Riding > It's not a Concours - other Bikes

How the Connie compared to the new Goldwing.

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jamiemac:
I still don't have a lot of saddle time on the Wing yet, because Indiana weather, but I've made some observations on some similarities and differences between the two scoots. Now It's really comparing apples and oranges because they serve two different purposes, but both machines do one thing equally well. My Connie had a CeeBailey windshield on it when I got it so this could be considered an unfair judgment, but I'd say wind protection is pretty similar on both bikes. The engine sound was a little more growly on the Connie, but wind noise seemed pretty equal.

Stability. There;s a slight edge in stability on the highway to the Wing, which I assume is the larger frt wheel, and extra 120 pounds. Not by much though.

Handling. Not even close. The Connie is much more capable of aggressive cornering. Better tires. Stiffer springs, and more aggressive riding position. However, the wing is truly amazing. The 840 pound bike handles really good. Much better than the previous generation Wing.

Ride smoothness. Oh, man. I guess we all knew this one. This new frt suspension on the wing is a marvel of engineering. Most road imperfections just aren't felt. Only when a bump exceeds the travel of the shock will you notice.

Here's a weird one. Fuel mileage goes to the Wing. Not really broken in yet and getting 51 MPG on back roads and below 60 MPH. On the highway, it's dropping to 44. I was getting 41 on a good day with the Connie.

Transmission. No way to really compare them as the new Wing is a dual clutch Transmission. Shifts are instantaneous in both manual and auto mode. However, I still believe the tranny on My Connie was the smoothest shifing one of any bike I've ever owned. Loved that thing.

Horsepower/acceleration. Hahaha! Yeah. The Wing is respectable, and is said to run in the low twelves, but the Connie would absolutely destroy it without going over 7K RPM.
With the Wing in sport mode, it does give the feeling of brisk acceleration. It's a fun machine, and has over 100 pound ft of torque just off idle.

Overall, I'm having a blast! I'll put up more observations as I think of them.

Freddy:
 :chugbeer:

jamiemac:
I left a lot of stuff out of the comparison such as, heated grips, seat heat, and cruise because my Connie, which I paid a little over 8K for 10 years ago, didn't have any of that when I bought it. Anyways, it's not a fair comparison for a bike I paid 3 times as much for.

The Connie's stock seat was a torture device. Really, I always felt mama Kaw should be a little ashamed of how awful the seat was. Plenty of folks feel the same about the seat on the new generation Goldwing. I like it so far though. The 300 mile ride home last week from Niehaus Cycle Sales in Illinois, was very pleasant, if a bit on the cold side at first.

The rear suspension on the Connie is more sophisticated than the wing. So much so that the lack of shaft jacking is soon forgotten if You're a Connie owner. The wing handles that pretty well also, I'd say with leverage, and weight, instead of geometry.

katata1100:
Mpg- with mcruise activated, I get an easy 50mpg on straight level traveling, at 70mph, at least that’s what display says.
Luggage capacity- this is the one thing that keeps me from replacing my c14 with a wing. I have a Shad 50 liter trunk but still wish I had more room. Spend $28k on a bike that has less cargo room? No thanks.
On a related note, I fixed up my ‘91 Suzuki katana 1100 and found a luggage set in Germany. The bags are huge, bigger than the C14, at 42L. The trunk looks like 45L, meaning even this ancient sport tourer has more capacity than a wing.
Once you’ve gone a two week trip on a bike, you learn that there is no such thing as too much luggage space.

jamiemac:

--- Quote from: katata1100 on April 07, 2019, 02:20:50 PM ---Mpg- with mcruise activated, I get an easy 50mpg on straight level traveling, at 70mph, at least that’s what display says.
Luggage capacity- this is the one thing that keeps me from replacing my c14 with a wing. I have a Shad 50 liter trunk but still wish I had more room. Spend $28k on a bike that has less cargo room? No thanks.
On a related note, I fixed up my ‘91 Suzuki katana 1100 and found a luggage set in Germany. The bags are huge, bigger than the C14, at 42L. The trunk looks like 45L, meaning even this ancient sport tourer has more capacity than a wing.
Once you’ve gone a two week trip on a bike, you learn that there is no such thing as too much luggage space.

--- End quote ---
Yeah, my last trip on the Connie lasted 26 days. Luggage capacity wasn't really an issue, because when I ran out of clean stuff, I stopped and did laundry. I expect, I'll do the same on the wing. The wing is definitely more comfortable, and that's what wing riders are paying for for the most part. Had the Rostra cruise on mine, and just couldn't squeeze more MPGs out of the ol girl, but it didn't matter because I was having so much fun. LOL

An update on the DCT transmission. It's amazing. I got a feeling this is going to become a fundamental change to many brands of bikes.

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