Ohio to WV-VA-MD and Almost Back

[Pdmasterson77]

I left Thursday (7/24) from Zanesville Oh- Rode I-77 to Ripley WV then across route 33 to Elkins WV and stayed the night. Friday was a great ride as I rode across 33 to Harrisonburg WV and then to mile 65 of the Skyline Drive. Rode 65 miles north to Front Royal VA (North entrance). Friday was a beautiful day route 33 is very challenging with 10% climbs and decants, Beautiful views-stopped at Seneca Rocks and then stopped quickly in Franklin for gas. Then off to Skyline Drive. Friday was a very nice day and all I can say about the skyline drive is WOW! Such great scenery and I must have stopped at 10-15 overlooks. Rode up to Winchester VA for the night. Winchester is a very nice town with a wonderful walking mall downtown. Great evidence of Urban revival. Left saturday morning with hopes of making it home. Followed old 70 as much as I could Stopped outside of Wheeling for Gas and got on i-70. I immediately knew something was wrong with my bike (12,000 miles on bike). Seemed like I didn't have much transmission and shifting really didn't help. Pulled off to a service station around 5 pm. Honda Roadside Service (which came with my extended warranty ) is a joke. 5 hours on and off phone they had difficulty getting someone to pick my bike up. I live 75 miles away so I had my wife pick me up and left the bike at the device station. I plan to pick it up Monday on my own and take it to my dealer. 712 miles and would have been close to 800 in three days, I believe i must have a bad clutch.....12,000 miles seems very low miles to have to replace a clutch. I do not ride the bike hard (really does anyone with a NT think they own a crotch rocket) and always make sure clutch is engaged before shifting-oh well hoping extended warranty works better than Honda Roadside Service.


Still had a blast !

 

[Phil Tarman]

Pd, sorry to hear about the abrupt ending of your trip, and sorry to hear about Honda's roadside service failure. I've got AMA road service too, and have had frustrations with it the only time I tried to use it. Honda's roadside service did great for me when I had a battery failure in Colorado Springs, and not quite as well when I had a flat in Spearfish.

But at least you got to do the "good" part of your ride before the breakdown!

We'll be curious to hear what the problem turns out to be.

 

[DirtFlier]

[...Honda Roadside Service (which came with my extended warranty ) is a joke. 5 hours on and off phone they had difficulty getting someone to pick my bike up...]

I currently have towing benefit via my AMA membership and before that subscribed to a generic service. As far as I know, all the various services share the same network of tow trucks. There is no specific tow truck or service for Honda, BMW, AMA, etc.

The big catch here is the location of your breakdown and whether or not the contracted tow service is busy on that day. Obviously a breakdown in a remote location will take longer but you could be also be near a town or city that doesn't have a contracted tow truck service, so it's really pot luck as far as how quickly they can and will respond to your call.

 

[EODEAN]

When My Wing broke down about 27 miles SW of Page, Az I called the GWRRA towing service and it took 2 hours for them to get a truck to me. Was difficult to get the lady in Florida to figure out just where I was. Got the bike in and was back on the road in 4 hours. My Progressive insuruance is only good for 15 miles. Will have to find a plan that will go out to at least a 100 miles.

 

[Miairhead]

Location is the issue with road service with a motorcycle, many companies don't do motorcycles. I waited couple of hours for a truck to show, had to be the one with the motorcycle carrier and that truck was busy: so you wait.
It is amazing you call and then have to explain what you want towed; I been asked more questions about vehicle then I asked when I purchased it. Once on my RV I had to tell them the weight, length, color, and questions when for ever: Still they send too small a truck.
If you break down on the road and have to try and tell the service where your at, good luck with that. I had to argue about location once on an expressway ramp. Service kept telling me I could not be where I was, had to ask for the supervisor to get them to understand where to send the truck. I used AMA, Good Sam, and don't bother with Progressive they just only take you 10 feet free.
I think most use calling centers, so you get what the service pays for.

 

[DirtFlier]

[I think most use calling centers, so you get what the service pays for.]

I believe most or all of the towing plans use a company called "Cross Country Motor Club" or something along those lines. And you're right about getting what you pay for because some plans pay a lot to Cross Country while others pay almost nothing which puts your emergency at the bottom of their priority list!

 

[vzshadow]

Glad you got home safely and got the bike home too. Let us know what the problem is.

