CRACKED FRAMES

[GoldWingrGreg]

This showed up on FB. The owner says he's turning it over to his insurance company. I beleive it's a 2018.

[Rambozo]

Seems like old times.

[GoldWingrGreg]

Apparently becasue of other damage, his insurance company declined his claim, so the owner paid to have it welded. Apparently it was not welded on the inside too, so I doubt the repair will hold.

[WingAdmin]

Steel bends with overstress, it takes an awful lot to get it to yield and crack. Aluminum develops internal stresses until it just cracks, no bending, no warning.

I wonder how much of this is "new bike, new unexpected stresses" - kind of like the first generation GL1800?

[two_wheeled]

You mentioned his insurance wouldn't cover it because of "other damage".
What is the "other damage"?

[newday777]

Apparently becasue of other damage, his insurance company declined his claim, so the owner paid to have it welded. Apparently it was not welded on the inside too, so I doubt the repair will hold.

So why didn't you divulge there was other damage with the first post? Was it caused in an accident? Or are you saying there is concern of cracking frames from poor welds as per the 01-04 frames had??? Please be forthcoming in your posts. You've done posts like this in the past and it is not good on your part.

[GoldWingrGreg]

Others on FB are now indicating that there is a 6th gen Wing out there that's often rode off road, and that it might be this one.

If the insurance company declined a claim because of other damage, who knows what the "rest of the story" really is ???

[GoldWingrGreg]

So why didn't you divulge there was other damage with the first post? Was it caused in an accident? Or are you saying there is concern of cracking frames from poor welds as per the 01-04 frames had??? Please be forthcoming in your posts. You've done posts like this in the past and it is not good on your part.

Instead of blaming me for what you read, why not try doing one of these ??? Re-read my post, word for word, and take everything I wrote for nothing more then what I wrote ... keep in mind that I'm reporting about something that I read on FB ... nothing more, nothing less. Another option is to become more informed and follow more FB pages dedicated to the GW world. That way you might find that others are reporting the same. Another opion is to become more involved and ask questions instead of pointing fingers.

Also ... just so you know ... I often write front page news. Just like the news that hits the front page of a news paper, for me I may or may not like what I read, and I may or may not agree with it. And just like front page news, there might be more updates that come later.

Last, is doing this. If you don't like reading what I write, hopefully there's a way for you to block me ... if not, just move on !!!

[GoldWingrGreg]

You mentioned his insurance wouldn't cover it because of "other damage".
What is the "other damage"?

As of today, the owner has not said.

[Eboness]

The 2nd group of pictures I 1st saw in another popular GL1800 site and the owner stated he rides his 2018 as a daily rider and as his only form of transportation. I don't know if he was implying that riding his 2018 as his only form of transportation, all the time, was the cause on the cracking. However the way I read it he did not take it for repair to the dealer but to an aluminum welder for the repair. I would assume it's out of warranty by now or not as I don't know. A few riders reported no issues with their 2018 or newer and it was asked if Honda is aware of this possible issue. I'm sure riders of the 2018 and newer will be checking their wing more thoroughly now.

[Ohiobiker43078]

Aluminum welds that are done correctly and without porosity from contamination do not crack within the welds themselves.
Even a crashed or abused bike won't have cracked welds.
The aluminum will crank/ break beside the weld.

[Rambozo]

Aluminum welds that are done correctly and without porosity from contamination do not crack within the welds themselves.
Even a crashed or abused bike won't have cracked welds.
The aluminum will crank/ break beside the weld.

That's exactly what that one photo looks like. Can't see if there was any undercut at the edge of the weld. That can cause a stress riser and will fail most aerospace weld tests.

[LARider]

I read about this issue last week on FB as well. The bike is a 2019. The way I understood the entire thread which was quite long and quite a few people asking questions was that the owner”in his thinking” did not wanna take his bike to the Honda dealer for them to see the crack because they would make him surrender the bike for an extended period of time to investigate, since it was his only means of transportation for his work. He contacted his insurance provider progressive and had an adjuster to look at the crack. The adjuster found NO signs of damage to the bike frame or to the bike that could have resulted in the frame to crack. The adjuster said that Honda was at fault. Insurance did not cover any cost or offer to repair the bike. The owner of the bike ended up having someone weld the frame back so he could continue to ride the bike daily. On down the post a day or 2 after the initial post a guy from over seas claimed to have seen two other 2019 bikes have the same crack on the frame from the UK and Germany. No other updates have been mentioned since with the USA bike or the 2 bikes over seas.

[kwthom]

I read about this issue last week on FB as well. The bike is a 2019. The way I understood the entire thread which was quite long and quite a few people asking questions was that the owner”in his thinking” did not wanna take his bike to the Honda dealer for them to see the crack because they would make him surrender the bike for an extended period of time to investigate, since it was his only means of transportation for his work. <...>

I'm not disputing the reporting, but I am disputing the owner's rationale in doing what he did.

Sure, he's gonna be out of a bike for several months. The *only* positive in the whole situation is that, you'd have to take it to a dealer first, but I think (did I understand this is in or around So. Calif?) I would force the hand of Honda and have them take the bike directly to Torrance, and the North American Honda Headquarters.

I certainly would have tried to negotiate the use of a loaner (from corporate, not from a dealer...) while the corporate wizards do their root cause analysis.

It was quite the tear-down effort for the '02 - '03 recall effort; this one looks to be just as bad to properly access the frame for rework and repair efforts.

[Navy Gator]

@goldwingrgreg

I know the owner of the bike with the cracked frame. He is here in San Diego.

What wasn't disclosed on FB is that the bike was on the back of an RV, came loose, and was partially hanging off the bike rack for a while as the RV bounced down the road.

[two_wheeled]

Thank you for clarifying what happened.
This bit of info at the start would have kept a lot of people from jumping to unneeded conclusions that their frames were at risk of coming apart.

[GoldWingrGreg]

@goldwingrgreg

I know the owner of the bike with the cracked frame. He is here in San Diego.

What wasn't disclosed on FB is that the bike was on the back of an RV, came loose, and was partially hanging off the bike rack for a while as the RV bounced down the road.

Because he filed an insurance claim, I was sure something like that was gonna be the case.

[Asphaltmaniac]

@goldwingrgreg

I know the owner of the bike with the cracked frame. He is here in San Diego.

What wasn't disclosed on FB is that the bike was on the back of an RV, came loose, and was partially hanging off the bike rack for a while as the RV bounced down the road.

So the bike isnt his only daily transportation since he has an RV?