Talon Set-up Quality Control

[HondaTech]

Posting this because I want any one whose purchased or thinking of purchasing a Talon (or any Honda product) to have the best experience you can.

Installing a wiper kit on a customer's Talon yesterday (not purchased from us) and noticed the 4 muffler cover mount bolts were incorrect. Removing 1 of them I realized they were seat back bolts. I pulled the drivers seat and there weren't any of the 8 bolts holding the seat back to the frame. Pulling the passengers seat I found the missing muffler cover mount bolts, but it was also missing the 4 larger side bolts. Unit was also missing mudclips in the vents and under the passengers seat as well. This isnt the first unit from another dealer that had missing/incorrect bolts.

Also some very early models could've had incorrect bolts installed in the cage to bed mounts that should instead be in the seat backs. This has lead to a couple units we've seen with incorrect/missing seat back bolts since it makes it look like their missing in the set-up parts kit. This however wasnt the case with this unit as the bed bolts were correct.

I'm not saying you shouldnt trust your dealers, just have a good look over your unit before taking it home, this guy has over 180 miles on his Talon and had no idea it was this messed up. His aluminum roof was also installed incorrectly (missing hardware) and 1 bolt/washer was completely missing.

 

[viceversa]

I've noticed several hex bolts so far which were installed improperly from the factory and caused major stripping of the threads. Not the best quality from manufacturing it would appear :/

 

[ohanacreek]

Most dealers choose to make as much off that accessory install as possible instead of doing it correctly. Not just powersports dealers.

 

[HondaTech]

Most dealers choose to make as much off that accessory install as possible instead of doing it correctly. Not just powersports dealers.

That may be true, but you can do it correctly and in a decent amount of time. This wiper took ne a little more time than we billed, but it was the first 1 we've done, so it was slow, plus we corrected some of his wiring as well.

 

[nm6r]

Good advice. Definitely have a good look before taking it home. My set up complaints were toe alignment which the dealer corrected before I took possession and two ROPS bolts/nuts loose that I found at home.

As a side note, I really don't trust the dealers. I'm not saying there isn't one that has capable staff but too much of this kind of stuff happens all the time. That's why I do all of my own work on my ST1300A and plan to do the same with my 1000R.

 

[CumminsPusher]

Good advice. Definitely have a good look before taking it home. My set up complaints were toe alignment which the dealer corrected before I took possession and two ROPS bolts/nuts loose that I found at home.

As a side note, I really don't trust the dealers. I'm not saying there isn't one that has capable staff but too much of this kind of stuff happens all the time. That's why I do all of my own work on my ST1300A and plan to do the same with my 1000R.

Most of the Motorsports dealers around here have minimum wage kids working there doing most of the wrenching especially on assembly. It’s funny how at a specialty dealer that charges more hourly doesn’t pay for qualified technicians. Even the few guys that are good don’t get paid what they should they usually do it for the love of the sport.
I’ve never trusted the dealership to put the better guys on my rig so I do nearly everything.
All of our rigs have had both factory and dealer assembly flaws, a few major things even, you shouldn’t have to but you need to look everything over. And unfortunately we were forced to bring in the rig for clutch update, (I haven’t allowed them to touch anything else update wise) but when got the rig back it was a quart low and 2/4/6 clutches had a burnt steel which should’ve been seen. Never had a good experience with service, I don’t trust them to do an oil change. I think a Honda Powersports dealer would be better but still

 

[Mopower58]

Posting this because I want any one whose purchased or thinking of purchasing a Talon (or any Honda product) to have the best experience you can.

Installing a wiper kit on a customer's Talon yesterday (not purchased from us) and noticed the 4 muffler cover mount bolts were incorrect. Removing 1 of them I realized they were seat back bolts. I pulled the drivers seat and there weren't any of the 8 bolts holding the seat back to the frame. Pulling the passengers seat I found the missing muffler cover mount bolts, but it was also missing the 4 larger side bolts. Unit was also missing mudclips in the vents and under the passengers seat as well. This isnt the first unit from another dealer that had missing/incorrect bolts.

Also some very early models could've had incorrect bolts installed in the cage to bed mounts that should instead be in the seat backs. This has lead to a couple units we've seen with incorrect/missing seat back bolts since it makes it look like their missing in the set-up parts kit. This however wasnt the case with this unit as the bed bolts were correct.

I'm not saying you shouldnt trust your dealers, just have a good look over your unit before taking it home, this guy has over 180 miles on his Talon and had no idea it was this messed up. His aluminum roof was also installed incorrectly (missing hardware) and 1 bolt/washer was completely missing.

Sounds like a few car dealers around here.

 

[HondaTech]

Most of the Motorsports dealers around here have minimum wage kids working there doing most of the wrenching especially on assembly. It’s funny how at a specialty dealer that charges more hourly doesn’t pay for qualified technicians. Even the few guys that are good don’t get paid what they should they usually do it for the love of the sport.
I’ve never trusted the dealership to put the better guys on my rig so I do nearly everything.
All of our rigs have had both factory and dealer assembly flaws, a few major things even, you shouldn’t have to but you need to look everything over. And unfortunately we were forced to bring in the rig for clutch update, (I haven’t allowed them to touch anything else update wise) but when got the rig back it was a quart low and 2/4/6 clutches had a burnt steel which should’ve been seen. Never had a good experience with service, I don’t trust them to do an oil change. I think a Honda Powersports dealer would be better but still

You sure the burnt steel wasnt on the outer (1-2-3) clutch, the inner (2-4-6) clutch cant be looked at when doing the update without pulling the entire rear of the engine off. If it was the 1-2-3 clutch then yes they should've see it. But I really doubt you burnt a 2-4-6 clutch part, since the machine wont allow you to take off in 2nd or above.

 

[Smitty335]

You sure the burnt steel wasnt on the outer (1-2-3) clutch, the inner (2-4-6) clutch cant be looked at when doing the update without pulling the entire rear of the engine off. If it was the 1-2-3 clutch then yes they should've see it. But I really doubt you burnt a 2-4-6 clutch part, since the machine wont allow you to take off in 2nd or above.

You don't know CP, HA! Makes since .

 

[CumminsPusher]

You sure the burnt steel wasnt on the outer (1-2-3) clutch, the inner (2-4-6) clutch cant be looked at when doing the update without pulling the entire rear of the engine off. If it was the 1-2-3 clutch then yes they should've see it. But I really doubt you burnt a 2-4-6 clutch part, since the machine wont allow you to take off in 2nd or above.

Ya well I’ve done a few clutches, lmao! I understand them well because of our prior rig 3 years ago. Was first to have multiple problems and document the change because of the machine
They ordered new 1,3,5 only which was fine because that’s the norm with any issues. But I only went in for the update. You could feel it slightly slip going into second and especially 4-6 after the update. I said something to them but they dismissed it.
Kind of upsetting because I had worked on trans from our previous Pioneer quite a bit. Twice alone in the woods with minimal tools. It had issues I believe because the intake hose was off and sucked in dirt from day one. Every couple hundred miles till it finally took out #1 cylinder when I found the problem.
Anyways what really pissed me off was it was a quart low which is what you loose on the cover.