1st service and #Fail for Honda

[Steve Blackdog 687]

Noting Baz's comment to PoppetM about standard pre-ride checks by the rider, here is the list, which you should aim to do whenever you take your bike out. You should do these with a new bike just as much as an old one because they are for your personal safety.

The acronym is MPOWERED. This stands for

Mirrors - check properly adjusted.

Petrol - is there enough in the tank to get you there?

Oil - check the levels

Water - again check your levels

Electrics - check lights, horn etc

Rubber - check your tyres, are there any tears or cuts, are they properly inflated etc. If nothing else, I always check my tyres as often as I can, as they are the connection with the the Tarmac.

Extras - do you have your TomTom ready to go, are your accessories all tightly screwed on etc, eg top box, is your helmet proprerly strapped on, have you got your rain suit etc etc ?

Drive chain - is the chain oiled and adjusted properly?

As you can tell, I try not to have any fun

Edited August 15, 2016 by Steve Blackdog

[nelmo 563]

Not convinced the noise I reported on the front wheel is the clutch cable "Mr Service Manager" assured me...feels and sounds like the brake to me.

 

Front wheel, clutch cable?! Those 2 things are almost as far apart as you can get on a bike 

[fj_stuart 4,753]

40-odd years ago some of my friends were apprentice car mechanics. They learned that the first service on a car was a "screwdriver" service. The paint on the rocker box around the screws was scratched with a screwdriver to give the impression that it had been removed to check the valves.

[MGR1 40]

I picked up the bike up three weeks ago with 0 miles on it. The pitching to the right feeling has been there since I first bought it home.

The tyres have been wearing more on the right judging by the fact I still have blue paint on the left of the front tyre, but that could be road camber to blame.

...........

 

Regarding the 'pitching' to the right; my own Integra 750 also pulls very slightly to the right, with hands of the handlebars (which one never should do  ) and on a flat uncambered road. I have to lean slightly to the left to compensate for this, again with hands off. With both hands on the handlebars it isn't noticeable. I have checked the wheel alignment with a professional laser wheel alignment tool, and they are perfectly inline. It seems to me that it is inherent in the design; there is a bit more weight on the right side of the bike, and the cables at the steering head also seem to pull very sligthly on the steering assembly.

 

Also the thigh, buttock and arm muscles of right-handed people are bigger and therefore heavier on the right side, which may contribute to this effect  .

Edited August 16, 2016 by MGR1

[Guest Monty1952]

Which pocket do you keep your wallet in?

[MGR1 40]

Which pocket do you keep your wallet in?

 

The wallet is long gone I'm afraid  . Everything is done electronically now here in Norway.

[PoppetM 16,841]

Front wheel, clutch cable?! Those 2 things are almost as far apart as you can get on a bike 

 

Oh christ... !  

[bazza 3,629]

Regarding the 'pitching' to the right; my own Integra 750 also pulls very slightly to the right, with hands of the handlebars (which one never should do  ) and on a flat uncambered road. I have to lean slightly to the left to compensate for this, again with hands off. With both hands on the handlebars it isn't noticeable. I have checked the wheel alignment with a professional laser wheel alignment tool, and they are perfectly inline. It seems to me that it is inherent in the design; there is a bit more weight on the right side of the bike, and the cables at the steering head also seem to pull very sligthly on the steering assembly.

 

Also the thigh, buttock and arm muscles of right-handed people are bigger and therefore heavier on the right side, which may contribute to this effect  .

other things causing a slight movement off line are legion -such as

• slightly binding brake- both discs are on the right
• tight cable on right side
• wheel / head bearings
• road camber ( slopes to left in Uk)

the list goes on - maybe chain, on left, makes the bike swing that way a bit as well!

watching 2"ove him or hate him" Henry Cole on the Travel Channel -he commented on his stretched Harley doing it (to a ridiculous degree) on Route 66  so it not just our bike!

[MGR1 40]

...........

watching 2"ove him or hate him" Henry Cole on the Travel Channel -he commented on his stretched Harley doing it (to a ridiculous degree) on Route 66  so it not just our bike!

 

A lot of Harley customs have an offset rear wheel, to make room for the secondary drive. The tyres are so huges they cannot be aligned with the front wheel without rubbing the chain/belt. Those guys only care about looks, not about rideability  .

[DaveM59 1,605]

Often that sort of behaviour is because the rider doesn't sit centrally on the saddle but a tad to one side. If the bike is a bit tall when they stop and put a foot down they have to shift slightly over to get a more secure footing, then when setting off they don't always shift back to a central seating position.

I have followed a lot of bikes where the rider is off centre. Not so much arse up sports bikes but upright riding position cruisers and scooters with broad saddles.

Worth making a conscious effort to check yourself when riding, particularly if a bit saddle tired.

