter menu areas not permitted while moving?
I purchased the passenger audio control under the impression that it would provide the passenger control over their own volume, music source etc. This is not the case and the passenger audio control affects all audio sources and volumes on the bike. If the passenger moves the volume up or down it affects the rider etc.
Audio System
Every time you start the bike the audio system turns on by default. Often this is the radio and if it is not on a channel it can be very noisy and annoying. The only option I have found is after starting the bike I can change the audio source to ‘Aux’ which quiets the noise.
There does not seem to be a way to turn the audio system off. It seems to always be on.
The next items deal partially with the Bluetooth system. I have purchased Neotec II helmets with the built in Sena SRL Bluetooth system for both myself and my co-rider. Talking to Sena they have indicated that Bluetooth has its own communication system and priorities of signals which are quite complex. I can only describe the end results that I have seen.
Apple Carplay
- Apple Carplay will only connect if the Bluetooth helmet is connected and turned on first. If you plug in your phone before the helmet is connected Apple Carplay will not be enabled.
- If you don’t have a helmet with Bluetooth Apple Carplay cannot be used to play music or any other function as it will not connect.
- If the helmet turns off for a second or you walk out of range (ie at a gas station) Apple Carplay drops off and does not come back until you disconnect the phone & reconnect it. I have found on multiple occasions that I have had to pull over to the side of the road just to unplug and plug the phone back in to be able to use iTunes again.
- I have noticed that when a call comes in or a GPS alert is played the intercom function gets turned off. At the end of the call or announcement the intercom only comes back on about 50% of the time for a phone call and about 90% of the time for a GPS announcement. **This applies to riding with a co-rider or being connected to another rider via Bluetooth. When riding as a single rider this is not an issue.
- Rumors have it that Apple is doing away with the connector on their next generation of phones and going to wireless charging. If this happens will we still be able to connect these new phones and Apple Carplay to the system?
- If you use Carplay your iPhone is connected through it not directly to your bike. If you do not connect Carplay the bike does not default back to pairing directly with your phone. You will not have any phone service unless you go into settings and re-enable pairing with the bike.
- If you use Carplay your iPhone is connected through it. If you stop (ie at a gas station) and do not re-engage Carplay before leaving your phone is no longer connected through Carplay. If you hit the Siri button (ie to make a call) your main display locks up with an error message and there is no way to get it back unless you stop the bike. The screen should simply give a brief error and then return to whatever menu it was on.
- The CB Radio works fine when I am riding alone. It switches back and forth from CB to music every time the squelch is broken, or I transmit.
- When I am riding with a co-rider or being connected to another rider via Bluetooth the helmet to helmet intercom (provided as a feature of the Sena headset) is turned off while the CB has the audio source (ie Squelch broken). At the end of the transmission received the intercom is supposed to turn back on but this only happens about 25% of the time. When the intercom does turn back on you will first hear a small beep (not the roger beep) which I believe is the signal to turn the intercom back on after the transmission. The intercom should always turn back on, but it only happens 25% or less of the time. This makes it very hard to have your co-rider on the intercom if you are using the CB radio in a group ride.
- I have also found numerous times where I am getting no audio in my helmet, just a very low static noise. This will go on for quite a while. I finally found that although the CB is not showing as receiving a signal turning the CB system off corrects the problem.
This could be the premier touring bike again if Honda fixes things but as it sits it is not. I can’t even rely on the GPS for trips.
Would I have bought the bike knowing all its issues? Maybe …… but I would have given it a lot more thought and not trusted Honda in the same way.
that Honda charges such a price for a Motorcycle that doesn't cater for all forms of personal gadgets like the phone - just Apple 
Also with so many issues that should have been picked up during testing 
As, for luggage capacity reduction - another no-no.... I'll just stick with my dressed GL1100, with my own working gadgets.. 
