How one rider ended up with hard-tail Honda by neglect
Stuart McIntosh got a shock when he inspected this nearly new Honda
When this 2017 Honda NC750S arrived in the workshop for a service, mechanic Stuart McIntosh wasn’t expecting too many issues.
But the head technician at Ecosse Honda in Aberdeen was soon reminded that looks can be deceiving. He said: “The bearing that links the swingarm to the suspension pivot on this bike was horrible after three years and just 10,000 miles. We’re on the coast here, and a lot of our customers live by the sea in places like Peterhead, so we do see more corrosion because of that. I think that was a factor here. “Hondas don’t normally give us any problems with seized suspension linkages, because they use sealed bearings and they are well-greased too. “It must have felt like a hardtail with a very harsh ride. But this sort of wear, like worn steering head bearings that make the steering notchy, creeps up on owners so they don’t always notice. It’s only when someone else rides the bike, or it gets checked over by a mechanic, that these problems really stand out.”
The pivot pin generally pushes out during a service, but extracting the bearings needs a hydraulic press, and Stuart has seen some that are completely welded up, where the pin has needed pressing out, too.
He added: “That’s why an annual service makes sense, because corrosion increases over time, even if the miles don’t.”
Because this one was picked up before things got too worn, it only cost £24.60 in parts and an hour’s labour, but seized bearings can result in snapped linkages or shock absorber mountings which could end up with you being spat off the bike at high speed.