I recently had my SUV break down while towing a trailer with two bikes on it. Luckily I was close enough to have a friend come and get me and the trailer. I had explained my situation to AMA services and they sent a tow truck that couldn't handle a car and trailer.

Does anyone have AAA and it so what do you think?

 

[RedLdr1]

As far as I know, all the various services share the same network of tow trucks. There is no specific tow truck or service for Honda, BMW, AMA, etc.

That is correct. I managed to get a new Chevy pickup stuck many years ago and called Allstate's Roadside assistance. They were very helpful, but told me it would be at least an hour and a half before a tow truck could arrive. Since it was a new truck I decided to call GM's Roadside Assistance to see if they would be any quicker...no, still an hour and a half. Next I called AAA to see if they would be any quicker...and heard the same hour and a half response. A few minutes after my call to AAA my cell phone rang and it was the dispatcher for the local tow truck company calling to let me know she now had three separate open tickets on my tow and it was still going to be about an hour and a half....

Does anyone have AAA and it so what do you think?

I have it for another week and then I'm not renewing it after almost fifteen years. I recently went to one of their local "service centers" to get some paper guides and assistance for a car trip we are planning. I had called ahead to schedule an appointment but was told I didn't need one as weekdays were slow so just come on over. I checked in with the receptionist and grabbed a seat. After waiting almost two hours, and having three different "advisers" quickly visiting and then saying I needed to see someone else, I still could not get any trip planning assistance. I finally walked over to the book shelf and picked out the state books I wanted...only to be told by the receptionist that only employees can take a book off the shelf. I politely told the receptionist that since they didn't appear to have any working employees to please send the manager out to discuss it. No one came out... It was very obvious that if you weren't using them as a travel agency to book flights, cars, hotels, and tours they weren't interested in helping you. For those things I can get an independent travel agent for free who will work their butt off to get a commission so I don't need to pay AAA annually for poor service. By the way the AAA state guides I picked up are not as detailed, nor up to date, as the books you can get for free from any states tourism office.

As far as towing coverage all my vehicles, except my FJ1200, are new enough to be covered by the manufacture's roadside assistance programs. I have HOG on the Harley and have USAA towing in addition to the manufactures roadside assistance on the SUV's... I'm done with AAA and would not recommend them.

 

[DirtFlier]

[Back to the clutch...I wonder if you got energy conserving oil in your engine, which made your clutch plates slip. To have it wear out at that few of miles, is highly unusual.]

I'd guess that at least 90% or more of the motor oils on the shelves at any auto parts store are "energy conserving." I made that mistake about 15 years ago and knew it before I got very far so drained the oil once I was home from that trip. It was a synthetic but was NOT labeled as energy conserving.

It's much less likely but if your clutch lever freeplay went to 0 for some strange reason and you kept riding it, the clutch would slip more and more with each mile. Usually on the NT style clutch actuation, the freeplay increases with miles.

 

[Pdmasterson77]

picked up bike today-and delivered it to my dealer. My clutch adjustment was way of (Im not a mechanic but am a stickler for routine service. Local Honda dealer regrets to say if clutch will be covered.

 

[Phil Tarman]

If my dealer could get Honda to pay for a final drive rebuild at 86K miles, surely yours can cover a clutch at 12,000. You're their customer, not Honda's warranty insurance.

 

[DirtFlier]

Clutches similar to brake pads have always been considered a "wear item," so generally not covered by warranty.

 

[Phil Tarman]

True, but Honda wouldn't be selling many bikes if clutches failed regularly at 12,000 miles. And if this dealer's been doing all the service, he should take some of the responsibility, too.

 

[Miairhead]

Very sorry to hear about you clutch. Your ride is one a really like, I meet my son in Delaware, OH and we have ridden down south to WV. It a great area to ride, and one where you must know where the gas stations are. I almost ran out of gas on back roads in WV on my 84 RT.
I hope you get some help from Honda on the cost, at 12K you should not need a clutch.

 

[bicyclist]

And if this dealer's been doing all the service, he should take some of the responsibility, too.

+1 to that. If the bike was serviced at 8K and the clutch properly adjusted, no way it should fail in 4K miles. If you can't get them to cover the job, at least they should cover the labor.

 

[Pdmasterson77]

So finally got some movement from Honda Extended Warranty -they are going to cover the parts for the clutch replacement. The dealer in turn is
"discounting" labor. Total cost for me will be about $175. I am relatively pleased with this proposal

 

[Phil Tarman]

That's not too bad, PD. Sure better than being stuck with all of it!