Great bike/ well not so great

[Gru]

Picked up a 2010 NT 700 V about a month ago, PO said every thing works fine, so here is what’s wrong: no truth in advertising, but the price was more than reasonable. 1: bags would open, but key would not pull out. 2: lots of JB weld on bag latches. 3: very, very dirty under seat, must have lived on dirt road. 4: right hand bag exploded when I was checking out the latches. 5: both front fork seals leaking, I thought I had tied it down too tight, but after further inspection I found they had been leaking for a long time.
what I have done so far: replaced right bag (price of bike was low enough, so I paid Honda an exorbitant price for new one) , removed all latching mechanisms, installed external latches. Replaced brakes, installed a pull ring to remove the seat. Next I will clean the front wheel, replace the fork seals, then touch up the sliders, and plastic around the radiator. ONE GOOD THING THE TIRES ARE GREAT.

 

[ARKNT]

Sounds like you are well on your way to getting it working for you.
The panniers are a definite weak point and if it was dirty under the seat as you describe that does not help the pannier latches any. External latches have been used by many.

Arknt

 

[ST1100Y]

1: bags would open, but key would not pull out.

WARNING: you can remove the key only when both pannier lids are fully closed (both release levers popped back in)!
(had the same misconception when obtaining the '07 NT700VA for my GF... studying the owner's cleared that up...)

 

[cliffh]

Google "homemade fork seal cleaning tool". You will see many examples of extremely easy and quick to make tools (just cut out a piece of a pop bottle or some thing similar). Many, many times (likely most it seems) they will solve the leaky fork seal problem for free. You really have nothing to lose. I stopped my leaking seal with about 5 minutes work. The timely part is lifting the fork guard thing up out of the way. There isn't much on an NT700 to keep crud out of the seals.

And as above: WARNING: you can remove the key only when both pannier lids are fully closed (both release levers popped back in)!

 

[Coyote Chris]

Google "homemade fork seal cleaning tool". You will see many examples of extremely easy and quick to make tools (just cut out a piece of a pop bottle or some thing similar). Many, many times (likely most it seems) they will solve the leaky fork seal problem for free. You really have nothing to lose. I stopped my leaking seal with about 5 minutes work. The timely part is lifting the fork guard thing up out of the way. There isn't much on an NT700 to keep crud out of the seals.

And as above: WARNING: you can remove the key only when both pannier lids are fully closed (both release levers popped back in)!

I too have used the plastic fork seal cleaning tools to good effect. You work the little hook down and around and bring it out and clean it. Seal Mate works for me.

 

[Camelot]

When you pay small $$ for a bike it’s because it needs work. The are very clean NT’s on the market without any issues If one digs a little deeper into their wallet.

 

[mikesim]

When you pay small $$ for a bike it’s because it needs work. The are very clean NT’s on the market without any issues If one digs a little deeper into their wallet.

That's pretty much true with one exception and that is the pannier issue. The degradation of the plastic is a function of time and UV exposure. I cannot think of any preventive maintenance that I could have performed that would have stopped the failure of the plastic. I am pretty anal about maintenance and regularly applied UV inhibitors to all plastic parts and the PC pannier parts still crumbled. In spite of this flaw, it's still a wonderful bike and I have loved every mile we have spent together.

Mike