- Joined
- Feb 29, 2016
- Messages
- 1,422
- Reaction score
- 704
- Location
- Austin
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Morisoli
Well, seems like on the last Hill Country 500 when I was riding (or should I say high centering) on the larger log my Touratech skid plate decided to impale the bottom of my engine case causing a tiny pinhole oil leak. Not a big one, but enough to make a mess.
The silly thing is the stock skid plate wouldn't have caused the damage, it really is a bad design and I checked the web site today I see they no longer sell this first generation one and have a new design. Mine has a small stainless cage that mounts to the frame that provides some mounting points for the skid plate. There are 4 hex nuts welded to the cage and it was one of the hex nuts that when the tree pushed on the skid plate, it came in contact with the oil pan on the AT.
I called Touratech not to expect anything from them, more just to gauge their response. This is where I started to turn red in the face. The guy on the phone actually told me I should not be riding big adventure bikes off road, they are meant for gravel roads at the most and it was rider irresponsibility that caused the problem. He did pull up some pics and could see the hex nut but still insisted that adventure motorcycles are not built to be ridden like dirt bikes. Now I am worried that all of us are complete idiots for abusing our adventure bikes.
Anyway, the good news is Honda designed the bottom of the engine as a separate oil pan, so it is only about $300.00 for a replacement. I kept thinking of pulling out the engine and trying to split the cases, I would have sold it before I tried that. This is a simple 10 6MM bolts and a new gasket, good to go. All without pulling the engine.
I think I will do a little redesign of the cage before I put the skid plate on again.
Oh the guy did offer what he said was a smoking deal of 20% off the new design skid plate. But why would I need it if I am going to stick to gravel roads only from here on out! Not a big fan of Touratech right now, isn't their entire business model based on adventure bikes going off-road???
Lastly, no I don't typically let my bike get so gross and dirty, this is because it is an oil leak and dirt got stuck to it. I will clean everything before I really dig into the repair
The silly thing is the stock skid plate wouldn't have caused the damage, it really is a bad design and I checked the web site today I see they no longer sell this first generation one and have a new design. Mine has a small stainless cage that mounts to the frame that provides some mounting points for the skid plate. There are 4 hex nuts welded to the cage and it was one of the hex nuts that when the tree pushed on the skid plate, it came in contact with the oil pan on the AT.
I called Touratech not to expect anything from them, more just to gauge their response. This is where I started to turn red in the face. The guy on the phone actually told me I should not be riding big adventure bikes off road, they are meant for gravel roads at the most and it was rider irresponsibility that caused the problem. He did pull up some pics and could see the hex nut but still insisted that adventure motorcycles are not built to be ridden like dirt bikes. Now I am worried that all of us are complete idiots for abusing our adventure bikes.
Anyway, the good news is Honda designed the bottom of the engine as a separate oil pan, so it is only about $300.00 for a replacement. I kept thinking of pulling out the engine and trying to split the cases, I would have sold it before I tried that. This is a simple 10 6MM bolts and a new gasket, good to go. All without pulling the engine.
I think I will do a little redesign of the cage before I put the skid plate on again.
Oh the guy did offer what he said was a smoking deal of 20% off the new design skid plate. But why would I need it if I am going to stick to gravel roads only from here on out! Not a big fan of Touratech right now, isn't their entire business model based on adventure bikes going off-road???
Lastly, no I don't typically let my bike get so gross and dirty, this is because it is an oil leak and dirt got stuck to it. I will clean everything before I really dig into the repair