NOT HAPPY!!!!!!!

[sean]

Bought my honda transalp from my local dealer in march this year, ex demo bike with 36 miles on clock, the bike is a year old now and i have covered 8300 miles, it has full service history,genuine honda colour matched panniers and top box,honda heated grips, centre stand, taller screen, handlebar brace, touratec crash bars, stainetune exhaust,hagon progressive springs, scottoiler and datataged. the bike is absolutely immaculate. i've had a problem with the bike tankslapping and weaving since new. dealer has fitted a new front wheel and, today new headrace bearings under warranty. i've switched from deathwings to tourances and have tried a combination of pressures to no avail, even changed the springs to no avail. the dealer offered me £2500 in part ex!(i'd rather torch it than sell it back to the piss taking git!) the bike is mint! losing confidence in it rather quickly!!!! any ideas? other than taking it to beachy head and throwing the bloody thing off!!

[wheeliebin]

I'd go to another dealer.

Problems with the front end weaving may be coming from the back end, have you checked wheel/swingarm bearings for play ? Tyre pressures (can wobble a little if over inflated) ? Chain tension ?

You definately have a problem, mine is quite stable at all speeds.

[JAK]

Hi Sean

Sorry to hear about your problems. I have an 04 just turned a year but no such problems. Not sure about this technically but it sounds that the bike is "not fit for purpose" and given attempts to fix things Honda should become involved or trading standards office

This I know is not always easy but if your cross well now sounds the time to channel it and make the dealer pursue this with the rep who calls regularly. My bike is speced similarly to your own accept for the panniers and if you read here you will see the ta is a much loved motorcycle. There are some technical guys on here so they may help but don't give up.

Regards
Jak

[sean]

having owned a 95 transalp for 55,000 miles and a 97 africa twin for 179,000 miles i know the handling is not as it should be!despite shop owner trying to insist "they all do that sir" . tyre pressures are 29psi front and 34psi rear. chain is ok despite honda dealers mechanic tightening it like a bow string. ( i take it to their kwak,suzuki,triumph branch now!) there is no play in any of the bearings now. so i'm a bit stuck really. i may try a set of michelins as the africa twin ran on them for almost all of its life without problems. could just sell it and use the money to keep the busa in tyres and use that to commute!

[YEN_POWELL]

Just as a matter of interest, have you tried riding it without any panniers/topbox to see if it gets better? Also, is the rear shock okay? Check it has damping (I know it's new but you never know)

My AT is a bit iffy at speed when I've got wide heavy throwovers on, does a sort of a weave/shimmy especially when I cross overbanding or joints in the carriageway.

[Dessert Storm]

Sounds like you've been pretty thorough in trying to locate the source of the problem. Only other things that spring to mind are:
wheel alignment OK?
rims/spokes ditto?
forks straight and true?
wheel bearings OK?
correct weight/quantity of fork oil?

Hope you find the problem soon; it's no fun when there is something spoiling the enjoyment of a bike.

Alan

[YEN_POWELL]

It's just occurred to me. Headraces adjusted too tightly make the bike ride along in a very strange way, alternate swooping to one side followed by the other. I'm wondering if the new headraces (assuming they are adjusted properly) have sorted it.

[ChrisH]

Sorry to hear of your problems with handling. I found all the TAs I've had handled fine, just the braking was crap on the older models. Definitely check the steering head bearings and get em replaced as mentioned, and remove the panniers etc. Check the frame isn't cracked, or badly welded, maybe with the aid of a mate and a torch (not the flaming sort!!) Hope you find the answer - good luck!

[DaveS]

Mention that you've discussed your problem with the UK Transalp owners club and they have suggested what has been suggested above.
Its not quite true that we're the UK Transalp owners club but you are amongst poeple that know that bike well and can advise accordingly.
The problem you have is most definately NOT normal and you should not accept it.

[Dave O]

Hi Sean

I've had a 92 TA for about 8 months now and have never had a tank slapping problem. However, recently I fitted two side panniers, loaded these up and added a bag across the back and went for a trial run up the A23. I nearly shat, at 65 the bike is fine, anything over and the bike gets a wobble that gets worse as you accelerate. I was so disturbed, I had to go home and lie down. I had also just changed the tyres to TKC80's.

The next day, itook all the baggage off and went for a burn. All back to normal. My diagnosis is, weight on the back wheel = light and scary front. Either that or aerodynamics really do effect the bike.