[tdarchangel]

I'm usually not a very negative person as a whole but man this group really messed up and I know most of ya work on your own bikes and i will soon as I have a more permanent residence and can get tools but check this out. Last year when I started the restoration of my CX I took my bike to a place here in Fort Wayne (IN) called Redline Honda and boy did they fuck me up. First off they flat out lied to me about my camshaft they charged me $120 for a diagnostic of the ticking right and they called me a few days later saying they tore it up and they found a bunch of groves in my cam well I was disappointed but like an idiot I trusted them and tried to find another needless to say I didn't before my flight out to Arcosanti. So I had to park the bike at my friends house for the winter under cover and wait when I was ready to come back (and had built up some more resources) I called them and told them to go pick it up a week later they called and said they had it all tore apart and was ready to replace the cam but they couldn't find one so I had to. I found one and it was bad (coated in rust and dented) and this was after they made me put $600 down on a repair they were going to charge me a total of $1000 for. (I say know I was retarded to even think about it)When I finally got back into town I went to see them and see what was going on and guess what I found? My bike untouched collecting dust not tore apart at all! Needless to say I had a feeling they were lying to me the whole time and I decided to not get it fixed and picked it up. So I called my buddies who ride here in town and they all refered me to the same guy said he was a little slow getting to stuff but he was honest, knew his shit, and didn't charge your first born son for a repair. I took it to him and at this point we both agree the engine was trashed had all kinds of noise at this point. so I went to a yard and got a replacement engine and we tore them both down and rebuilt a new engine with parts from both of them. This cost me $750 for the engine and labor to take out the old one combine them and put the new one in! great right well I come to find out my old cam was fine and that there was no possible way for them to have looked at it the way they said they did so lie 1. then my oil cap which was stripped so i replaced it was again stripped the take no blame for it right lie 2. They also said they picked up my bike for free but i have a $45 pick up charge on my card lie 3. And last is the most epic fail last year when them idiots were wrenching on it they replaced my float bowl well my new mechanic just called me and told me where my jets were at go ahead and guess....well if you guessed two of my jets were lying right on the bottom of my float bowls you nailed it right on the head so I wonder who did that?..... All I gotta say is this is why I aint never trusting a business to work on my bikes again period and if anyones asks and their in fort wayne run from redline those morons dont know a motorcycle from a bunny tomorrow I'm calling the better business bureau in town and having a nice time explaining to them what happened. I figured I might share some of the hell I've been dealing with because I love this bike and didn't want any others and just how bad some even local business's can be.

 

[jhodorek]

I'm usually not a very negative person as a whole but man this group really messed up and I know most of ya work on your own bikes and i will soon as I have a more permanent residence and can get tools but check this out. Last year when I started the restoration of my CX I took my bike to a place here in Fort Wayne (IN) called Redline Honda and boy did they fuck me up. First off they flat out lied to me about my camshaft they charged me $120 for a diagnostic of the ticking right and they called me a few days later saying they tore it up and they found a bunch of groves in my cam well I was disappointed but like an idiot I trusted them and tried to find another needless to say I didn't before my flight out to Arcosanti. So I had to park the bike at my friends house for the winter under cover and wait when I was ready to come back (and had built up some more resources) I called them and told them to go pick it up a week later they called and said they had it all tore apart and was ready to replace the cam but they couldn't find one so I had to. I found one and it was bad (coated in rust and dented) and this was after they made me put $600 down on a repair they were going to charge me a total of $1000 for. (I say know I was retarded to even think about it)When I finally got back into town I went to see them and see what was going on and guess what I found? My bike untouched collecting dust not tore apart at all! Needless to say I had a feeling they were lying to me the whole time and I decided to not get it fixed and picked it up. So I called my buddies who ride here in town and they all refered me to the same guy said he was a little slow getting to stuff but he was honest, knew his shit, and didn't charge your first born son for a repair. I took it to him and at this point we both agree the engine was trashed had all kinds of noise at this point. so I went to a yard and got a replacement engine and we tore them both down and rebuilt a new engine with parts from both of them. This cost me $750 for the engine and labor to take out the old one combine them and put the new one in! great right well I come to find out my old cam was fine and that there was no possible way for them to have looked at it the way they said they did so lie 1. then my oil cap which was stripped so i replaced it was again stripped the take no blame for it right lie 2. They also said they picked up my bike for free but i have a $45 pick up charge on my card lie 3. And last is the most epic fail last year when them idiots were wrenching on it they replaced my float bowl well my new mechanic just called me and told me where my jets were at go ahead and guess....well if you guessed two of my jets were lying right on the bottom of my float bowls you nailed it right on the head so I wonder who did that?..... All I gotta say is this is why I aint never trusting a business to work on my bikes again period and if anyones asks and their in fort wayne run from redline those morons dont know a motorcycle from a bunny tomorrow I'm calling the better business bureau in town and having a nice time explaining to them what happened. I figured I might share some of the hell I've been dealing with because I love this bike and didn't want any others and just how bad some even local business's can be.

