Guest
11-08-2008, 09:46 PM
Hi all,
I've been lurking for a while but am about 60 hours from buying an 86 Aspy, provided the input you guys may give me doesn't scare me off from this particular bike.
Thanks to the information on this web site, the test ride of the Aspy I rode this morning was very productive and I felt that I could really get a good analysis of the bike. Since the bike was at a Honda dealer, I couldn't get any information about how the bike was maintained by the PO, or any problems he may have had with the bike. The upside is the service manager said they would service any bike they sold (I've read that some folks have had problems getting dealer service done on anything over 10 years old...)
The bike seemed to be well cared for, has about 71,000 miles, forks seemed clean (no pitting or excessive oil), the PO added an aftermarket voltmeter (that read just over 14 volt at 2000 RPM..thanks to the members of this site for making me smart on the charging issues) and three bright and clean yellow wires on the left side with no discoloration or any other signs of excessive heating (recently replaced, perhaps?). I have no idea if the timing belt has been replaced, but for the piece of mind, would either do or have it done immediately if I buy this bike. The bike also had relatively new tires, no cracks in the fairings, no other cosmetic problems. So far so good....
The bike was parked inside on the showroom, and I noticed that there were a couple of drops of oil under the bike. I didn't know how long it was sitting on the showroom, and after all, it is 22 years old, so I wasn't terribly concerned. The salesman was quick to offer me a test ride, and of course I took him up on it (beautiful day for riding in Arkansas this morning, only just a bit chilly and windy). While I was distracted filling out the "if you wreck it you buy it" paperwork he rolled the bike out to warm it up for me, so I missed if it blew blue smoke when it started. The bike rode like a champ, and is by far the heaviest bike I've ever rode, so I was thrilled that it handled the wind as well as it did (I currently commute on a 200cc dual sport)! The salesman told me to feel free to take the bike out as long as I wanted since it is such an old bike and even encouraged me to take it out on the freeway if I wanted. The bike didn't have any odd noises out of the either the engine or drivetrain, decelerations were smooth with no "popping," brakes were very effective considering the weight and the nose didn't dive excessively even with heavy front brake action. After about 30 minutes of riding, I was back at the dealership and figured by this time it was fully warmed up (any leaks should show up at this point), and gave it a quick post ride walk around. The bike hadn't been parked more than a couple of minutes, and I could see about 3 to 4 drops of oil on the ground directly under the aft side of the engine. This is what concerns me most. The oil was nearly clear (I assumed the service department recently changed the oil), and from what I can tell was leaking from around a panel directly on the aft side of the case (not sure if that is actually the gear box or the engine case) around the head of a ~7 or 8 mm bolt that is holding an access/cover panel in place. The goldwinginfo.com website has been down, so I can't determine where the leak may be coming from, or even give you folks a breakout number to tell me if this is serious or not.
After the bike set a while, I started it up and there wasn't any smoke present in the exhaust, so at least it doesn't seem to be burning oil. The asking price is $3700 which seems to be in line with Kelley's Blue Book, but I'd hate to have to drop too much money on the bike to fix a serious problem. The upside is when I was leaving, the salesman was riding the bike back to the service department.
I know this isn't a lot of info but would you pass on this bike because of the oil leak? Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.
Regards,
Rich
I've been lurking for a while but am about 60 hours from buying an 86 Aspy, provided the input you guys may give me doesn't scare me off from this particular bike.
Thanks to the information on this web site, the test ride of the Aspy I rode this morning was very productive and I felt that I could really get a good analysis of the bike. Since the bike was at a Honda dealer, I couldn't get any information about how the bike was maintained by the PO, or any problems he may have had with the bike. The upside is the service manager said they would service any bike they sold (I've read that some folks have had problems getting dealer service done on anything over 10 years old...)
The bike seemed to be well cared for, has about 71,000 miles, forks seemed clean (no pitting or excessive oil), the PO added an aftermarket voltmeter (that read just over 14 volt at 2000 RPM..thanks to the members of this site for making me smart on the charging issues) and three bright and clean yellow wires on the left side with no discoloration or any other signs of excessive heating (recently replaced, perhaps?). I have no idea if the timing belt has been replaced, but for the piece of mind, would either do or have it done immediately if I buy this bike. The bike also had relatively new tires, no cracks in the fairings, no other cosmetic problems. So far so good....
The bike was parked inside on the showroom, and I noticed that there were a couple of drops of oil under the bike. I didn't know how long it was sitting on the showroom, and after all, it is 22 years old, so I wasn't terribly concerned. The salesman was quick to offer me a test ride, and of course I took him up on it (beautiful day for riding in Arkansas this morning, only just a bit chilly and windy). While I was distracted filling out the "if you wreck it you buy it" paperwork he rolled the bike out to warm it up for me, so I missed if it blew blue smoke when it started. The bike rode like a champ, and is by far the heaviest bike I've ever rode, so I was thrilled that it handled the wind as well as it did (I currently commute on a 200cc dual sport)! The salesman told me to feel free to take the bike out as long as I wanted since it is such an old bike and even encouraged me to take it out on the freeway if I wanted. The bike didn't have any odd noises out of the either the engine or drivetrain, decelerations were smooth with no "popping," brakes were very effective considering the weight and the nose didn't dive excessively even with heavy front brake action. After about 30 minutes of riding, I was back at the dealership and figured by this time it was fully warmed up (any leaks should show up at this point), and gave it a quick post ride walk around. The bike hadn't been parked more than a couple of minutes, and I could see about 3 to 4 drops of oil on the ground directly under the aft side of the engine. This is what concerns me most. The oil was nearly clear (I assumed the service department recently changed the oil), and from what I can tell was leaking from around a panel directly on the aft side of the case (not sure if that is actually the gear box or the engine case) around the head of a ~7 or 8 mm bolt that is holding an access/cover panel in place. The goldwinginfo.com website has been down, so I can't determine where the leak may be coming from, or even give you folks a breakout number to tell me if this is serious or not.
After the bike set a while, I started it up and there wasn't any smoke present in the exhaust, so at least it doesn't seem to be burning oil. The asking price is $3700 which seems to be in line with Kelley's Blue Book, but I'd hate to have to drop too much money on the bike to fix a serious problem. The upside is when I was leaving, the salesman was riding the bike back to the service department.
I know this isn't a lot of info but would you pass on this bike because of the oil leak? Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.
Regards,
Rich