[BenMC]

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A Harley acquaintance of mine sent me this picture, it might be of interest to owners of GL1800s. He found it on a Japanese siteyesterday by accident. I don't think it was meant to be there because when he went back an hour later the picture was gone. He didn't even realise that the 1800s in the picture were in fact any different to the ones available now, he just thought I'd like the picture and it took me a couple of glances to see the signicance of it, if its true.
The original imageis much better quality than this, I've had to downsample it in Photoshop to make itfit here.
Looks like red is back and a two-tone saddle for startere. GPS as well and a gear indicator as well. Eagle eyed 1800 owners will probably see other changes that I missed.

Update; I've resampled the original to slightly highers resolution (95kbs instead of 88) and cropped it a bit tighter, so there should be a bit more detail. I've also sent the originallarger fileto the wingnut.

 

[Budegan]

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WOW! First I thought it had to be a hoax or a retouched picture, but it looks real. I'd like to see the higher resolution images if possible (maybe you'd be good enough to e-mail it please Ben).

1. So far I can see that the radiator side vents in the fairing are substantailly bigger (bigger rads perhaps) and the chrome vents (new item from Honda obviously and much bigger and different to Kury ones) are covering a larger vent hole. The fairing side comes down further to almost meet the rocker cover.

2. Different rocker covers, the bolts holding the gold trim are spaced wider.

3. Frame looks wider and the weld (usually covered by the plastic trim) half-way down the side rail is missing. Perhaps the frame is made up of even less parts now? It looks to be finished smoother than previously as well.

4. The swingarm pivot cover centre part is much bigger. That suggests to me a fatter cross rail and bigger swinger bearings, obviously this is all part of the solution to the frame problem.

5. The engine guard has an extra support at the top.

 

[wingnut]

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If it's true, then apart from the GPS (I see the LCD display pod is bigger to accomodate it) and the goodies being thrown in as well (colour matched dash and saddle), the headlight looks bigger and designed a bit differently, the chrome vents beside the lights made smaller to make room for the bigger light. The side panel is bigger and the badge looks bigger and slightly differently designed as well. The flared mirror pods are I think a nice touch. The two antennas look shorter as well, I wonder if this means CB supplied as standard next year?
All in all, quite a number of changes. A bit late in the day, butit would seem thatthe frame and overheating problems have been attended to finally.

I've sent Ben a PM asking for the images he got originally as well. I'd like to have a closer look.

 

[07Silver]

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The front turn signals look bigger.Good to see Honda fitting clear ones all round now. The saddlebag lower edge looks to be flared out much more, I like that. Two tone saddle Im not sure if I like that. The front mudguard doesn't have that silly hole now and it looks depper and a different shape too.
You really need to have another picture of an 1800 beside that one to see the subtle changes to the plastic. I thought Honda would be throwing the towel in on the 1800 with all the problems, but it looks like they stuck it out and sorted it properly.

 

[englishted]

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Anyone notice the false tank comes down further wher it meets side panel? Also the saddle looks to be a couple of inches longer where it meets the tank. I do like the idea of GPS in that position. The gear indicator is cool, but it will take a while to adapt to the green "neutral" light staying on all the time. I wonder if it changes colour when you select OD gear?

 

[Guest]

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The battery scuff plates look different. :clapper:

:leprechaun::18red::leprechaun:

 

[Guest]

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Im still not convinced. :stumped:It would be very unlike Honda to leave this machine out in the open for all to see. :baffled:

:walker::18red::walker:

 

[sanfelice]

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It's a doctored photo. I can tell by the shadow.

 

[BigAl]

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sanfelice wrote:

It's a doctored photo. I can tell by the shadow.

I don't know. Remember we're looking at a crappy low res Jpeg. There's too many changes that would be impossible to doctor, I mean it would take absolutely ages to do all that, why bother? If the picture was dropped off the Japanese site after a few hours then it seems that somebody boobed when they put it up in the first place.
I think its part of a brochure shoot that was released too early.

 

[BRowan]

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Shadow looks right to me. I mean why bother to doctor the shadow at all? All the shooter need to do was take the photo and doctor the bits on the bike without haveing to go near the shadow at all.
The lighting is coming from the front and slightly to the side, so the fall of the shadow is right. Also looks like slight extra lighting all round to pick up the wheels etc. I think its a professional shoot done in controlled circumstances, so the bike is hardly what I would call "out in the open for all to see" and was probably surrounded by security guys during the shoot.It's a much better picture than the main one done for the 2001 model (remember the red 1800 in the main picture) and the format of small images to the side is similar, waiting for the text to be added.
Looks like someone at the printers made a big mistake and now the word is out.

 

[Heffo]

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The passenger grab rail is angled differently, that would give more space for their legs.

I'd say the photos is real. Why would anyone bother to alter a small detail like the grab rail that we probably won't even notice? They would just fiddle with the major things instead.

