A 2026 Honda GoldWing, a set of Bridgestone Exedra tyres and the twisting roads of the French Vosges. On paper, it sounds like a recipe for effortless grand touring. But over four days of changing roads, weather and landscapes, the big flat six Honda showed us another side of its personality – and its tyres played a bigger part in that than we initially expected.
There are motorcycles that make you want to reach a destination. And there are motorcycles that make you start looking for reasons not to take the shortest route there. The Honda GoldWing belongs firmly in the second category. Our machine certainly looked the part. Finished in its striking golden 50th Anniversary colour scheme, the enormous flat-six tourer seemed almost purpose-built for a long weekend away. So that is exactly what we gave it: several days of riding from Belgium towards Colmar and deep into the Vosges, before looping back through Luxembourg.
The 50th Anniversary edition also highlights just how long the GoldWing story has been unfolding. The GoldWing has now been part of the motorcycle landscape for more than five decades and Bridgestone has been part of that journey from the very beginning. Across generations, the two have formed a natural pairing, with Bridgestone tyres complementing the GoldWing’s focus on comfort, stability and long-distance performance.
Underneath all that luxury sits a pair of tyres with a considerable responsibility: the Bridgestone Exedra G853 front and G852 rear. Because moving a GoldWing down a motorway is one thing. Making a motorcycle of this size dance through a succession of mountain bends is something else entirely.
Where the road starts to matter
Friday began with the sort of roads that make travelling by motorcycle worthwhile before you even reach the mountains. Instead of chasing motorway signs towards Colmar, we headed onto quieter secondary roads. The landscape alternated between sun-scorched fields, stretches of forest and small villages seemingly dropped between lakes and rolling countryside.
Rhodes. Réchicourt-le-Château. Pierre-Percée. Raon-l’Étape. Saales…The names changed, but the rhythm remained beautifully consistent: flowing road, open corner, short straight, another bend. It was also an ideal introduction to the GoldWing. At speed, its size almost works in its favour. The 1,833cc six-cylinder engine barely seems to notice the kilometres accumulating beneath it, while the chassis feels planted and unhurried. The DCT quietly works its way through the gears and leaves the rider with little more to do than choose a line and enjoy the scenery. The tyres become part of that sense of calm.
No drama
The 130/70 R18 Exedra G853 at the front communicates what is happening without making the steering nervous. On a motorcycle this large, predictability matters more than razor-sharp reactions. You want the front tyre to accept an input cleanly, settle onto its line and stay there.
At the back, the 200/55 R16 Exedra G852 has another job altogether. It has to deal with the substantial torque of the flat-six, the mass of the motorcycle and everything from gentle touring speeds to harder acceleration out of a bend. None of this produces spectacular tyre-test drama. And that is precisely the point. Hour after hour, the GoldWing simply gets on with the job. And so do the Bridgestone Exedra’s.
Into the Vosges
Saturday morning changed the equation. From Cernay, we headed for the Grand Ballon, and from there the day became one long sequence of corners. The D431G carried us towards the summit before the quieter D27 dropped towards Kruth. From there, the route continued via Saulxures-sur-Moselotte and La Bresse to Gérardmer. This is where you expect a GoldWing to reveal its limitations. Instead, it reveals its engineering. The first tighter corners require a recalibration because there is a lot of motorcycle underneath you. Yet once you understand how little effort the Honda actually needs, the riding becomes surprisingly natural.
Look through the corner. Give the bar a measured input. Let the front tyre take a set. And go. The G853 gives the GoldWing a neutral, progressive turn-in. There is no sudden drop onto its side and no sense that you need to wrestle the bike towards the apex. The front simply loads up predictably, allowing you to place a very large motorcycle with impressive accuracy.
The G852 completes the picture. Roll on the throttle and the huge flat-six delivers its torque with turbine-like smoothness, while the rear tyre transfers it to the road without disturbing the chassis. This is not a sportsbike type of feedback. It’s something more useful: confidence without effort.
A heavyweight that likes corners
From Gérardmer we climbed towards the Col de la Schlucht before continuing towards Lac Blanc and Lac Noir. The roads varied constantly. Wide, fast sweepers gave way to narrower forest sections and tighter hairpins. Surface quality changed too, from clean French tarmac to rougher patches that asked more of the suspension and tyres.
Through all of it, the Exedras remained almost anonymous. For a touring tyre, that is praise. Good tyres let you concentrate on braking points, corner exits, scenery and the next destination. They should make the motorcycle feel consistent from one surface to the next without demanding attention themselves. That was exactly what happened here.
In fact, we spoke remarkably little about the tyres during the trip. There was no unexpected movement, no nervous steering and no moment that made us question what was happening underneath us. Instead, we talked about how much fun the GoldWing was. This probably says more about the tyres than constantly noticing them ever could.
When conditions change
Rain eventually caught us on the way into Colmar. The pace dropped, the inputs became smoother and the focus shifted from exploiting the GoldWing’s agility to appreciating its stability. Again, the bike simply settled into a rhythm.
That matters on a machine built to cross countries in a day. A GoldWing rider can encounter dry mountain roads in the morning, rain after lunch and broken city asphalt before dinner. A tyre for this kind of motorcycle therefore needs to do much more than simply provide outright cornering grip. It has to remain predictable over distance and across changing conditions. The G853/G852 pairing did exactly that.
One more road home
By Sunday, the sensible option would have been the fastest route home. But we chose the opposite. Secondary roads led us towards Schengen and the three-country point before we crossed Luxembourg and eventually headed back towards Belgium. Another detour. Another collection of bends. Another excuse to keep riding. Once back in Belgium, the asphalt became rougher and the traffic heavier. The final stretch even included the less glamorous reality of filtering around Brussels.
Yet the same qualities remained. The GoldWing stayed composed, and the Exedras continued to provide the stable platform underneath it. The front kept the steering predictable, while the rear calmly handled the torque and weight of the big Honda. That may be the defining quality of the Exedra G853/G852 combination. It does not try to turn the GoldWing into something it is not. It allows the bike to be exceptionally good at what it already does, while giving it enough steering precision and cornering confidence to expose a side that its dimensions try hard to hide.
Because yes, a GoldWing is a luxury tourer. Yes, it is enormous. And yes, it is heavy enough to make you think twice when moving it around at walking pace. But point it towards the mountains, trust the front, let the rear hook up and start linking corners together, and those numbers quickly fade into the background. Yes, this Bridgestone Exedra pair is made for the GoldWing. But after four days of riding, we felt that it also works the other way around: the bike feels like it’s made for the tyres. So after several days and well over a thousand kilometres, the hardest part of the journey was not another mountain pass, the rain or the rougher asphalt on the way home. It was handing back the key.
TYRE FOCUS
BRIDGESTONE EXEDRA G853 & G852
Front – Bridgestone Exedra G853
130/70 R18 M/C 63H TL
The G853 gives the GoldWing the stable, progressive steering response a heavyweight grand tourer needs. Across flowing roads and tighter hairpins, the front remains predictable and lets the rider place the motorcycle accurately without making it feel nervous.
Rear – Bridgestone Exedra G852
200/55 R16 M/C 77H TL
The G852 has to deal with considerable mass and the effortless torque of the 1,833cc flat-six. Together with the G853, it helps create a balanced and composed package both at touring speeds and when the pace increases.
The takeaway?
On a motorcycle designed to make big distances feel easy, the best tyres are often the ones you barely think about. Through sweepers, hairpins, rain and changing asphalt, the Exedra G853 and G852 simply let the GoldWing get on with the journey.
