08-05-2017, 01:04 AM
I am no newbie to Motorcycles with 15 owned over the years, so I do not know if the two issues I have with my 2017 EX are mechanical adjustments or just getting used to a different bike. I traded in a Harley to get the EX. The Harley clutch started to grab with the lever about 1/4 inch off the grip. When I rode the EX home from the dealer, the clutch did not start to grab until the clutch lever was between 1/2 to 2/3 released. I also noticed slight up/down vibration on the front end that kicked in around 38 MPH. Back to the dealer, and dropped it off a week later, for the day. Now, my old High School motorcycle buddy has worked on every Honda imaginable over the years. He just bought a new 214 Standard. He told me he does a hydraulic flush and slave bleed every two years on his bikes, and since his new bike had sat for at least 3 years ( mine sat for about 5 months since manufacture ) he did a flush and bleed with new fluid. Afterwards, he said his clutch started to grab with the lever about 1/4 inch off the grip. I told the dealer about this. Picked my bike up and rode home. The dealers response was to set the clutch lever adjuster at the last setting, #5 ( it had been at the middle setting #3 ). The grab point has improved some, but still starts to grab at about half release of the lever. The front end up/down vibration, which is now even worse, was addressed by the dealer by setting the fork preload adjustment to the 4th ring which is even softer than the spec setting of 3rd ring on the adjuster, and letting 1 LB. of tire pressure out of both tires! I had just set both tire pressures at spec, cold the day before with a digital tire gauge. For some reason the fork preload factory setting is second ring on the adjuster for the Standard model, whereas the factory setting for my EX is the 3rd ring. So, is this a getting used to it situation, a dealer mechanic not doing the right thing, or both?