Denverhawk

I don’t post often but I thought some might find this interesting. It’s been an eventful summer of motorcycling for me. It got off to a rocky start months ago (mid March) when I brought the Hawk to a local Honda dealership that I had bought parts from in the past. I had the bike serviced there once as well and had a fine experience. This time I brought it in for tires, fluids, pads front and back, steel lines installed on the front, heavy weight fluid in the fork, and other miscellaneous stuff. I had a track day planned in June so was eager to get the bike set-up and myself warmed up as well.
To make a long story short; I picked the bike up an agonizing month later and after less than 100mi had the axel (bolt-less) slide drivers left to the point where the right fork leg separated from it and the wheel. This happened at road speed and as you can imagine affected the handling of the bike. LOL
Six weeks later. The bike was fixed on the dealerships dime, with everything they did gone over by another Dealer on my dime and my mildly banged up knee is 100%. There where allot of headaches in the whole process but who wants to hear about those?
On June 10th my buddy Bill and I did our first track day and I say without equivocation, it was everything I wanted it to be and much more! It quite literally changed the way I think and feel about motorcycling! We went to High Plains race way http://www.highplainsraceway.com/, about 1 ½ hours east of Denver for an all day open lapping session (motorcycle only of course). Their where less than 30 riders with less than 10 on streetbikes I’d say. The Hawk was the oldest and (with my gearing and lack of fairings) the slowest and I was most certainly one of the slowest guys but who cares! I pushed the bike and myself harder then I ever had and even badly blew a corner -with no repercussions at all! I’m proud to say I put both knees down and even passed a few guys in corners.
The new pad/ steel lines/rotor combo feels great and the heavy weight fluid seems an adequate poor-mans fix to a dive-y frontend (it certainly didn’t perform any miracles). I am still super happy with my choice in gearing as well and am looking forward to my next lapping day in August.
P.S. The dealership that screwed me and sent me out on an unsafe ride is Britt Honda in Littleton CO. Owned by Whalen Britt. If you’re a CO member avoid this shop and tell your friends. Sorry for no action shots at the track, next time! And the pics of the front end are the day after the accident on the side of the rode where I had dragged it and left it the night before.

RWhisen

Wow, what a story. When not doing your own maintenance you are really at the hands of the local buzzed up kid who thinks he knows everything and has no regard or respect for someone else's life. I hope that in addition to getting your bike fixed on their dime that they took care of your medical issues as well.

Track day sounds like a blast and you don't have to be the fastest to enjoy your time.

VTRsurfer

Glad you didn't end up with more than a banged up knee. You can't trust anyone to work on anything these days.

I have my tires done at the local dealer as well, and I check the torque when I get it home. Only problem I've found so far was they over torqued (by almost double) the rear axle nut on my wife's SV one time. Since then I tell the service manager what the torque specs are, and he types it on the work order.

The guy that installed your front wheel probably took a coffee break after inserting the axle and spinning the nut on by hand, then came back and said, "Oh yeah, I'm done with this one". Either that or he used an impact, and it was set way too low. Anyway you look at it, there's no excuse.

Hotbrakes

And that's why I do all my own maintenance. Sure, I've made my fair share of mistakes, but I learn from them and with enough research and hands on wrenching time they are few and far between. The money and time I've saved is astronomical.

Congratulations on the first trackday. It truly is an eye opening experience. Learning to control a bike at speeds 100mph on top of normal street speeds makes for much safer street riding.

superh1998

Wow, thank g-d you weren't hurt worse than you were.
As stated above, those kids that they hire at the dealerships are a complete joke.
I took my bike to the dealer for a carb clean and to have a jet kit installed...mainly because I really didn't have time to do it myself. From then on, I have done everything myself, even if my schedule takes me twice as long to do it.
I brought it in for the work above. I had just changed to new iridium plugs and told them not to touch them.
I picked the bike up, drove home, checked the plugs, and found out they had removed the new ones and changed them with a standard copper plug!.
Not only that, but they were able to be removed without a rachet...not even hand tight!
I had a k&n filter, and Jardine exhaust, and they installed 190/195 mains...needless to say it was way too rich. I now run 180/185's, and the bike is perfect.
Moral of the story...F the dealer!