 

[GWEddie]

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Well I'm convinced. Theres too many small detail changes in the picture for it to be a hoax. A hoaxer would just alter big things to cause a sensation and wouldn't bother with the little things like the grab rail and the swingarm pivot. Why would a hoaxer even bother going to all the trouble of shortening the antennas?
Why would he even bother to do anything with the shadow when it' sthe bike he would be altering?
I wonder if this bike is the long awaited SE model? Either way, someone in the publishers or printersis going to get his butt fired for this mistake.

 

[GWEddie]

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Hey, I just noticed as well that the riders backrest pad is higher by a couple inches and the digital clock looks bigger. That makes a big list of changes for 06;

1. Two-tone saddle with different riders backrest pad and longer front.
2. Deeper redesigned mudguard (front & back parts).
3. Reshaped lower fairing around the radiator vents, air ventsand headlight area.
4. Longer headlight.
5. Shorter antennas.
6. Larger LCD pod with GPS (the shorter antennas might have something to do with this).
7. Different grab rails.
8. Flared saddlebag ends.
9. Colour-matched dash trim.
10. Different speaker trims.
11. Different shaped false tank shelter
12. Different shaped side panels.
13. Different shaped passengerscuff plates.
14. Bigger side panel badge.
15. Gear indicator light and GPS light inthe dash.
16. Bigger digital clock.
17. Different engine guard.
18. Different rocker cover badge.
19. Some frame changes.
20. Different mirrors.
21. Different front turn signals.
22. Different rear lights.
23.Smaller chrome vents beside the headlights.

Also, it appears that lots of previous chrome options are being included, ie the rotor covers, exhaust extensions, trims under the side panels, handlebar weights, screen garnish and also the CB radio.
Have I missed anything?

 

[Guest]

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After a good nights sleep, :bat:Im still not convinced. :stumped: There is no change in the passenger grab rails. :stumped:The other changes mentioned are there, but i have agut feeling that someone has done an excellent job :jumper:in producing this shot, just to get the bandwagon on the road for 2005/2006. :whip:I could be wrong but im still not convinced. :crying:Im forcasting that this will be the longest thread on the forum, :weightlifter:even longer than the thread "Redwing for some kind of "Guru" :skipping:

:walker::18red::walker:

 

[wingnut]

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The grabbers are different Redwing. I went out and took a quick shot of my saddle, tried to get the shooting angle the same as the one in Bens image. You can see the crop from my own shot and the one Ben posted here and the saddle differences are clear enough. I still don't know what to make of this, surely the bad press the GL1800 has had makes it a dead cause doing anything else with it (other than bringing out a new model with a new engine). That would be liketrying toget out of a hole by digging deeper.
If it's a hoax picture then the person who did it is an absolute photo genius. I don'tknow anyone whocould do all that in Photoshop anywhere near as good.
Also the fact is that the photo itself looks to have been taken professionally, the composition and lightingis consistent with what we see in brochures all the time.
I'm going to bring the higher resolution file that Ben sent me this morning up to Andy Murray (he used to be in the club and he's the Renault Ireland official photographer) to see what he thinks.

I think you are right about one thing Redwing, this one will roll on for a while!

 

[werner1800]

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I think this is real also. Why else would it be taken down from the Japan site? It must have in error been posted there or perhaps someone who was being fired from his job posted it there just to reveal the secret!

 

[Guest]

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Hey wingnut :waving: If Andy Murray agrees that this is a true photograph taken of the :18red:and not some kind of a makeshift effort, I will put up my hands. :clapper:The fact that you show the two grabbers, :weightlifter:and the slight difference in each case would make me think twice, :stumped:but im one of those guys who believes nothing i see on paper, unless i can see it in front of me in real life.:crying:

:weightlifter::18red::weightlifter:

 

[englishted]

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I'm a sceptic as well Redwing, but the fact remains that the photo looks so natural and with no obvious signs of cloning etc that you can do in Photshop. The lighting and everythingelse is so good that I'm convinced a pro photographer took it.If its a hoax photo then it's the best one that ever been produced of a Wing(unlike all the bad ones we seen in the past) and must have took a lot of time to do. Question then would be, why bother?

 

[JDuggan]

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The chrome side covers look to have a more pronounced "hump" at the top inner end. Doesn't matter to me if the picture is fake or not, as we never believe what we see until Honda tell us themselves. But I'm so convincedby this photo, enough to put off buying a gl1800 until we know for sure later in the year.
I'm wondering if someone wants to hoax us with a new Wing image, why not badge it as a GL2000 or something similar? Sure they would be silly to just hoax us with another GL1800 and if they are good enough to fix a picture that well then they can make it look like anything they want.

 

[sanfelice]

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This is a doctored photo. I am not saying whether or not this bike exists - it certainly may exist. But that shadow is not real, it was put there. Look at the shadow and the front wheel. No shadow starts or ends like that.

This photo has been altered and I would bet any amount of money on that.