Best Of

Found I have a hernia. No fitness for this guy for a while. Just more pancakes. I'll be the salmon of this bunch.

@OmgFrigginMike , my 'Wing is a 2024 with manual shift, not the DCT. Everywhere I went they talked up the DCT, but I like deciding what gear and when. @Calvin, good instincts and assessment. The Indian was indeed very comfortable to sit on, and I miss having floorboards on the Wing. The Ultimate seat made a huge difference, and I put on a set of "Comfort Bars" to give me highway pegs and a little tip-over protection. The windshield is adjustable, I put a Quiet Werks windscreen on. It's wider and has the recurve lip at the top. Cruise control is pretty good on the GW, I read that it may be reactive on the Indian, which would be awesome.

The majority of my riding is two-up on curvy two lane roads. Tennessee is full of roads like that. Any time I'm headed somewhere I usually have between 3 and 6 options as to route. Deer and tractors abound and are usually just around the next corner or over the next of many hills. Nimble handling and powerful braking is a must. When I lived in Texas, also in Kansas, most rides were; find a road, ride out until time to turn around and come bad on the same road. Not here, big loops in whatever direction. I noticed in my research that much is made of the Indian's superior radio, I don't care. I listen to music at home, and in my truck, but not on a bike. Unimportant distraction, for me.

If I'm not mistaken the Goldwing is, in fact, "made" in America about as much as any other bike. Ft. Wayne Indiana, I think. I could be wrong about that. My first instinct about the private equity thing is the same as yours, Calvin. We'll see what happens, but that is the way of the corporate world. Go cheap, screw the workers and squeeze the last dime out of the customers, as long as the soulless bosses get their gold.

Thanks to all for your input here. It helps. I wish I could get the Indian's floorboards and saddlebags on the GW, but, life is an endless series of compromises.

@Amos_Umwhat said:
While in Nashville I accidentally ran across the Indian dealership. I was just looking for a place to turn around, and there was this nice loop parking lot, and then I saw the sign. Well, I can't just turn around here, I must go in and look, right?

So, I checked this one out pretty thoroughly, sat on it, asked questions of the salesperson while I was sitting on it. Looked into the storage, it has more than the Goldwing, truth is, I liked everything about it. So, I got his card and got the heck out of there while my bank balance was still intact.

It's lingering in my mind though. It's very much the style of bike that I spent many years on. 4" travel on the rear suspension, which is nearly twice what the comparable Harley has, I think 5" up front. 112ci motor. All the amenities of the Goldwing.

@CalvinAndHobo , yours is a Chieftain, right? Similar.

We also talked about the private equity thing, apparently the guy in charge is legit, I remember seeing something about his bonafides a little while ago.

I've only got 10K miles on the 'Wing, and I'm sure they wouldn't come close to its worth in a trade in.

Damn, I am strong, I can resist anything. Except maybe temptation.

It's going to drive me crazy for a while. We'll see what happens.

Yeah mine is the Chieftain, basically the same bike just no trunk and no shark nose fairing.

Pros:

About equally reliable as your gold wing, won't break down hardly ever so you can go wherever you want without worry, unlike a Harley.

Way more comfortable than your gold wing once you get an aftermarket seat, because of the laid back seating angle and 3 inch shorter seat, which I prefer.

Can adjust your suspension to specific settings instead of the boilerplate options on the Gold Wing.

About equal 0-60 times with factory settings, which is surprising.

Made in America, Spirit Lake, Iowa specifically. You can tour the factory for free if you ever come to visit 2.5 hours away from me.

More storage.

Better bike for staying in cruise control at 80mph in a straight line. The weight is lower on the bike compared to even a Harley so the wind affects you less, and like you said it's heavy. Best straight line cruise control bike in existence, in my opinion. This is what most of my riding is, so this matters a lot to me. If you ever go for a test ride, make sure you're allowed to go on the highway, and make an effort to do that and put your feet on the highway pegs, you'll see.

Robust gently used market. This is such a popular bike among the lawyer/dentist mid life crisis poser crowd. My bike was 2 years old, had 3,000 miles on it and every single available premium feature like the speakers and lower fairings and so on. It was $18,000 shipped, compared to $31,000 new. There's absolutely 0 reason to buy a new version of this bike, someone else already did that and now has your future bike sitting in their 4 car garage, never being ridden. Check cycletrader, lots of dealerships will include free shipping if you push for it, and then you can get competitive offers on your gold wing by taking it to multiple dealerships and making them bid against each other.

Aftermarket electronically adjustable 19 inch windscreen, so that you don't have to choose between either you or your lady getting wind buffeted. You can both avoid that now, though I've heard Gold Wing isn't too bad with that and I have to imagine they have their own taller after market options. You can also lower it when you want the wind in your face.

Sounds freaking awesome.

Looks freaking awesome.

Cons:

Not as fast or nimble into corners as your bike. Just a 31 degree lean angle, and it's heavy. You'll scrape your floorboard trying anything fun, if that matters to you. I personally don't care.

No reverse like you said, have to back into downhill parking spots to set yourself up for success. I forgot to do that once. Keyword once, was a very obnoxious lesson. I find it pretty easy now though to look at the spot and figure out whether I need to back in or pull in to it based on the hill direction, as long as you don't forget.

Have to go to Nashville for your 5,000 mile service and tires, unless you do your tires yourself.

Premium fuel, and worse fuel mileage. I get about 32 mpg 2 up with the cruise control set to 80. It's probably better than that at 70mph though.

Fewer aftermarket options performance wise, if you're into that. I'm not, since the reliability matters more to me than the 0-60, but I know a lot of people are. I'd rather make sure I get out of North Dakota, than get into North Dakota a little faster.

The private equity thing. I know the new CEO has good PR, but I don't care. These things always go the same way. The bike is going to be the same model with minor adjustments and 0 innovation for the next 10 years as every dollar is squeezed with short term thinking in mind. Production is also inevitably going to be sent oversees which is going to hurt the reliability that's so important to me. That's irrelevant for you if you're buying now instead of 5 years from now, since you'd be getting the up to date American version, but it makes me sad because I probably won't be able to be a lifelong loyalist as the bike slowly becomes out of date and Chinese.

It's very heavy. Very very heavy. I like that on the highway, but it's not going to be fun in a city trying to change lanes and avoid pedestrians. Your bike is more nimble there.

Doesn't have Android Auto, just Apple CarPlay or the RideCommand GPS itself which is fine but not great. You can still play your audio via your phone of course though.

Have to get the saddlebag speaker package to be able to listen to audiobooks with earplugs in on the highway. Can hear everything fine if you're not an earplugs person.

I went with the Chieftain because of what's important to me when considering what to buy. I'm incredibly happy with it. Had to give it 25,000 miles before I had my first repair, which was some electrical dohicky something or other that I don't remember the name of. The thing that controlled how much power the battery gives out to the bike, whatever that is. But other than that no issues. I think it depends what kind of riding you're doing. You've got some great twisties in your area, if that's the focus I wouldn't go with the Indian. If the traveling is more what you want, I'd definitely look at it, and then thank the dealer for his time and go get a gently used one.