[SouraC]

Hello Everyone, I need urgent help.

Both the wheel rim of my bike got damaged by a pothole (I still don't understand how) although air pressure was as per recommendation.

I argued with the service centre about why it got damaged by a not so dangerous pothole and I really never expected it can damage the rims and asked for a warranty claim for manufacturing quality issue, but they forced me to claim it from insurance.

Now the bike is with service for almost 1 month (from 14/05/2023) as the parts are not available. Logging a call with Honda has not helped at all.

Can't take it out of service as the Insurance claim will get rejected.

Can anyone help with any contact in Honda India who can help in this regard.

Attaching the picture of the damage

[gharika]

I had a similar damage on my 2014 Duke 390, there was no air leak and the alignment was good so I kept using it as such for many years before I sold it. It will be hard to get warranty for damage due to an impact, it's not considered normal to drive into potholes , availability of parts is a totally different issue.

[Axe77]

This is definitely an insurance issue and not a warranty issue. But its really disappointing that even for a mass market product like this, Honda is not able to immediately provide replacement rims. Alloy wheels bending is not unusual at all, specially in our conditions and for Honda to not sport ready inventory of such parts really is inexplicable.

This is my principle gripe with Honda on their premium bikes but I’m shocked to see it extends to their mass market offerings as well. Perhaps escalate this via twitter or something in the hope of resolution although knowing Honda, not sure whether they will even care.

Worst case scenario, please consider whether you’d want to get the rims “fixed” / straightened if they are damaged within tolerance limits of such a repair job. Not ideal I suppose but this is not an uncommon solution and one you may want to consider if there is simply no assurance from your SVC on availability.

[dinu2506]

Actually, these bends can be easily repaired by alloy wheel specialists. I had the same issue on my Bonnie in the front rim. There was no leak so I continued using it for 3 years. When it was time to change the tire, I anyway got the bend also removed by a local specialist. They have rotary machines that push out the rims and make it true. Working perfectly for the last two years.

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by SouraC

Hello Everyone, I need urgent help.
Both the wheel rim of my bike got damaged by a pothole (I still don't understand how) although air pressure was as per recommendation.
I argued with the service centre about why it got damaged by a not so dangerous pothole and I really never expected it can damage the rims and asked for a warranty claim for manufacturing quality issue, but they forced me to claim it from insurance.

How did you go about damaging both the rims at the same time?

Arguments about small/medium/large or dangerous/non-dangerous potholes go out of window as no-one can quantify those - it could be hit to road side kerb or rock as well or it could be the speed you were carrying while hitting the pothole. You will have to settle for insurance in this case.

Honda not stocking rims is big concern - are these specific to 300F?

[SouraC]

It's been 40 days and my 4 months old CB300F is lying in the service centre due to non-availability of spares.

Originally Posted by gharika

I had a similar damage on my 2014 Duke 390, there was no air leak and the alignment was good so I kept using it.

The alignment is damaged and the bike is pulling to the left that's why I was forced to send it to the service centre.

Originally Posted by Axe77

This is definitely an insurance issue and not a warranty issue. But its really disappointing that even for a mass market product like this, Honda is not able to immediately provide replacement rims. Alloy wheels bending is not unusual at all, specially in our conditions and for Honda to not sport ready inventory of such parts really is inexplicable.

I understood that it should be an insurance issue and not a warranty claim.
But, I was using an Unicorn for 18+ years and never faced this kind of quality issue or unavailability of parts. Which was the main reason to continue with Honda.
I seriously doubt the quality of these new bikes.

Originally Posted by dinu2506

Actually, these bends can be easily repaired by alloy wheel specialists. I had the same issue on my Bonnie in the front rim. There was no leak so I continued using it for 3 years. When it was time to change the tire,

This is a 3 months old bike and for which Honda has given an extended warranty to support it for 5 years.
My concern is if they are unable to support me in 3 months how am I going to keep the faith for 5 years and think of recommending Honda BigWing bike to others.

Originally Posted by ToThePoint

How did you go about damaging both the rims at the same time?

Honda not stocking rims is big concern - are these specific to 300F?

I was asked about the same by the insurance surveyor. I told him that I was behind a car in the left lane and it suddenly moved right. I was riding in around 60kmph and there was a car beside me so there was no option to avoid.

I don't think the problem is with 300F alone but all the BigWing bikes, as I have seen Hness and CB350rs owners also waiting for consumable parts like brake pad and chain sprocket.

Seems like Honda is happy dealing with mass market products like Activa and SP125.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, SouraC! Moving your post out to a new thread. A new thread means 100X the views & 100X the visibility in search engines, including Google. Will add to homepage later this week .

@ BHPians, if you should spot any good post in an existing thread that deserves its own new thread, please report the post and we'll move it out for greater visibility.

Thank you!

[Samba]

This is absolutely not done.
This clearly shows Honda is not at-all bothered about their premium customers.

They are happy selling the mass market products like the Activa and the Sp125.
Taking more than 40+ days to arrange the rims is plain ridiculous.