Sorry to hear that

I'm in Warsaw (about 45 minutes away) and Bloomington (3 hours south) and I too have had bad experiences with RedLine. I went to them for a hard-to-find part for my FL250 Odyssey 4 wheeler back in the day and they royally messed it up - not only did they "think" they had the right part (they didn't, I drove an hour for the wrong part altogether), they also said that they were going to charge me because I had it special ordered.



Needless to say I confirmed with other Honda dealers that they can't do this - it's only charged if you actually go in and buy the part.

From then on I only deal with my local Lake City Honda. Had nothing but good experiences with them for 10+ years - good guys over there.

 

[Cobram]

BBB and the rest are usually just a waste of time. Write or call Honda, while they might not seem to be able or willing to do much, they do keep a file on every one of their authorized dealers. Too many complaints or similar complaints from customers, and they will step in. There's even a case of a Honda motorcycle dealer which took Honda to federal court because Honda was holding back popular vehicles from them as a punitive or corrective measure due to number of complaints Honda was getting about that dealer. The Federal court ruled for Honda, and that there was no breach of contract, the dealer went out of business not too long afterwards. If they thought they were holding back product before the lawsuit, I can image what Honda did after they were sued.



A dealer is the last place you'd ever want to take a vintage bike (any bike IMHO), they're setup for their whole culture is to work on the latest bikes, and for the most part they don't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to older bikes.

 

[tdarchangel]

Sorry to hear that

I'm in Warsaw (about 45 minutes away) and Bloomington (3 hours south) and I too have had bad experiences with RedLine. I went to them for a hard-to-find part for my FL250 Odyssey 4 wheeler back in the day and they royally messed it up - not only did they "think" they had the right part (they didn't, I drove an hour for the wrong part altogether), they also said that they were going to charge me because I had it special ordered.



Needless to say I confirmed with other Honda dealers that they can't do this - it's only charged if you actually go in and buy the part.

From then on I only deal with my local Lake City Honda. Had nothing but good experiences with them for 10+ years - good guys over there.

It's a real shitter on a wonderful tradition isn't it wen you have to deal with bafoons like this. And thanks for the intel Cobram I'll call honda to it will add to the punishment I looked at the BBB reports and their already not good so I figure I'll ad one more to the list and ward off their customers then I'll call Honda and tell them about their bad representation as well because I mean hell I still love honda.

 

[Blindstitch]

It happens and that's why we work on our own bikes. For the price they were charging you or charged you eventually you could have bought a 5 year old used bike in good condition. I think Indianapolis has a vintage moto group and you might want to find them on the internet as they usually know who's good or bad within a good radius.

 

[Shep]

This really burns me up.I hate dealers like that.You get these,"Bad Apples" everywhere from time to time.I wonder how some of them sleep at night.Don't they have any pride in their service?



Anyhoo.You don't need em with this and other internet resources.



Tip:If you see a cheap engine going or another CX/GL going cheap grab it.It will be worth more than you pay in spares and save money in the long run.I laid out a fair bit of cash in my 1st couple of years ownership but for that past several years not paid out much as I've built up my own spares depot in my garage all of which could be sold if I needed to so no loss

 

[tdarchangel]

Worst part is I got a spare engine now but I have to scrap it because I don't have a garage in Indiana and it would be pretty tricky getting a dead engine home to Arizona on my bike and I don't have the spare resources to ship it. I'm sure theres still some good parts on in it but you know this is the downfall to being a volunteer I make no money but when I need help my friends usually step up to the plate and help me out. I voulunteer in computer work and services as well as General Maintenance at Arcosanti and electronics repair Usually end up saving people hundreds and do the work right if its out of my reach I ask for help or simply acknowledge its out of my league and I find someone who can fix whatever I'm looking at. I'm thinking about finding a small cheap storage locker and turning it into a garage for working on my bike because I don't have one at arco either but theres storage unit available really cheap about 5 miles away.

