Rapidly mounting costs of owning a PCX!

London-PCX · Post by **London-PCX** » Sat May 11, 2013 10:48 am

Greetings to any that read this.
Bought my PCX 125 just under three years ago and have commuted in and out of Central London (35 miles per day) and been a HUGE fan of the nippy, light, cheap commuter.
However ...
Having now looked back on all service receipts and seeing 3 x services per year, 3 x punctures requiring new tyres, 2 x tyre replacements due to wear (currently at 16500 miles) and todays ridiculous disaster, which is the cause of me looking at the costs of owning one of these ...
Centre stand was badly jammed up as bike has been standing under cover for about a month due to ANOTHER puncture and the lack of funds to have it replaced at the time, so been riding my Varadero for the past month as busy doing DAS full licence, so Varadero for geared practice was aquired.
Took the PCX to service centre for service this morning as well as rear tyre replacement and mentioned the jammed stand - a pressure wash, brush clean and attempted lubrication allowed fairly easy on/off stand, but when "off" it still had about 2 inches to be entirely "off/up" and that required extremely difficult pulling by hand ...
Anyway, long story short, service centre called eralier to say that in trying to loosen up the stand, the engine crank casing has split and now have oil leak.
They will be calling Honda on Monday to look at "options" - but quick research from me into the 10 hour entire engine strip required to get to the stand etc, means a potentially EXTREMELY expensive scenario here.
About to look for my warranty bits and bobs, but pretty sure warranty was for 1 or 2 years MAX?
Aside from what could end up being a charge of many hundreds of pounds for this pathetic design flaw, I have spent almost £3000 on services and tyres in 3 years.
Probably could have shopped around for cheapest servicing options (I used the dealers service centre for initial warranty sakes) - but still, in my little world, the PCX is becoming a case of cheap to buy, cheap to run, but EXPENSIVE to maintain.
Mod 2 for my DAS full licence this week coming and although I can't believe I am saying this having sworn all along that my PCX would be all I ever want/need to commute ... I will be selling it and the Varadero to buy a CB500F - with potential 75-80MPG fuel consumption and servicing every 8000 miles rather than 2500, the maths is fairly simple.
Sorry for first post to be a bit of a hissy rant, but I am now actually fed up with the £200+ services every four months, fairly costly tyre jobs due to limited tyre options and now the beginnings of poor design issues creeping in.
Off to sulk some more!

gn2 · Post by **gn2** » Sat May 11, 2013 11:32 am

Seized up stand can only be down to one thing.
Lack of use.
Used regularly the problem just would not have arisen.
I always use my centrestand, never the sidestand.
Pressure washer: FFS NO! NEVER EVER EVER USE A PRESSURE WASHER ON A SCOOTER OR MOTORBIKE!!!
Pivots in the crankcase is bad design though, it should pivot on the frame.
Given that the service centre broke the casings, its down to them to fix the damage they caused...?
If they and/or Honda flat refuse to sort it for you, a possible option is to ditch the stand and patch the case leak with Belzona or similar.
http://www.belzona.co.uk/prod1k.aspx
Punctures.
You've been bum raped.
Most punctures can be fixed.
To have three in a row that need a new tyre is almost unheard of.
Even so, a tyre is roughly £40 these days, so not too awful if you fit it yourself.
Services.
You've been bum raped again, I've never paid anywhere near that and I get a loan bike for the day as well.
But generally speaking yes, if you use the thing a lot and keep to the service schedule it costs a lot more to run than it really should.
Wouldn't surprise me at all if Honda refuse to help out with the crankcase repairs.

London-PCX · Post by **London-PCX** » Sat May 11, 2013 12:35 pm

@Pressure washer - true, true ... I only used the washer as I had been struggling to clean with muc-off etc underneath the stand to try to loosen it up a bit, but point taken - and yes, the gumming up would have been from lack of use as the bike has been on the stand for about a month now in my driveway under a bike tent.

Yeah, I am hoping the service centre are going to take/admit the responsibility ... the phone call was really just to let me know that the bike would not be ready today and that they are going to be speaking to Honda, which I would hope/assume means they are going to try to get Honda to foot some sort of responsibility, so I didn't get into any cost covering exchanges over the phone.

@Belzona option - thanks for the tip, I will look into it as if Mondays news is that the cost is mine, there is NO WAY that I will be willing to pay circa 10hrs labour at the sort of rate they charge.
I have been the sucker all along by just sticking to them for services and tyres etc rather than shopping around ... which, to be fair, does make a large portion of my initial hissy-fit posting a case of my own bed making as such.

I think the PCX is an awesome commuter and I am still torn between the idea of moving to a geared bike etc when I have proven day in day out how nippy they are in London traffic ... without referring to speed or idiotic hell raiser driving, time and time again I have seen 600cc+ bikes at the first set of lights near my house and then pulled up behind them again 15miles later at the Vauxhall bridge ... and muttered to myself at the pointlessness of ANYTHING more than a PCX for commuting in London traffic.

At the end of the day I should really just be looking to bring £700 per year's worth of servicing and £140 for a tyre change down ... I was under the impression it would be a major mission to get the rear wheel off by myself?? ... but to be honest, it would not be rocket science to do the basic services myself and then just take the bike to the dayjob mechanics to do the valve clearance type services etc, so if I were doing ONE "costly" service per year, I would certainly be whizzing my little grey rocket to and from work for many years to come!

For what it is worth, I will report back here with what the end result is on Monday.

Cheers for the advice.

gn2 · Post by **gn2** » Sat May 11, 2013 2:34 pm

Rear wheel off is a doddle, takes minutes.
Undo & remove the two exhaust header nuts, undo the silencer bolts, undo the wheelnut, undo the three A-bracket bolts.
Wiggle the wheel off.