[PoppetM 16,841]

Often that sort of behaviour is because the rider doesn't sit centrally on the saddle but a tad to one side. If the bike is a bit tall when they stop and put a foot down they have to shift slightly over to get a more secure footing, then when setting off they don't always shift back to a central seating position.

I have followed a lot of bikes where the rider is off centre. Not so much arse up sports bikes but upright riding position cruisers and scooters with broad saddles.

Worth making a conscious effort to check yourself when riding, particularly if a bit saddle tired.

I tend in traffic to sway to the left of the saddle so I can put my foot down to stop. Once up and away I tend to put both feet on the pegs and stand slightly to centre myself. 

Scares the hell out of the drivers tailgating too  

[larryblag 14,236]

Just parted with £141 for my first service and just got the bike back (Bob Minion, derby).

 

as quoted "around £120" so I told them it was £20 too much. "Ah yes" came the reply, "Yours is the DCT model which is more expensive. We do a special offer for customers who have bought their bikes from us, but yours was from Vertu at Nottingham".

 

I did ask if I was being penalised then, and the reply was a beautiful analogy along the lines of a tin of beans costing more at the Coop... you get the idea.

 

Minions 1:0 Customer.

 

Next service will definitely be at an excellent indepedant (Rob, Racing Lines, Stores Rd, Derby).

 

Gone off beans

[PoppetM 16,841]

Its like they throw a dart at a dart board and hope for the best! 

[Tex 36,817]

Oh christ... !

Should that not be a capital 'C'? Just saying..

Philip, could you not have bought the bike from Minions? Or had the service done at Vertu?

I'm only human, me, and if I ran a small dealership and folks bought bikes in for first service that they've bought elsewhere I wouldn't be doing them any discounts..

[larryblag 14,236]

Should that not be a capital 'C'? Just saying..

Philip, could you not have bought the bike from Minions? Or had the service done at Vertu?

I'm only human, me, and if I ran a small dealership and folks bought bikes in for first service that they've bought elsewhere I wouldn't be doing them any discounts..

A very good point Tex, and very well made.

 

I've had varied experiences at Minions over the years, and on the whole I've not been so impressed of late. Kelly's Dad had a less than helpful experience and some pannier racks they fitted on my Versys were done wrong (L vs R) trapping indicator wiring which they then repaired with electrical tape. I digress, true, I didn't get the bike from them but as I'm paying for the first service they're still benefitting from my business and should perhaps take the opportunity to win back my custom?. The profit margin from a first service must be consideable and the point about not buying the bike from them irrelevant in this instance. Nope, They've lost my business.

 

And that's the beauty of this forum - to name and shame. Only problem being that customer service is so poor these days that we'll soon have no one to "trust" our bikes to.

[Guest sykospain]

Andy m is right again - please use your office stationary to write to your Trading Standards, and Honda UK, detailing your dissatisfaction with Farnham Honda, with a copy to their MD.

 

All dealers nowadays struggle to make a bunce - fighting ever-increasing product and supplies prices, plus rising labour and premises-rental costs.  And there's naturally an almost irresistable temptation to cut corners.

 

I repeat the remark I overhead years ago by a Beemer tecnico in a corner of a main dealer's back shop just after a lad had un-crated a new boxer: - "Don't worry mate," - said his senior colleague - "all that PDI stuff has already been checked at the factory in Germany - just wheel it around a bit, make sure it fires up and see that the brakes work.."

 

Don't continue to be patronised by your supplier dealer's front office or service manager just because you're a female rider with a first-ever bike.  You've had enough contact over this issue with them already, so don't speak to them again nor offer any more olive branches.

 

I'm sure that in your conversations with the sales person you must have mentioned the crucial fact that this new purchase was to be your first bike, so any self-respecting dealer boss would have taken extra care to instruct his workshop guys to carry out your machine's PDI checks extremely thoroughly.  They didn't and subsequently fobbed you off, so give them the works - both barrels.

 

And let's all of us here please take note to mention to any prospective bike buyer of our acquaintance, never to attend the premises of Farnham Honda in future.  That might bring them up with a short sharp shock.

 

Here in Spain I thank Goodness that I have a friendly competent independent workshop owner, a well patronised and very well respected one-man-outfit with an enviable local reputation to maintain,  who let's me sit around chatting to him whilst he works on whatever my almost-new bike needs doing, so long as I keep him diverted with the odd humorous one-liner and supplied with coffee.

Edited August 16, 2016 by sykospain

[fred_jb 10,265]

I took my NC for its second service to a new dealership which was was owned by the same company where I had bought the bike new. When I got the bike home I found both chain adjusters were loose with both sets of nuts almost falling off, and the rear wheel was out of alignment.   Fortunately the axle bolt was tightened enough to prevent the wheel moving.