 

[tdarchangel]

It happens and that's why we work on our own bikes. For the price they were charging you or charged you eventually you could have bought a 5 year old used bike in good condition. I think Indianapolis has a vintage moto group and you might want to find them on the internet as they usually know who's good or bad within a good radius.

Agreed I did all of the external work so far and I'm still at ~$3500 so far for all of my repairs getting this thing just to run good and replacing parts that were shot

 

[DakotaMK]

A dealer is the last place you'd ever want to take a vintage bike (any bike IMHO), they're setup for their whole culture is to work on the latest bikes, and for the most part they don't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to older bikes.

I'd like to add just some positivity here. I have brought my bike in to the local dealership... and I'll be honest, this year is SO much busier than last year with all of my other projects AND school- so after the customizing with the diamond plating, etc I won't have much time to do anything to my bike for a bit (which is OK, since mechanically it's good...) it's nice to take it in and while I'm doing other stuff on my 'to do' list, someone else is doing what needs to be done to the bike (like when I had my brakes and clutch cable replaced- and the new tires put on).



My local dealer has had both positive and negative reviews- but when I've been in they've been friendly, helpful- and the mechanic was VERY excited when he saw my bike, because he said he remembers working on them a long time ago and doesn't see many of them anymore. So (supposedly) the guy working on my bike has worked on them before and is familiar with them. AND.... the price wasn't obscene either.



I'm sorry you had a bad experience- I had to re-read it from the beginning because the "but man this group really messed up " part made me think someone HERE gave you bad advice.

 

[tdarchangel]

@DakotaMK "I'm sorry you had a bad experience- I had to re-read it from the beginning because the "but man this group really messed up " part made me think someone HERE gave you bad advice." Nah everyone here has been absolutely great and I'm really glad there is a group of people that actually do know what their talking about and know our bikes VERY well. @Everyone Thank you all for your support seriously it says a thing or two about respect and true dedication to our bikes! (also to brighten the thread a little as I usually am pretty positive)

 

[Ookie Wonderslug]

Maybe one of those people you help out would allow you to store your spare engine in their garage or garden shed. Beats scrapping it. It would fit in a closet if there was no other place.

 

[tdarchangel]

Maybe one of those people you help out would allow you to store your spare engine in their garage or garden shed. Beats scrapping it. It would fit in a closet if there was no other place.

un fortunately I already had it scrapped I for two reasons I dont have a place to live here anymore in fort wayne I live in Arizona I just came back to finish my bike and go home also I really needed the money to help offset the excess amount of money i lost coming here so far it looks like my bike is going to be running good but my budget has hit $0 now im scrambling to make enough money to go home doing some hardware refurbishing for a friend of mine here in town then selling the refurbed hardware but even when i get my bike back today i have no money for fuel until some stuff starts to sell I already had to spend the money from the engine on the bike and a new mainboard for my netbook...its the downside to being a good guy and volunteering for everything i guess

 

[marshallf3]

My local shop will change the oil and that's about it, they're afraid to do anything deeper in case they acidentally break a part or find out they need one that's NLA leaving the bike in pieces taking up space.



You are the best mechanic your bike can have and if anything is beyond your limits there's usually a fellow forum member not far away.



The dealer's really only good for vehicles no more than 3 - 5 years old. Most of the mechanics aren't trained for nor familiar with anything much older nor will the dealer have a decent amount of service literature &/or parts for older machines sitting around. Remember they're hopefully trying to pull a small profit from the shop area and that can be difficult if they're always having to dig for old manuals and order parts. This of course varies by dealer but most want little more than the service work they can smoothly glide through.



An alternate - and they do exist - is an independent mechanic that has years of experience, is an experienced diagnostician and has a decent mechanical aptitude. It can take a lot of calls to find one and don't settle on the first you find that shows no fear, obviously it's a big positive if you mention CX500 and they can start talking intelligently about one right off the bat. It might be rare to get so lucky but these bikes are very straightforward to work on. If you're forced to utilize an independent don't expect him to have the manuals nor all the tips/tricks we have in here, take an hour or two and print all that stuff off for him in advance, it'll help him immnsely as well as lighten your bill since he'll be able to work much quicker on the problem(s). Also offer to help locate and purchase any parts he needs, we've got sources very few know about.

