Vibrating Hornet

[Macca 900]

Can someone help me. I have a new Honda Hornet 900 that vibrates so badly when being ridden that my legs and hands are too numb to safely ride after 15 minutes. I took it back to the Honda dealer and they changed the flywheel and exhaust mount. No change, in fact its getting worse. With only 2500 k on the clock, am I entitled to a new one and what authority do I have. Ive researched the Consumer Guarantees Act but it looks a long process
The dealer appears to not really care. Any advice appreciated

[Trudes]

Where does the vibrating appear to be? Handlebars; foot pegs; in your knees, so from the tank area; the seat?

[Macca 900]

The vibration is felt through the tank mostly, but also through the pegs. Its at it worst from 4100 rpm upwards. That equals about 100kmh. Go figure

[roadracingoldfart]

Simple......
If you are getting bad service from the Honda Dealer you are using now , then i would suggest you try another dealer as they make all thier claims through Honda.
If you still get nowhere then call the head of the Tech dept at Honda and ask what to do from there .

[xgnr]

Hi there

So it vibrates when moving or on a stand or both? Try and eliminate tyres, engine, transmission etc.

Good luck

Stu

[Trudes]

Mine can be a bit "vibey" at about that rev range, notice it mainly in the pegs and the bars, and more noticable in the pegs now that I have changed the bars (which are no longer vibey), but sounds like yours is a lot more than just a bit vibey. Did the folks where you bought it take it for a ride? And can I ask what you had before the Hornet?

[Reckless]

HAHA! better watch out you'll have all the strumpets here lining up to buy it off ya!! (or at least have a ride).


On a more serious note! Who is the dealer. They have attempted to fix it and I would guess they have done it under warranty. So they, by their actions have admitted liability. What is happening here is their first solution hasn't worked so they are giving up. Putting in the too hard basket, hoping you will go away. It looks like engine vibration if they are changing fly wheels. Now that could be expensive further on down the track if you don't get it fixed now. There is the legal option but before you go that route.
Try next faze. The biggest noise gets the best result. So its time to deal with the boss, not the service manager in a very firm way impressing on him in no uncertain terms you will not give up, you expect the problem fixed, if its your only transport a loan bike would be good, and if you don't see some results Blue Wing Honda and anyone you can get hold of further up the food chain will start getting calls.
What ever you do do not continue to ride it with the vibration or they may say you have contributed to any damage. You want it fixed or a new bike end of story as you are already concerned the very bad engine vibration has already shortened the life of the bike..
I'm sure you will get lots of other legal and illegal advice form this forum. But fronting up and being firm but not rude my just shake the tree enough.
Good luck!

PS it doesn't matter where its vibrating its up to them to suss it and fix it, you are not the expert here, they are.

[Trudes]

HAHA! better watch out you'll have all the strumpets here lining up to buy it off ya!! (or at least have a ride).

That was going to be my next suggestion, that I take it for a ride, purely just to see just how much it vibrates!

[Macca 900]

By all means you can ride it. The dealer said they rode it after the repair and it was fine. I rode it home and phoned them right away to say it wasnt. Blue Wing Honda have already had a crack at it. No joy. They are talking now of setting it up against another Hornet and placing vibration testing equipment on it. I can tell them the answer now. This has taken all the joy out of buying a new bike.

Ps. Last bike was and still is a DRZ400.

[AllanB]

They have a 'rough' patch at about 4500 to 5000 rpms, about 120 kms to 135-140, before is sweet after even sweeter , I noticed this on a couple of test bike rides and mines the same, plus this rev spot has been widely reported in magazine reports. One of the reasons many go to the one tooth larger front sprocket to get a higher cruising speed under the 4500 rpms. You are hardly aware of it whizzing through he rev range, only noticeable at a constant open road cruise or a lazy increase through that rev point. Mine is getting less the more ks I put on (only 2000 presently). Apart from this 500 rpm patch the bike is very vibration free. No hassle spending four hours on it at a time.

Note zero vibration through the tank. Is it mounted correctly?

I did change my bars to a flatter more forward set the day after purchasing it but I did not notice any problem prior to this or on test rides with stock bars.

Mirrors are 100% smooth and clear - without a doubt the clearest mirrors I have ever used on a bike.

Yours sounds pretty bad???? And I presume it was as the dealer has done some alterations already presumably after a ride.

Have you added any crash knobs? do they bolt to the motor mounts (mine do) if so check they are well tight (35 ft-lbs if I recall). Hell check all engine mounts.

Do they have a demo or used Hornet in stock now? - if so ask to take it out for a hour and do a direct comparison between this and yours. If yours is shit - have them do exactly the same. This should get things progressing as you have proved there is an issue.

Me I'm rapped with mine.

[Macca 900]

My bike was great until one day on the motorway it all of a sudden began vibrating. I stopped when I could thinking I had thrown a wheel weight. The next day, when going over the newmarket viaduct it suddenly got worse again. This is when I called the dealer to come and pick it up. They couldnt fix it so sent it to Blue Wing where they replaced the flywheel and exhaust mount. I think it is worse again. Surely permanent engine wear must be a large consideration now.
I cant ride it for more than one hour before stopping to get feeling back in my hands and inner thighs

[Trudes]

By all means you can ride it. The dealer said they rode it after the repair and it was fine. I rode it home and phoned them right away to say it wasnt. Blue Wing Honda have already had a crack at it. No joy. They are talking now of setting it up against another Hornet and placing vibration testing equipment on it. I can tell them the answer now. This has taken all the joy out of buying a new bike.

Ps. Last bike was and still is a DRZ400.

Cool, well, sounds like they are still trying at this point, so go with it for a bit before doing your bun at them.

Do they have a demo or used Hornet in stock now? - if so ask to take it out for a hour and do a direct comparison between this and yours. If yours is shit - have them do exactly the same. This should get things progressing as you have proved there is an issue.

That's a great suggestion!

The main reason for my questions is that some people may feel more vibrations in it than other bikes, and (not saying you are Macca) some people can be a bit precious about these things, especially with a brand new bike, which is fair enough, but it could be a perfectly normal "feature" of the bike.

Hope it all gets sorted for you soon. Keep us up to date with your progress.

[Reckless]

Ah ha now we are starting to get some more facts.
It wasn't evident from your first post Honda where taking you seriously. But it looks like good ole Honda are! I think your main tack should be this is a failure somewhere as you experianced a noticable difference during a ride. Their job is to fix it or replace it especially if it happened "all of a sudden" as you say. There must be a point where you can insist on a replacement.
The two bikes ridden back to back is a very good suggestion, for your own piece of mind as well. Let them do their vibration test if you are correct in your facts, it can only prove your point.
Sometimes we get dealt a dud, and it takes time and patence to get it sorted, at least Honda arn't telling you to piss off and live with it.
Good luck.

[Big Dave]

I've tested two.
The first one - an 06 - had no noticeable vibration.

The Second was a 07 that was on its last rounds as a Demo and test bike. (Done it tough). It had some vibration evident through the tank. Not enough to be a concern. Nothing like you describe.

It could be something like a leaky air box or something.

[Reckless]

It could be something like a leaky air box or something.

I would have thought the dealer and Blue wing would have sussed out something as simple as that. But you never know!
Actually I'd be pretty disapointed with my new Honda if I'd found out it had an inherent vibration problem that they couldn't or wouldn't design out of sucessive models. If all you say is correct I'd be pretty bumbed about it.