Watch A Gold Wing Tear Up The Quarter Mile

One of the truly excellent things about motorcycles is that you can easily take one from the road to the racetrack and actually do well in both settings. Most people who do that, though, do it with a sportbike.

Drag Kings:

Witness The Epic Drag Race Between The H2 And The LS-218

KTM 1190s Vs Harleys Drag Racing

Not Steve Kreger. The Michigan man rolled up to his local drag strip on what looks (and sounds) like a stock previous-generation Honda Gold Wing and sent it, instantly proving that the quintessential touring motorcycle is more than a one-trick pony. The Hayabusa in the next lane over went a little quicker, but a Hayabusa at a drag strip is like bad dialogue in a Nicholas Cage movie. We have come to expect it.

We had to deduct style points for Steve’s lack of burnout, but throwing that behemoth of a bike down the quarter mile for a 12.9 second run at 101 miles per hour is a pretty solid effort. Online estimates say the 1,832 cc six-cylinder Gold Wing should be good for a 12.2 – which means Steve was close to the bike’s best.

At over 833 pounds and packing a claimed 110 horsepower and 125 pound feet of torque the Gold Wing isn’t most people’s first choice of dragstrip weaponry, but Kreger acquitted himself well. We think he left a little late on the light but that doesn’t affect the time. We’re also awarding bonus points because this was his first ever time running a motorcycle down the strip.

For the record, Kreger’s other runs were in a Ford Fusion with the 2.0L Ecoboost engine, and he did 15s. The 12.9s run is close to or quicker than many a “sports car” or even modern muscle cars. For example, Honda’s sportiest car at the moment, the Civic Type R, will do the quarter in 14s, which means its least-sporty motorbike is faster than its sportiest car. Plus one for bike people on that one.

As for Kreger, maybe next time he can get some ratchet straps to compress the front end and drop a proper, tire-broiling burnout to get that backend hooked up a little better. If and when he does, we hope he posts the video again.