 

[King_Panther13]

My local honda shop seems to only work on older bikes. They know their stuff though, and have a great reputation. Never had them work on my bike, but I made friends with one of their best mechanics who happens to be another CX'er and he's given tons of great advice. He let me sneak into their shop once and holy crap, that particular day he was loaded down with all old inline sixes! Never heard a bad thing about them, and for the most part they're the same prices if not cheaper than Bike Bandit...and even cheaper when you consider that I get free 2 day shipping, provided I run to the shop to get the items.



Moral of the story is that there are definitely some bad cookies out there, but don't knock them all off. If you're one that's willing to pay to get your bike worked on...there's nothing wrong with that, but you really have to look HARD and even when someone else is doing your work, you need to know the bikes...or at least know someone who knows the bikes.

 

[redcloud]

Sorry to hear you had such a rough go. My local Honda Dealer has been in business for over 80 years. They are knowledgable about new AND old, and have helped me. Got to be good friends with the lead parts shop manager and its great to stop in and shoot the bull. I've been to shops like you've been, been taken a couple of times too, but though it cost you alot, the lesson in reading people is sort of worth it. You get a sense over time, and can sniff em out like crap in a distant corner.



Hope things pick up for you. Just remember that good shops are out there...though they are getting fewer and fewer.



There is enough experience here to last a lifetime...good sized community, I am sure there are some around you who can lend a hand.



Chin up!

 

[TonyR]

Agreed I did all of the external work so far and I'm still at ~$3500 so far for all of my repairs getting this thing just to run good and replacing parts that were shot

Jeeeesssuuuus! $3500!

I am feeling beat up and put out by $1500!

You must really love that bike.

If I ever get to ride mine I might feel that way....

 

[tdarchangel]

To Cramer Rick and Tony thanks for the encouragement from all of you. Rick your right this is a fantastic community I'm very glad I stumbled upon and plan to ride with many of you over the upcoming months and years. Cramer I'm finding the very best resources to find trusted monkies is by asking friends and of course the awesome guys here. I did find a garage mechanic whos been doing this work for 37 years now and hes pretty familiar with my bike and he deals with classics of all flavors he's been both understanding and descriptive in showing me exactly what was going on and how to fix it.He has also cut his labor to my budget to help me out and I'm glad I found him through the recommendation from my uncle who rides a 78 Yamaha something or other. Hopefully everything goes well and I'll get my ebay hardware business rolling soon and I'll have enough to pay for a storage unit I can turn into my work garage until I get a more permanent residence as my living situation is VERY out of the norm and is pretty complicated but full of rewarding work and the fun and enjoyable parts of life!

 

[Billrod]

Hopefully everything goes well and I'll get my ebay hardware business rolling soon and I'll have enough to pay for a storage unit I can turn into my work garage until I get a more permanent residence as my living situation is VERY out of the norm and is pretty complicated but full of rewarding work and the fun and enjoyable parts of life!

Let us know when you get your Ebay business going.

 

[tdarchangel]

Let us know when you get your Ebay business going.

Aye I already started a small bit of it and am getting some stuff sold but I got an investor and a large amount of e waste I intend on buying, repairing, and selling. if your interested in anything computer hardware or support related just let me know I posted a computer help thread and I can ship anything anywhere and right about now I got access to a TON of stuff you need it I guarantee I got it! Also anyone in this forum is going to get thing pretty hella cheap if not free because I treat all of my friends well as it always pays off in the end

and you'll find that I don't believe in money I hate it, I hate the idea, the concept, the way its used, and the power its gotten even though it really is fictional bs that we (humans) created.



Sidenote: (I should also mention my other profession includes philosophy and writing its something that is getting a full chapter in my book about. That book is going to be called The Thoughts Articles btw about %25 complete. I moved to Arcosanti specifically to finish this book and continue my studies and learn about the philosophy of Paoloi Soleri by Paolo himself at the grand age of 92!)

 

[roundman72]

ya know it really bugs me about honda shops and bike shops period. i had a cracked valve stem on the rear. so i pull the tire. $35 for a stem change at honda $20 at a shade tree bike shop. now when i took tire bearings were noisy. so i called and $20 bearings from shade tree and $60 to install. well i found out the size ordered NSK bearings for $20 myself and do it all myself with a $2.00 valve stem. and while i was at it cleaned all crap out of rear brake and re greased eveything and now it no longer has that squeal to it that woke the dead! and all in all i had about 2 hours time in it and i know the job was done right because i done it myself!