If a person buys a bike, and due to the companies negligence, the bike is depreciating in the service center for this long period, and the owner has to spend his money on cabs or his car fuel for his daily commutes, is Honda going to compensate for this loss? Leaving the mental harassment after buying a brand new bike aside.

I will suggest you to go to the consumer forum and file a complaint.

I saw this Tweet of yours, & what a lame reply from Honda!
If a person gets the solution from BigWing, why will he tag Honda!

[Malliketh]

Pathetic state of Honda vehicles. This is definitely not the first such incident I have read on T-BHP in recent months. As swayed as I may get by the Japanese allure of buttery engines and magnificent engineering, at the end of the day what good are they if they're stuck in service centers instead of our roads?

Given premium pricing relative to the market, no customer should be put through such an ordeal, especially for a 3 month old bike. Do keep the thread updated once you hear a resolution.

Would suggest you check with other service centers around you directly on the parts availability to get a ground check of how scarce your replacement part is. Good luck.

[surfatwork]

The Big Wing centres seem to have a serious shortage of replacement parts. I had an accident last year and needed some replacements. Took an inordinately long time for the same reason. This was in Kochi.

[mh09ad5578]

Originally Posted by SouraC

Hello Everyone, I need urgent help.


Attaching the picture of the damage

Just an input , on one of the rides a brand new Street GLide suffered the same issue, the air actually started leaking from the bent rim, it was rectified by just figuratively light taps by a wooden mallet, I know this shouldn't have happened but I think this could have been rectified quite easily.

[VijayAnand1]

Please do note, brake pad, tires, to an extent tire rim, unless there's an inherent paint decay and inherent manufacturing defect, most manufacturers don't comply to the claim contested by the owners. From what I fathom, in your case, both the wheels have been midly bent, lo and behold you could have unknowingly run over a pothole that would have caused this, without which there is 200% probability that this isn't happening on both wheels at the same time.

What I would suggest is, there are alloy wheel mending shops, where they heat the beads of the tire mildly and then hammer it to bring to its shape and spray paint it, so that it looks new. If you're looking for a replacement, I am cent percent sure, the company wouldn't honor a warranty, in very rare cases a goodwill maybe, but that's again rare but happens. Take this is a, you live and learn lesson. Get the bike from the showroom, try claiming insurance, pay whatever you have to pay extra, get the new wheels and move on..

If not, mend the rims at your local shop and life goes on this way. At least, you get to ride your bike, sans insurance headache and also the fear of your bike being subject to potential mishandle in the showroom itself.

Good luck to you.

Cheers!
VJ

[manojsolanki87]

Hi. I own a 2020 cb350.

I have a great experience from owning this bike leaving one or two instances

1.Very serious power loss felt during my visit to zanskar.This was later rectified with an ecu update.
2. Bending of rims - although I never faced this problem with my bike,but I know atleast 10 bike owners who faced this. This problem has two aspects to it
2(a).Till date Honda is using the same alloys in cb350 and rs even after so many complaints.This speaks so much about their Japanese work ethics and importance they give to customer satisfaction.
2(b).Clarity regarding wether alloys are covered under insurance cover or not. I have a strong inclination svc staff are hand in gloves with the surveyor to inflate insurance bills.

But I have only bitter experiences from after-sales from Honda especially from Honda Bigwing svc Gurugram.

1. Received bike after 3 months following an accident. This was due to shortage of parts. Even common parts like brake pads, shocks are in short supply.
2. Overcharging for spare parts and labour charge. One can always contact any other bigwing svc to compare the prices for sprocket change or clutch plate change for example.The difference can run upto few thousand rupees.

Honda is just interested in milking new customers or making existing ones upgrade to bigger bikes. With new models being launched on cb350 platform, I bother that wether HONDA is selling them with these shitty alloys.

[Starkiller]

Honda isn't what it used to be. They don't care about their customers and keep asking them to write to Honda support and then conveniently ignore the support requests. I have a Hornet 2.0 and the quality of spare parts is abysmal to say the least. Get the wheels repaired from outside if you can or buy over the counter from spare parts dealers and get the wheels replaced if you can. As far as I know, these wheels are from Endurance and you might be able to find them at Honda spare parts dealers.

Use this bike for as long as you can and then get rid of it. The bike may be good but a good worker that keeps falling sick is almost as bad as a bad worker who shows up regularly. And honestly, get the Speed 400 or X440. Both are good bikes if hearsay is to be believed.

[Thamps]

From my personal experience on a similar issue, I would suggest, repair the alloy at your expense and move on.
Wheels and tyres are a grey area since both the service centre and insurance guys can blame each other and make it the other party's responsibility.
Mine had no bends.It was just leaking air from the sides. I ended up buying a spare alloy from my pocket for my pulsar 250 and later on insurance rejected my claim.
Funny thing is, the spare alloy also had the same issue and i ended up repairing the old one and now using it for past 6 months without any issue.