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ADV NewsWatch: Gold Wing Vs Pro Hillclimb Bike In Duel To The Death

Watch: Gold Wing Vs Pro Hillclimb Bike In Duel To The Death

See what happens when you hillclimb a 1000-lb GL1800 with knobbies.

Published on 10.12.2023

The lure of using a fully-dressed, 1000-pound Honda Gold Wing for off-road shenanigans better suited for hard-core dirt bikes is strong. Evidently. 

Last month we were treated to a video from hard enduro rider Matt Spears who strapped his Sherco rally bike onto the back of a Wing named Piggy and wheelied the works into the mountains of Montana to retrieve a moose skull and antlers he’d previously cached. 

The result was hilarious, and now the 21-year-old is at it again with a new video featuring his ratted-out Honda, now wearing even less bodywork and a few more gashes, going head-to-head hill climbing against 5-time Great American Hill Climb champ Austin “Superfly” Teyler on his extended-wheelbase Suzuki RM-Z450. 

Gold Wing hillclimb

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The setting is the South Hills Motorcycle Area near Billings, Montana, that borders the 1,421-acre compound owned by the 110-year-old Billing Motorcycle Club (BMC), which hosts the Great American Hill Climb each year. The first task is getting the gnarled Gold Wing to the first official hill climb, which ironically involves a hill climb straight out of the parking lot. 

Right away we noticed the Wing was now shod in more aggressive rubber and Matt told us the secret sauce was fitting a 140/80/18 Michelin Enduro Medium rear tire on the front wheel, while the rear Honda’s 16” rear wheel was shod in a Shinko E805 adventure tire. 

Gold Wing hillclimb

The Wing, with its chopped fairing, gaudy array of lights and industrial-strength crash protection kit looks full Mad Max by now, and that’s thanks in large part to custom metal fabrication house Ruby Mountain out of Twin Bridges, Montana. Matt says Ruby Mountain built the bike’s four crash guards, custom winch mount and 1 ⁄ 4-inch steel skid plate on their CNC and plasma machines and he couldn’t be more satisfied, claiming this package is the primary reason Piggy has survived so much trashing.  

Honda Gold Wing hillclimb

Matt says he also wants viewers to know the hills in this new video are much steeper in person, though the way the Honda bucks its way up the first grade makes it pretty clear this is the real deal, complete with ankle-snapping ruts that don’t allow for easy line changes. 

There is no way to not laugh when watching this footage, especially with the soundtrack of Matt and Austin’s whoops and jokes playing out in the background. Matt tells ADV Pulse the friends met at a Bentonite Brawl hard enduro, where he placed first in the A Class and Austin finished second. Evidently Bentonite is a nasty clay that becomes virtually unrideable when it’s wet, and midway through that particular event it started to pour rain. The slugfest that ensued was a bonding experience. 

Honda Gold Wing hillclimb

Piggy the Gold Wing doesn’t make it up the first time, but after rolling the beast back down the hill —  which throughout the video looks like the most dangerous part, especially when the big bike’s robust e-ABS kicks in — Matt has another go, and to the amazement of all, eventually clears the first hill. But remember, that was the steep hill on the way to the really steep hills!

Honda Gold Wing hillclimb

Frankly the journey to “Hill #1” might offer the best visuals in this 15-minute video as it shows the two night-and-day bikes covering some crazy territory in tandem, the Honda bucking like an angry bronco while the Suzuki looks more like a soaring eagle. 

The first go up the competition hill ends pretty quickly for the Wing, and then ends again to a flurry of cackles as they try to steady the big bike and get it back down the hill for another go. Matt chooses a different line and against all odds the tourer makes it. C’mon Honda, you’re marketing this machine all wrong. No one, including Matt, can believe it. 

Honda Gold Wing hillclimb

When Austin makes the same run on his factory hillclimber it tells the bigger story however, with the custom climber literally airborne all the way over the crest. Matt calls it unfair advantage and decides Austin needs to be handicapped by using only one hand on the next run. 

These guys are having way too much fun and it’s awesome to watch and listen to: “It’s actually my dad’s bike,” Matt jokes. Of course the video’s title includes the word “Impossible,” so we know there’s going to be some carnage and it comes on the Gold Wing’s next and final hill. 

The first run the big bike almost makes it but plops over near the top. Now Matt and his crew have to muscle the half-ton machine down the hill, mostly backwards. The next go Matt is even closer to the top — it looks like  just feet away — when the bike stalls and all hell breaks loose. 

Honda Gold Wing hillclimb

It’s a yard sale of epic proportions with the Honda tumbling back down the steep hill side-over-side, spraying parts in every direction. It’s sad but also terribly funny and impossible for Matt and the crew to be straight-faced in their grief, and Matt does plead: “I just want everyone on the internet to know we were not coming out here to destroy the Wing. We had big plans. It’s funny but it’s also pretty sad.”

You half expect the obliterated bike to start again, being a Honda and all, but when they go to try, they find the battery has left the area. 

Honda Gold Wing hillclimb
Honda Gold Wing hillclimb

But before we’re all crying too hard over the dead bike as we watch a montage with Sarah McLachlan singing “you’re in the arms of the angel” in the background, or worse, preaching about the mess it left, we have good news. Matt told ADV Pulse the boys actually came back and rescued the Gold Wing a week later. And nope, they didn’t trailer it out, Matt ordered parts, fixed it on site and rode it out! No joke.

Keep an eye on Matt’s YouTube channel for the extraction video he says will post later this week, and while you’re there make sure to enjoy the recent pre-hill climb video of the Gold Wing wearing a custom paddle tire and surfing some massive sand dunes.

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.

Author: Jamie Elvidge
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