My Dealer and possibly Honda Linked braking almost killed me yeseterday

Two weeks ago, after a spirited 250km ride, the REAR brakes failed on the bike, meaning pushing down, no resistance, no rear brake. Noticed a pool of brake fluid under the front wheel. Limped it to honda. It's a 2002, BTW.

The little piston like brace at the top of the left caliper had broken, and the caliper was moving, but i at least had some front braking.

Classic recall behavoir. Since my bike wasn't on the list, Honda agreed to foot the bill for the part (left caliper bracket), and I paid the one hour of labor. Fair i thought.

Picked up the bike yesterday, brought it to work (5 km in heavy traffic), afterward, I went riding in the early evening. At one point I noticed I HAD NO BRAKES AT ALL, no front or rear, all controls went limp.

Luckilly there was no traffic at this stretch, got off, slow'd the bike down and stopped it.

I look at the front brake, and the attached pictures will show how my dealer screwed up (bottom caliper bolt fell off).

Now, the question to my esteemed VFR guru's

WHY DOES THE REAR BRAKE DIE WHEN I EXPERIENCE ANY PROBLEM WITH MY FRONT LEFT BRAKE?

On a side note, the ABS light NEVER came on.

If that had happened 10 minutes earlier, I would have been seriously F**KED.

Seeing as i got my license a month ago, and this is like the 8th time I've been on my bike, I am kind shaken after having 2 brake failures in two weeks.

 

the rear brake is linked to the left front VIA that little piston as you call it.
As far as dealer, that is why I do all my own work on my bike.
WTF if that happened to me I prob would have gone to dealer and blew a total fit and then some. ( picturing running after mechanic w/ bat comes to mind )
I always do full ck of bike every 2 months ck all important bolts and drive line items as common pratice.

 

the problem is definitely with the dealer and not with the Honda- go back and chew some ass, you will at least get your hour of labor back (or should anyway since they could have easily gotten you killed) The reason you lose rear pedal is from the linked brakes- when you pull the f brake lever, or step on the rear brake pedal the pistons push the pads in until they contact the rotor, if the caliper is half off like yours was there is no rotor to stop the pistons from moving so you have excessive piston travel and a far longer throw at the lever and pedal. Hope that makes sense.

 

you mentioned recall - was there a recall on the LBS system??

 

It does. Just it's a safety feature that that let me down doesn't comfort me much.

I gave them a BOAT LOAD of crap. They're talking compensation.

I'll keep a small anchor handy to0...

 

i'll take a look to digg up the #.

It's the top part of the left caliper bracket.

03-04's i think the dealer said

 

Wow man. Glad to hear you're OK, first off.

My suggestion would be to have a very long talk with your dealer. As much as I'd like to respond with a bat as o2VFRrider suggests, I think you'll do better if you keep cool, calm and collected. Determine the course of action they are going to take; get the names of the mechanics, find out about their experience, how long they've been employed their, etc. Basically, get as much technical information as you can (including the shop service manager), then send a letter to the manager (and "cc" the owner of the dealership) outlining everything that has occurred to date and that was discussed.

In the event you purchased the bike from them, I'd outline all that too.

IMO, at the very least, they obviously need to fix this, and should reimburse you for the hour of labor you paid. That's a small token and doesn't change the events, but so what?

If they prove to be uncooperative, then you'll need to determine your next course of action. That could be contacting the BBB or writing Honda Corporate headquarters (another reason why you want to send a letter to your dealer. So if there is a problem with the local dealer, you can include a copy of your correspondence).

Hope it all works out for you. Good luck.

 

would not have hit him just chase him around shop to give him an idea of the rear I felt if I hit the brakes and got NOTHING.

 

Talk to Honda

 

+1 on that!

This is EXACTLY why I do ALL the work on my bike myself. I can screw it up just as they can. If I do, I have NO one to blame but myself.

IMO, that is just pure incompetence! Plain and simple. I know I could NOT keep my cool in this situation. I'd be with the bat too! This is your life we talking about. These are brakes, not a wrong colour of paint. Brakes are rather important. There would be a few sore asses in that dealership when I was done there.

And NO, they would NOT be fixing it. I'd be taking it somewhere else and THEY would be flipping the bill to have it fixed, correctly! Quite clearly, their technicians are incompetent. Even if the work was done by an apprentice, his/her work is suppose to be supervised and verified BEFORE the bike leaves the shop. They are liable for the work performed on the bike. Period.

I'm very glad and relieved you were not hurt because it could have definitely had a much worse outcome. And the dealership SHOULD KNOW THIS! These are brakes on a bike! WOW! I'm pissed just thinking about it.

Like HondaTech says, the mechanical problem may be with the bike right now.....for now....but it's NOT the design of the bike. It's the IDIOTS working on the bike. Good luck with the bike and keep us posted. And if things don't get worked out with the dealership, make sure you post their name and location so others here no where NOT to take their bikes. And make damn sure American Honda knows about this!

Good luck. Safe riding!

 

First off, I'm really glad your okay and I can hardly imaging the thought process when you realized you had no brakes. Definatley send a letter to Honda! Luckily everything turned out okay as far as your health is concerned BUT it could easily have been a totally different story! I also would want to know who worked on it, who (if anyone) checked the work... D@mn, as I write this I'm getting .

The VFR is a wonderful bike and please don't judge it's reliability by someone's COMPLETE incompetence as a mechanic!

 

This basically means you are never going to trust anyone else to work on your brakes ever again, without double-checking their work. My guess is that you'll also be buying a torque wrench.

If this were to ever happen again, keep on pumping the brakes. If you're lucky, the pads will still be in a position to catch the pistons, and pressure will eventually be restored after 4-5 pumps. If the pads are totally out of position, then all you'd accomplish is to eject your pistons and leak brake fluid everywhere. But it's worth a shot.

I'm glad you're all right. But not as glad as your dealer is... I wonder how you and your lawyer would have liked owning your very own Honda dealership had you had gotten seriously injured. I'd be seriously pissed if I were you, and I hope someone owns up to this and faces consequences.

 

Running into a dealership with a baseball bat looking for a mechanic is always a great idea whether they screwed up or not. If that tactic doesn't work, strap some C4 to your chest after they let you out of jail or the looneybin.

 

One more thing you might want to do is file a report with the governor's office of consumer affairs. When lifes are at stake they take these matters rather seriously and something could happen to another rider if this tech. keeps doing this kind of work. Glad to hear you are allright be safe and remember to carry an anchor with you next time

 

Porn Star

That mechanic would have been in an award winning porno with my boot porking him relentlessly in his ass!

 

Don't forget that you could have been killed and it would have been by someone else's negligence and not even a cager. You may want to take it easy on them and you probably already have because your a nice guy, but remember one thing.... unless you give them a reason to remember and start paying attention they won't. So for the sake of everyone else that goes in there with their bikes make sure they NEVER forget that they almost killed you.

 

The director

I will gladly donate my time to direct said movie if needed.

 

Wow, I wish I could say I can't believe they would send a bike out like that but sadly I can. I went through a lot of issues when I bought my car getting some agreed on repairs done. I kept having to drive into Portland to see the car and point out to them that it wasn't done or was done incorrectly.

Glad to hear you made it out ok though, and that they are talking compensation with you.

 

Sounds like a good case for emotional distress and a good lawyer should be able to have you enough cash for a new bike. But you should remain calm. Did you have the bike towed? I would have and if so get that money back too. Talk to the owner, general manager, service manager all at once with your invoice from them and pictures. Let us know how it comes out.