Howdy from southern AZ
I've been eyeing the renewed CB1000 machine for over a decade, but finally pulling the stops and planning to acquire one in a week or so after seeing that the 2024 model is being redesigned for an extremely aggressive look and performance. Currently, I'm a Buell rider with a couple of heavily modified late model rides, both V-twins (one air-cooled OHV, the other liquid cooled, DOHC). I've built and restored a CB400 T-II Hawk and worked on my friend's '89 DOHC CB750... another close friend was a long time '06 CBR1000RR rider and we rode all over the province of British Columbia together. My experience driving a '93 Honda Accord with 5-speed manual seals the deal... always had a soft spot for Hondas.
The market is relatively dry these days with all the supposed supply chain issues, which are legitimate in most cases. Living in southern Arizona, I was surprised to discover that there were no new CB1000s available in the state, despite the fact that Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the entire United States! I found one in Banning, CA and have contacted them and planning to fly out and ride back with a new '23 machine. Still trying to figure out the best route via backroads to break the motor in.
The market is relatively dry these days with all the supposed supply chain issues, which are legitimate in most cases. Living in southern Arizona, I was surprised to discover that there were no new CB1000s available in the state, despite the fact that Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the entire United States! I found one in Banning, CA and have contacted them and planning to fly out and ride back with a new '23 machine. Still trying to figure out the best route via backroads to break the motor in.
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Did you perform your 1st mod, by taking off the sticker on the gas tank
I'm actually trying to setup the suspension so I can take it out for its break-in ride tomorrow... but yes, there are several things that need to be addressed like the reflectors at the rear number plate mount!
Unfortunately, this machine has turned into a bit of a lemon. It's unclear whether the originating dealership is the culprit or it came from Honda this way, but my instincts have me leaning towards the former.
I brought the bike in for its 600 mile service to Musselman Honda in Tucson, AZ, which is a longstanding Honda dealership with an outstanding reputation for their service department. All of the city's police motorcycles are serviced here and I've known the service manager for decades, so I trust them regardless of how reluctant I am to farm out work on my personal machines. I was told that the 600 mile service normally just includes the oil change with filter and thorough check of all fasteners, adjustments, etc. Sure enough, that afternoon I received a called from the service department telling me that the service was complete, but that there is something very wrong with the swingarm and I should probably come in to check it out. Sure enough, there is excessive play on one side of the swingarm and their thought was that perhaps one side was missing a sleeve for the needle bearing. The Musselman techs were a bit surprised that I did not notice that the swingarm was loose. My only excuse is that I'm coming from Buells with V-twin engines that vibrate significantly and that I did not think that the vibration of the new Honda was unusual. Their response was that the CB should butter smoothe and it's possible that there is additional damage to the bike from riding it 600 miles with missing parts from the swingarm.
Musselman had no idea that the machine was originally crate damaged, but at this point I gave them the full back story. They confirmed the warranty repairs done by Nash Powersports in Mesa, AZ (where I purchased the bike from) and then contacted Honda directly. Despite me not wanting to have the Nash technicians touch this bike again, Honda's stance is that it must go back to them as it is their problem and they need to make it right. So that's where I am now... I have rented a bike trailer for next week and will trailer the machine back to Mesa, AZ so it can go through whatever rigmorale it's destined for next. Nash was pleasant in conversation over the phone and they do want to make it right, but wanting to do good and having shit technicians doesn't help this situation!
I brought the bike in for its 600 mile service to Musselman Honda in Tucson, AZ, which is a longstanding Honda dealership with an outstanding reputation for their service department. All of the city's police motorcycles are serviced here and I've known the service manager for decades, so I trust them regardless of how reluctant I am to farm out work on my personal machines. I was told that the 600 mile service normally just includes the oil change with filter and thorough check of all fasteners, adjustments, etc. Sure enough, that afternoon I received a called from the service department telling me that the service was complete, but that there is something very wrong with the swingarm and I should probably come in to check it out. Sure enough, there is excessive play on one side of the swingarm and their thought was that perhaps one side was missing a sleeve for the needle bearing. The Musselman techs were a bit surprised that I did not notice that the swingarm was loose. My only excuse is that I'm coming from Buells with V-twin engines that vibrate significantly and that I did not think that the vibration of the new Honda was unusual. Their response was that the CB should butter smoothe and it's possible that there is additional damage to the bike from riding it 600 miles with missing parts from the swingarm.
