I dunno. My Honda S2000 has never had a problem. Runs great, doesn't even burn any oil. In fact I've had mostly honda cars my entire life. I bought a CRX in '88 and it's still on the road on it's third owner with 200K+ miles!

But I would never buy a Honda motorcycle, unless I had to depend on it for transportation. In my motorcycle I want something a bit different, Ducati, BMW, anything other then Honda, although I am sure their bikes are absolutely excellent, they just don't have that .hmmm... "je ne se qua" No offense to anyone, please.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by lanbrown
[B]Bikes have less frills and that is what really goes wrong.

 

All my older Hondas were more reliable than my S (350 Dream, CX 500, and CX 500 turbo).

But I'm not certain you can say the bike and car companies are the same, even with the same parent. For instance, the BMW car and bike organizations are totally different in that the car "quality satisfaction" is currently much higher than their bike equivalent.

Honda's groups may be closer together. I see more technology sharing, like VTEC, in the Hondas.

 

I have to disagree

 

The VTEC in the bike is totally different then the car version, it is more compact (it has to) and more simplified as well. LBS is very simplistic when you look at it. I have two bikes with it. ABS is probably the most complicated thing on it. You still don?t have power this and that on bikes and all the wiring that cars have.

The CBR 600 line has always had cam tensioner problems. That is nothing new.

Proper torque and thread lock keeps things nice and tight. The RC51 suffers from fasteners loosening from the vibration.

A sport bike has no more vibration then the four banger engines GM sells.

Lance

 

That's news to me...I owned an RC51 until last Sat., and have several friends w/ them.

 

I've only owned my S2k for a month but I can tell you the build quality is top notch and very comparable to my wifes Beemer. The use of high quality metals is apparent.

As far as bikes, my VFR has jewel-like welds on the aluminum perimeter frame. Ever see the welds on a Kawasaki or a Buell? Splatter city! Likewise my CRF's componentry and build quality is far superior to most MXers. IMO only KTM is close with Yamaha a tad behind.

 

They do loosen overtime. Not bad, but a few do work their way out every now and then. I know plenty of people with them, same thing.

 

Chris, as a BMW-owner I'd have to disagree. I know too many people happy with their cars and not with their bikes. Their bike quality is not what it used to be. You may know of spme specific models with problems but almost EVERY one of their new bikes has a series of what I call engineering flaws (choice of materials or finish, placement of items, boxer surging, etc.).

 

Ahem.

2001/08-01 -- Honda GL1800 Motorcycle Recall

American Honda Motor Co. Inc., of Torrance Calif., is voluntarily recalling about 6,000 2003 model year All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs).

Tokyo, Japan - (MCNW) Honda Motor Co. is going to spend about 1.9 billion yen to recall 160,131 vehicles in Japan and 21,395 motorcycles in the United States and Europe because of three separate defects.

Manufacturer: AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO.
Mfg. Campaign #: GL1200#5
Year: 1984
Make: HONDA MOTORCYCLE
Model: GL1200
Potential Number of Units Affected: 28750
Manufactured From: MAY 1983 To: MAY 1984