From: forestel@oasys.dt.navy.mil (J. Lauren Forestell)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: ST1100 Owners - Repost
Date: 1 Oct 92 13:20:58 GMT
Reply-To: forestel@oasys.dt.navy.mil (J. Lauren Forestell)
Organization: David Taylor Model Basin



My husband bought a brand new '90 ST1100 the last week in December 91 
because he wanted a black one.  He has since put ~15,000 miles on
it.  Likes the bike a lot except for two things:
a clunk when he takes off from a stop... sometimes (took it into the 
dealer, they took it apart, replaced some parts, still there's a clunk) 
and what has become major problem - numb hands due to excessive vibration.
He tends to cruise at 3000-4000 rpm (60-80 mph) and noticed after a 
while his hands start to buzz. His daily commute is 30 miles each way, 
but when he went on a business trip that was 700 miles each way he said 
his hands numbed out so badly that he has never recovered.  His hands 
became sensitized and are getting worse.

When he met up with another ST1100 owner, the first thing out of the 
new acquaintance's mouth was, did he notice his hands getting numb?  
The other ST owner knew yet another guy with the same problem. Well, 
he contacted the dealer where he bought the bike and they arranged for 
the Honda Tech Rep to come talk to the ST owners.  Unfortunately one 
guy couldn't make it (hey, it was the Friday before Labor Day, how's 
that for timing) and because the tech rep was an hour and a half late 
(!) the other guy left just before the tech rep arrived.  Anyhow, the 
tech rep said he rode Byrum's bike for 30 miles. (Gave him a piece of 
paper stating that he rode the bike and that the vibration was nothing 
more than what should be expected.)  The Honda guy said he noticed a 
vibration, but that it was characteristic performance for the model. 
No apologies, no explanations.

The Honda guy wanted to know what kind of bikes Byrum had owned before 
(the last couple: 1983 Sabre (106,000 miles) and a 1975 CB750 (103,000 
miles, a couple of race bikes in between) and was told that the last 
two presented no similar problems, that the only other bike he'd ever 
owned that numbed his hands was his first, his 1965 CB305, which he 
owned in the early 70s, when he was in college The tech rep suggested 
perhaps holding the bars differently. (Do YOU think that would be helpful?! 
C'mon. Get real.)

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to find other ST owners who may 
have experienced this problem. When you spend those kinds of bucks on 
this kind of motorcycle you shouldn't expect your hands to be vibrated 
into numbness like on the bikes of yesteryear. Since the tech rep was 
pretty non-responsive and had nothing to offer except his presence, 
Byrum wants to get their attention and generate some pressure on Honda 
because the Big Guys tend to only respond to numbers. Please respond 
by e-mail.

To those of you (4 or 5 of you guys) who responded to the original post, 
thanks a lot, my husband has composed responses to you which I haven't 
gotten around to sending yet, but they will be forth-coming.

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Lauren Forestel            |  What, me worry?     | AMA #663798
forestel@oasys.dt.navy.mil |   - Alfred E. Neuman | WERA Ex.#19, retired
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