Musselman had no idea that the machine was originally crate damaged, but at this point I gave them the full back story. They confirmed the warranty repairs done by Nash Powersports in Mesa, AZ (where I purchased the bike from) and then contacted Honda directly. Despite me not wanting to have the Nash technicians touch this bike again, Honda's stance is that it must go back to them as it is their problem and they need to make it right. So that's where I am now... I have rented a bike trailer for next week and will trailer the machine back to Mesa, AZ so it can go through whatever rigmorale it's destined for next. Nash was pleasant in conversation over the phone and they do want to make it right, but wanting to do good and having shit technicians doesn't help this situation!
I see from your work order the dealership where the bike was purchased replaced the swingarm. That missing sleeve for the needle bearing is on the dealership that made the repair, not Honda.it came from Honda this way
I feel like it’s obvious that Nash screwed up here. As stated above, they replaced the swingarm so unless you disassembled it and reassembled it wrong they are responsible for making it right. I know that sucks to have to trailer it back to Phoenix and then wait for it to be fixed. I bought mine in Chandler and would be bummed if I had to take it back up there for maintenance or repairs instead here in Tucson. Having said all that, don’t feel too bad about not noticing it yourself. They did the work and didn’t double check it or test ride it or if they did, THEY missed it, too! Maybe just a bad series of circumstances, but, regardless it’s not a good look for Nash. Sorry about your experience. I hope you get it worked out and enjoy the bike from now on!
I towed it back to Phoenix this morning and dropped the machine off with Nash. I met with the technician who worked on my bike and the swingarm previously. He was not a young chap and was very pleasant, apologetic, but baffled by the situation. He said that the swingarm was shipped to them directly from Honda, fully assembled and that he did not notice any missing components on the pivot. We'll see what happens and what they find.
No idea if any of this is the issue, but the following parts are not included in the SWINGARM SUB-ASSY., RR. 52200-MKJ-E60:We'll see what happens and what they find.
STOPPER, TORQUE LINK
43433-KV3-951
O-RING (21.8X2.4)
91355-759-003
BOLT, SWINGARM PIVOT
52101-MKJ-E50
NUT, SWINGARM PIVOT
52102-MKJ-D00
COLLAR B, PIVOT DISTANCE
52142-MER-D00
I suspect it's this part that was missed:
COLLAR, PIVOT DISTANCE
52143-MER-D00
🔼
Keep us updated. I'm genuinely curious to see if they make this right for. I hope so. It sounds like they are a bit embarrassed about the screw up and I'm betting they check and double check their work this time before they give it back to you!
I'm sure they'll figure it out and make it right. I paid full retail for that machine! They're just lucky I have several other motorcycles I'm still able to ride around. 1st world issues over here.
UPDATE
If there's one positive thing that's come from my new bike purchase, it's that I've become very comfortable towing a motorcycle in a trailer over long distances.
I really do not have any desire to denigrate the Mesa dealership, but I feel that as a forum member I owe it to the other enthusiasts here to be honest about my experience so that they can be armed with prior knowledge and experience to potentially avoid a situation such as I've endured. The dealership (Nash Powersports in Mesa, AZ) ultimately admitted to having made a mistake when replacing the swingarm.
The technician had left the shorter of the 2 pivot collars out. The new swingarm did not come with new pivot collars and swingarm replacement requires reusing the pivot collars from the previous setup. Why only 1 pivot collar was reused and not both is what I was assured was human error. The whole thing was torn down again and reassembled - I double checked their work once I had the bike back in my own shop and they did, finally, assemble the swingarm pivot correctly, including applying the correct torque to the fasteners. They assured me that no damage had been done to the pivot, considering wallowing out, egging out, etc. as a possibility. Unfortunately, their workmanship is terribly shoddy and I found the following additional issues after my inspection:
If there's one positive thing that's come from my new bike purchase, it's that I've become very comfortable towing a motorcycle in a trailer over long distances.
