Since I'm getting things off my chest about the bike, here are some other complaints I have found so far. I certainly don't want to discourage other buyers, and some of these might not be issues for anyone but me, but one of the reasons we have these forums is to discuss things we find about the bike, good and bad. So here' my list…in addition to the MAJOR gripe about the windshield, discussed elsewhere.
The grips are too small to be comfortable for my hands. I'm actually getting callouses on my hands from the grips, even when wearing heavy gloves! I replaced the Shadow's grips with Kuryakyn ISO grips, and may do the same thing on the 1300, especially now that they have
these cool black ones. I'm purposely trying to keep things more black than chrome on this bike, so this would be a good match. The only problem is that it would mean I couldn't get heated grips, but heated gloves or liners might work just as well.
The paint finish scuffs extremely easily and looks bad. Perhaps this is more of an issue with the black bike, as it is probably not going to be as noticeable on the other colors. But the bottom part of the fake tank is already badly scuffed just from my jeans rubbing against it, and I can't get rid of these with wax--I'm probably going to have to use plastic polish. I'm even considering getting one of those tank protectors like they use on racing bikes, though I'm not crazy about how they look. There are numerous scuffed areas all over the top surface of the bike; it seems to scuff if you touch it with ANYTHING. I am careful to use only microfiber cloths and the Honda spray cleaner on the bike, and some Meguiar's motorcycle wax. Keeping this bike looking good is going to take a LOT more effort than the Shadow did!
The fairing pockets are mostly useless. Big surprise, right? The left one can hold a mini garage door remote, but you wouldn't want to leave it in there anyway. I have a tin of Altoids, as I don't care if those get stolen. The right pocket has a section that goes down a few inches, but I have to position my phone at PRECISELY the right spot to make it work, and then it is hard to close the pocket lid if the phone is plugged into the USB cable. At this point I'm considering a RAM mount for the phone so I can use it more easily for navigation.
The cover over the battery is tricky to remove and almost impossible to replace; nothing lines up again once it has been taken off. This one is driving me crazy! The plastic tabs that are supposed to snap back into the fairing don't seem to work at all, at least for the two bottom ones. There is a good 1/4" gap, and the cover actually sticks up. I have tried multiple times to fix this but it just keeps happening. It looks terrible and is very frustrating. I'm trying to show off the bike to other people but this keeps me from doing that. It's possible that the bottom-most tab is damaged somewhat; does that mean I will have to order a replacement part every time I need to access the battery compartment?
The parts are put together with plastic retaining "rivets". Maybe this is common on bikes with a lot of plastic. I admit it does make it easier to get the parts off without a screwdriver, but those retainers are very easy to lose. I have lost one already (on the right side "inner panel", as it is called in the service manual) and the auto parts stores don't seem to stock any replacements in the same size. I may have to order a half-dozen or so of these just in case for future needs.
The side stand is in a weird place, is hard to engage, and it makes the bike lean too far to the left. In particular I was trying to clean the left chrome pipes and they were so close to the floor that I could not get to them. I finally put a thick phone book under the stand to get the bike upright enough to clean it. That side stand seems to be REALLY far back; I always have a hard time finding it and catching it with my boot heel. Maybe this will just take practice.
So that's my list so far. All picky things, I suppose, but they all detract from enjoyment of the bike. Perhaps I'm a bit too concerned with the appearance of the bike, but I have always kept mine clean and polished, as they are a prized possession and I am proud of them.
Your comments?