V4 TRV · Post by **V4 TRV** » Sat May 11, 2013 3:51 pm

you must have BMW Park Lane doing your servicing !

£55 last time for me. Price around ffs

Alibally · Post by **Alibally** » Sat May 11, 2013 4:27 pm

Don't know what they did for £200 for a service. Probably checking the valve clearances. Mine where about £65. I do them myself now but I did get a service manual. Not really required to do them but handy for torque settings etc. It's worth looking at YouTube as well on how to take wheels off , belt changes and such like. If your unsure about anything ask the guys on the forum, most info is very helpful and you won't be stuck.

Alibally · Post by **Alibally** » Sat May 11, 2013 4:41 pm

I can recommend Belzona and have used it very successfully in the past. Other liquid metals such a JB weld are also good. It slower curing ones tend to be a little stronger than the quicker ones though. The only thing is that it has to be spotlessly clean and de- greased to seal properly. If its a crankcase has oil in it this can be not so easy unless its drained properly.
I believe maddiedog you runs this forum also had center stand problems and got a new crankcase under warranty but I don't know how old it was at the time.

London-PCX · Post by **London-PCX** » Sat May 11, 2013 4:52 pm

Thanks to all for advice etc - clearly been had for past few years.
Got just about every tool in existence in sheds, grew up with a father who had me helping him strip motor car engines right down to big end bearings etc ... but for some entirely unfathomable reason, with the PCX being my first motorcycle, I have begrudgingly taken the bike back to the same service center every 2500 miles, biting my lip when swiping the debit card and foolishly telling myself that I would "regret" figuring out how to do it myself and/or going "cheap" ... but for the love of all things living --- £55 - £65 makes a mockery out of what I have been forking out.
And to make things worse, hearing these figures makes me an even bigger sucker for just sticking with them!
Sheez - my tyre replacement invoices show 2 - 2.5hrs labour and was told they have to take entire back end fairings etc off to get to wheel etc.
This is becoming a bleeding Watchdog case!
Many thanks to all as once I get through this center stand thing my PCX world changes AND the title of this thread becomes mis-directed slander!
Perhaps I can ask a moderator to rename it to "Rapidly mounting costs of being screwed".
Cheers till Monday

you you · Post by **you you** » Sat May 11, 2013 6:24 pm

It's scooter. How much you want it up the @rse is up to you

cessna151 · Post by **cessna151** » Sun May 12, 2013 10:32 am

It's scooter. How much you want it up the @rse is up to you

agreed!

Do yourself a huge favor and get the service manual. Paying for service every 2500 miles is a joke.

About the center stand, i hardly ever use it but mine works just fine. I store my bike outside under a cover. Sounds like something else going on.

If the shop broke your crank case they will cover the repair. If they don't, i'm not sure how the legal system works over there but, you should have some sort of legal recourse.

gn2 · Post by **gn2** » Sun May 12, 2013 4:52 pm

cessna151 wrote:About the center stand, i hardly ever use it but mine works just fine. I store my bike outside under a cover. Sounds like something else going on.

For about four months every year UK roads are deliberately coated with a mixture of salt and molasses.

Taz · Post by **Taz** » Sun May 12, 2013 9:49 pm

But the PCX is built/tested in Thailand where 30 degrees C is a cold day up a mountain.

London-PCX · Post by **London-PCX** » Mon May 13, 2013 4:59 am

Still waiting updates as weekend staff not in at SC this morning.
Downloaded exploded parts view PDF this morning and will definitely be looking for a service manual for the future.
Found a few in the US so far and quite happy to get from there ... any UK comments about local sources for a service manual?
Cheers

brains_t · Post by **brains_t** » Mon May 13, 2013 2:46 pm

London-PCX wrote:Still waiting updates as weekend staff not in at SC this morning.
Downloaded exploded parts view PDF this morning and will definitely be looking for a service manual for the future.
Found a few in the US so far and quite happy to get from there ... any UK comments about local sources for a service manual?
Cheers

You can have mine for £20, as new condition.

Alibally · Post by **Alibally** » Mon May 13, 2013 3:50 pm

brains_t wrote:
London-PCX wrote:Still waiting updates as weekend staff not in at SC this morning.
Downloaded exploded parts view PDF this morning and will definitely be looking for a service manual for the future.
Found a few in the US so far and quite happy to get from there ... any UK comments about local sources for a service manual?
Cheers
You can have mine for £20, as new condition.

Bargain. You won't get one any cheaper than that.

you you · Post by **you you** » Mon May 13, 2013 5:16 pm

Taz wrote:But the PCX is built/tested in Thailand where 30 degrees C is a cold day up a mountain.

Oh feck off

London-PCX · Post by **London-PCX** » Tue May 14, 2013 3:37 am

brains_t wrote: You can have mine for £20, as new condition.

I'll take it!

Trying to find the PM features (perhaps I cannot PM yet?), so in the meantime how/what/when/where can we hook up?

Cheers

brains_t · Post by **brains_t** » Tue May 14, 2013 11:45 am

London-PCX wrote:
brains_t wrote: You can have mine for £20, as new condition.
I'll take it!

Trying to find the PM features (perhaps I cannot PM yet?), so in the meantime how/what/when/where can we hook up?

Cheers

PM'd you

cessna151 · Post by **cessna151** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:04 am

i know you can't send PMs until the 15 post limit (which ought to be 1 or 2 posts) but i'm not sure if you can receive PMs before the 15 post limit.

London-PCX · Post by **London-PCX** » Thu May 16, 2013 4:05 am

brains_t wrote: PM'd you

Received and responded - thanks!

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