I really do not have any desire to denigrate the Mesa dealership, but I feel that as a forum member I owe it to the other enthusiasts here to be honest about my experience so that they can be armed with prior knowledge and experience to potentially avoid a situation such as I've endured. The dealership (Nash Powersports in Mesa, AZ) ultimately admitted to having made a mistake when replacing the swingarm.
The technician had left the shorter of the 2 pivot collars out. The new swingarm did not come with new pivot collars and swingarm replacement requires reusing the pivot collars from the previous setup. Why only 1 pivot collar was reused and not both is what I was assured was human error. The whole thing was torn down again and reassembled - I double checked their work once I had the bike back in my own shop and they did, finally, assemble the swingarm pivot correctly, including applying the correct torque to the fasteners. They assured me that no damage had been done to the pivot, considering wallowing out, egging out, etc. as a possibility. Unfortunately, their workmanship is terribly shoddy and I found the following additional issues after my inspection:
- The exhaust was not fully reinstalled and was missing fasteners
- The wire harness that is called out in the service manual to be temporarily removed from the swingarm was not correctly reinstalled - left dangling and not reattached to the clips, broken clips that need replacing
- The bike was extremely dirty and covered in mud - not from me
Any Honda dealership should be able to perform warranty work for any NEW issues. Since Nash Powersports initiated the warranty ticket for the swingarm, they were obligated to Honda to complete it.I contacted Honda corporate and notified them of the issues with the dealership and am working on getting them to authorize my local dealership (Musselman Honda) for any subsequent warranty repair work.
I'd certainly submit a testimonial here:
Customer Survey | Nash Powersports | Mesa Arizona
Nash Powersports is a powersports dealership with locations in Mesa, Phoenix, and Scottsdale. We sell new and pre-owned Motorcycles, Side X Sides, ATVs and PWCs from Honda, Yamaha, Sea doo, Can-am, Spyder, KTM, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Roxor with excellent financing and pricing options. Nash...
I'm not really interested in destroying Nash's reputation as they employee a large number of staff and support a wide range of products and brands. I think we all know to avoid that dealership - just because they sell Honda motorcycles, I can assure you that motorcycles are definitely not their forte. The trend seems to be mainly jet skis and side by sides. What I did instead was go straight to Honda corporate and request that they authorize my local dealer in Tucson to perform subsequent warranty related service instead of Nash using the following verbiage:
The bike was purchased brand new at full retail price from Nash Powersports in Mesa, AZ. They admitted to incorrectly assembling the replacement swingarm - they did not install one of the 2 pivot collars that goes into the swingarm pivot assembly. As I'm an aerospace engineer, I'm concerned about 2 things within the operation of the pivot when configured in this situation (missing one of the pivot collars). The pivot collar is designed to provide a race for the needle bearings to ride on, so missing one unit would excessively load one side of the pivot, which would accelerate wear to the needle bearing assembly associated with that side. The side of the pivot which is missing a collar would potentially be contacting a different portion of the pivot assembly (potentially the nut/bolt portion) and may ride on a radius that it wasn't intended to contact, therefore creating the possibility of damage to both needle bearings within the pivot assembly.
Nash Powersports proceeded with reassembling the swingarm assembly with needle bearings that have been ridden for 700 miles in the aforementioned configuration (missing a pivot collar). They claim that Honda corporate did not send them a new swingarm with new pivot collars - they sourced them from the original installation and initially failed to install a collar on one side.
I would like to investigate the possibility of obtaining new needle bearings for both sides of the swingarm pivot under warranty, to be installed by my local trusted dealership (Musselman Honda of Tucson, AZ) - in light of the matter that the originating dealership has not replaced the bearings and they may be compromised according to the possibilities explored earlier in this message.
Thanks for your time,
Musselman Honda may have to go to bat for you with regards to dealing with American HondaWhat I did instead was go straight to Honda corporate and request that they authorize my local dealer in Tucson to perform subsequent warranty related service instead of Nash using the following verbiage:
American Honda reached out and said they will ship me new swingarm pivot hardware and bearings at no charge, but installation of the hardware would be up to me... either I take care of it myself or have my local dealership do it for me.
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