I sold my 02 when I saw cracks, told the new buyer, sold it for 12k in 04 with less than 4k miles on it and swore I would never buy another new Honda again.........
Yea but to be fair, Honda did get everything sorted with the old bike. Honda took care of every little issue and a frame replacement with my 2003...after that my 2003 ran perfectly and never cost me a dime for any repairs in the 15 years I rode it....traded it in on my 2018 and the dealer didn't even blink taking a 15 year old wing with 104k miles in on trade..it resold in less than 10 days...that says alot about the Gold Wing
You were one of the lucky early ones if you got a frame replacement. They did a handful of buybacks, then frame replacements for 10-15, then they stopped doing anything for a little while as they figured out a cheaper solution. During this waiting period they told everyone within the serial number range to park their bikes.
Holy cow! Just lean it over and weld it, maybe using Beer Bob from next door. I put the frame inspection video from Fred on my phone so I can refer to it when ever I'm dong something, watched it enough I don't really need to look at it anymore. Yesterday I had the seat, side covers and mufflers off my 02 for some other stuff I was doing. Grabbed the wet rag, wiped and cleaned the welds and inspected them again as best I could without the overflow being removed. The third time I have done that since I bought it in September. I saw a spot at the edge of one of the bottom welds yesterday that is hard to see due to center stand spring that made my heart sink. Sprayed some Windex on it and cleaned it really well, then used a cell phone to take some close up pics and what ever it was was gone thank God. I know I don't have to keep doing it but it's one of those things that make me feel better.
Yea just another picture showing what time and miles do when the rear triangle cracks with the 01 to mid 04 model...Honda has never admitted to this frame issue with the 01 to mid 04 models..most here always talk about the lower crossmember safety recalls with the 01 to mid 04 models...but its the cracks in the rear triangle of the frame that is the real issue with the 01 to mid 04 model...the 01 to mid 04 models frame has a design flaw and will always be suspect for frame cracks..Honda quietly redesigned the frame in mid 2004 and corrected all the frame issues.
Alot of owners back then quicky traded their early wings in when the lower cross member cracks first started happening and they learned that Honda wanted to reweld the welds on the lower crossmember of the frame...then later as the safety recalls grew, they learned their brand new wing they traded for was also included in the recalls...nobody knew early on though that the real issue with those early models would not be the lower crossmember welds...its the cracks in the rear triangle of the frame that Honda has never admitted too.
You were one of the lucky early ones if you got a frame replacement. They did a handful of buybacks, then frame replacements for 10-15, then they stopped doing anything for a little while as they figured out a cheaper solution. During this waiting period they told everyone within the serial number range to park their bikes.
Eventually they arrived at the solution for the dealers to hire their own welders, no certification required, lay the bike over, grind off the powder coating on the frame and the bad welds, weld up the frame, and then rattle can paint the repair. Flip the bike on its other side and repeat.
I asked my dealer for the welders credentials and they refused to tell me. I wasn't going to trust our lives to a welder who may have never done tig/mig welding on high strength aluminum alloys. I decided at that point to just eat my losses and sold the bike during probably the only down market for goldwings in my lifetime. After this point I only bought used bikes until my 2021 wing in November.
Yeah but can he sing it?
I’m not so sure. I’ve read how a dirty air filter can cause unexpected issues.
insurance co will not care about the tire. The install job, yes. That’s where liability will be.Insurance co investigator will have fun with that tire.
you're right. They won't pay either,,,especially since Honda specifically points out that car tires are not to be used.
Exactly. A smart lawyer could make a liability case for operating a vehicle outside of safety specifications. I know all the arguments, I am personally neither pro nor con, darksiding is not something I am interested in, but folks can do what they want. I’m just saying there are very smart lawyers who will unrelentingly dig and find something to win a liability case.
Interesting comment. I have a Motortrike Prowler reverse trike which uses three car tires. I have nothing against them either, since they last around 20K miles and they are cheaper than MC tires.
Honda also says not to pull trailer, but many do. My insurance covers my bike and trailer.
