Hi guys,
I bought a used 2014 F6B last summer (Canadian model with ABS), it had about 67,000 kms on it, which is right around 41,000 miles for our friends in the USA.
From what I've seen in my research it looks like I payed the going rate for similar bikes so I did okay on that front. Awesome bike all around! And my wife LOVES it.
We recently ordered a pile of goodies for it, in fact I just received the first package yesterday, four Pathfinder LED headlight bulbs and a small LED bulb for the licence plate, and the ever so cool Pathfinder Fog/cowl lights, man that it going to be so cool! I also have a heated Corbin Dual Touring saddle on order and a Madstad windshield to top it all off. I have invested pretty heavily in this bike so I'm in it for the long haul, it will most likely be my last bike as I'm turning 59 in a few months.
I got to ride this bike for probably three months last year before I had to put into winter storage so I'm not as experienced in how to best ride a Gold Wing, my previous bike was a Vulcan 1600 Classic and I had grown to be quite comfortable with how best to shift etc...
I noticed last year that once in awhile my F6B would jump out of gear and I even experienced some weirdness when downshifting into third or second when coming off of the highway, sorry but I can't recall exactly what the weirdness was but maybe like some vibration or roughness. Maybe I downshifted too soon or didn't shift hard enough and that buggered it up, I wish I could say but it was kind of unsettling.
I'm the third owner of this bike, the other two guys were experienced riders and my age or older so I doubt that they grinded the gears a whole lot which is a good thing. I was very close to choosing a BMW when I was out shopping but went with a Gold Wing because they sounded like the most solid choice as far as reliability went but lately I've seen a couple of videos where somebody suspected that their F6B had big problems with the transmission and they got rid of the bike, I'll admit that that spooked me a little, plus I read some posts online where guys had problems with the transmission in their Gold Wing too, call me naive but this came as a bit of a surprise too. I know that it's just a bike and any bike can have a problem....even a Gold Wing. LOL But I suppose that it's pretty rare to have a transmission problem on these bikes? Probably mostly due to sloppy/lazy shifting, too light with the foot pressure?
Of course it's hard to know the scale of such problems, I'm just hoping that I don't end up with this sort of thing. Sorry to sound like chicken little but I'm just looking for feedback, any kind of feedback, like did your bike behave this way once in a while and it's fine now because you've gotten better at shifting it?
I got into the habit on my Vulcan 1600 that I would preload the shift pedal, just a bit of weight on the pedal from my foot before pulling in the clutch, then it would slide right into gear, shifted perfectly! I had read about that technique numerous times on various V-Twin forums, mostly Harley forums, and it seemed to work well with my Vulcan. But lately somebody told me that that technique would not be recommended on a Gold Wing, maybe that's what I was doing when my F6B shifted weird.....hmmmmm.
I just hope that I didn't cause some damage but I would imagine that that is a long shot.
Honda is a top brand with the best of engineering, these bikes look and feel like frickin' tanks! Super reliable, etc...That's why I chose a Gold Wing. Man, I love this bike!
Sorry for the long post but would appreciate your opinions and suggestions!
I bought a used 2014 F6B last summer (Canadian model with ABS), it had about 67,000 kms on it, which is right around 41,000 miles for our friends in the USA.
From what I've seen in my research it looks like I payed the going rate for similar bikes so I did okay on that front. Awesome bike all around! And my wife LOVES it.
We recently ordered a pile of goodies for it, in fact I just received the first package yesterday, four Pathfinder LED headlight bulbs and a small LED bulb for the licence plate, and the ever so cool Pathfinder Fog/cowl lights, man that it going to be so cool! I also have a heated Corbin Dual Touring saddle on order and a Madstad windshield to top it all off. I have invested pretty heavily in this bike so I'm in it for the long haul, it will most likely be my last bike as I'm turning 59 in a few months.
I got to ride this bike for probably three months last year before I had to put into winter storage so I'm not as experienced in how to best ride a Gold Wing, my previous bike was a Vulcan 1600 Classic and I had grown to be quite comfortable with how best to shift etc...
I noticed last year that once in awhile my F6B would jump out of gear and I even experienced some weirdness when downshifting into third or second when coming off of the highway, sorry but I can't recall exactly what the weirdness was but maybe like some vibration or roughness. Maybe I downshifted too soon or didn't shift hard enough and that buggered it up, I wish I could say but it was kind of unsettling.
I'm the third owner of this bike, the other two guys were experienced riders and my age or older so I doubt that they grinded the gears a whole lot which is a good thing. I was very close to choosing a BMW when I was out shopping but went with a Gold Wing because they sounded like the most solid choice as far as reliability went but lately I've seen a couple of videos where somebody suspected that their F6B had big problems with the transmission and they got rid of the bike, I'll admit that that spooked me a little, plus I read some posts online where guys had problems with the transmission in their Gold Wing too, call me naive but this came as a bit of a surprise too. I know that it's just a bike and any bike can have a problem....even a Gold Wing. LOL But I suppose that it's pretty rare to have a transmission problem on these bikes? Probably mostly due to sloppy/lazy shifting, too light with the foot pressure?
Of course it's hard to know the scale of such problems, I'm just hoping that I don't end up with this sort of thing. Sorry to sound like chicken little but I'm just looking for feedback, any kind of feedback, like did your bike behave this way once in a while and it's fine now because you've gotten better at shifting it?
I got into the habit on my Vulcan 1600 that I would preload the shift pedal, just a bit of weight on the pedal from my foot before pulling in the clutch, then it would slide right into gear, shifted perfectly! I had read about that technique numerous times on various V-Twin forums, mostly Harley forums, and it seemed to work well with my Vulcan. But lately somebody told me that that technique would not be recommended on a Gold Wing, maybe that's what I was doing when my F6B shifted weird.....hmmmmm.
I just hope that I didn't cause some damage but I would imagine that that is a long shot.
Honda is a top brand with the best of engineering, these bikes look and feel like frickin' tanks! Super reliable, etc...That's why I chose a Gold Wing. Man, I love this bike!
Sorry for the long post but would appreciate your opinions and suggestions!