 

I complained and to be fair they seemed to take it very seriously.  They investigated, supposedly had serious words with the mechanic involved, and offered me my next service free. Although I was very annoyed, I felt that they had addressed the issue in the right way, so I didn't name and shame.   Unfortunately I then sold the NC so never did get my free service!

 

It is inevitable that mistakes will be made, but it is how the company react that matters. It seems that in your case they couldn't care less, in which case I would have no hesitation in reporting them to Honda - and you should normally get a survey from Honda UK to complete after any service, so can also make your feelings known in that.

 

Fred

[PoppetM 16,841]

I am giving them seven days to respond. Then a I will get heavy and start demanding copies of the PDI and service sheet.

My Litigation Partner comes back next week, once he finds out what they did and the potential dangers he will be on them. Whilst I am sure they could replace me they would be up creek without paddle at the moment if I get written off. It causes them chaos if I am off, so they are a little overprotective of me.

On a light hearted note they sent an amusing letter to the company of roller skates after I ended up in A&E after commuting at my usual crazy speed across Richmond Green and the two front wheels flew off. They spent an hour trying to find all the bits in the grass!

Did I mention life won't be dull with me about?

I sent my initial letter to the salesman for him to pass on to the servicing manager. His response tells me there is a problem between sales and servicing "Us in sales expect them to do their jobs properly and deliver a decent service so that keeps you guys coming back to us in the future". It's apparently gone to his manager as well to back him up....am waiting with baited breath. Couldn't resist responding with "our car is always very looked after by Honda, we expected the motorbike to be in safe hands as well".

Will wait till next week the chase them up.

[Guest bonekicker]

There is a urgent need for the dealers to pull fingers out of their wallets ---just counting money--and get the servicing and repairs done properly and safely--before someone gets killed--- once trust is go--it's gone--no excuses are even justifiable for bad workmanship--and for the sake of more profits.   

[ONTWOWHEELS62 1]

My respects to Mr Trisaki !

 

For the dealer i do not want to say anything at all.   

[Rocker66 34,437]

The thing that never fails to surprise me is the price charged by some dealers for the first service assuming that they sold the bike in the first place. to my mind £150 is ridiculous. yesterday I had 4000 mile service done on my 500X and it cost a fair bit less than that. The first service cost me £30 which was for oil & filter. Labour was FOC.

It seems strange that PoppetM's  new bike had zero miles on the clock as this would mean it hadn't been road tested.

[PoppetM 16,841]

Sadly I suspect you are right Rocker66.  

 

Will see what paperwork they produce. Looking back I should have taken a photo of the dash at the time (first time I have ever had something from brand new) but forty minutes of being told how the salesman had moved down here alone and was going through a separation had creeped me out completely and I just wanted to get the keys and run away as fast as possible. Even his colleagues had moved away from us. 

(Sorry please note I am not heartless I just don't understand what it had to do with me). 

[Guest bonekicker]

PoppetM the lies keep coming from their mouths to make you feel sorry for them and just go away-- so if he is going through a bad time--doe's this mean that all the bikes that go through to workshop--are going to be unroadworthy--and dangerous??? -- and we have to accept this until he gets sorted out--not a very professional ecuss or even plausible excuse---my wife would not take her new car in for it's services--because they gave her so much bull--and she is no softy--they like to intimidant women--because usually they cant get away with it with men--But saying that they keep on trying--some of the same stories as yours have gone on for years--and it's time to get some action and get Honda to reassure us our bikes are being maintained serviced and repaired correctly--no if or buts--or silly excuses.

With all the varied posts over the years--I can tell you--hand on heart--not many of us are Heartless--there are some of the biggest warm heated people you could possibly ask for -- and as you found-- Mr Trisakti is one of them--we are proud to have him on our forum-- No Very Proud     

[PoppetM 16,841]

He was just the salesman Bonekicker, not the service guy. Was obviously a slow day for him if he thought he could eek out the rest of his day informing me of his woes.

This is where I am thankful my own cars have been looked after by a gay mechanic for the past 15years. He calls me to say MOT is due, turns up at my home, asks if I have had any problems, whisks it away to the garage, comes back has a cuppa and a catch up with me and advises me everything he has done, and what to watch out for the next year ahead. There is no intimidation, and to be fair I only found out he was gay three years ago after he admitted it to my parents. (looks after the entire family fleet)

I have been spoiled by him, it's a shock to get handed an invoice without explanation from Piaggio and Honda, sorry but I want to know what you have done to it!

Nothing worse then walking into a garage and to feel intimidated. I don't stand for it at the tyre place.

[CFB 4,601]

I tend in traffic to sway to the left of the saddle so I can put my foot down to stop. Once up and away I tend to put both feet on the pegs and stand slightly to centre myself. 

Scares the hell out of the drivers tailgating too

 

They're not scared, they just think you stood up to pass wind!