Rebel 1100 Aftermarket Defective Tire

[@jamescampolo7824]

Hi Gus, I read a bunch of the comments here and I agree. If you have the time, you should take this issue to the Honda District Manager that oversees the dealers. 99%, if not all dealers are franchises (independently owned). It is possible that you may get some sort of compensation for your efforts. I wouldn't just settle with acknowledgement from the dealer that they Fd up.

[@ontherebel11]

Hi James, Thank you for your empathy, this particular bike isn't mine but that particular dealership lost my friend's future business.....

[@LinkFelton]

100% on the shop if there was no wobble present prior. Typically means the tire was not balanced properly or half-assed. This is coming from someone who took a Mechanic class and balanced plenty of tired. No way you have issues with your bike itself if they weren't present prior to the new tire.

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Link, well said brother! This is exactly what we told them but they were trying to swindle crazy money out of my friend..... we went to a different shop, bought a different tire just to go back to the first dealership for them to accept a defective tire smh

[@ontherebel11]

@@TheDogGoesWoof69 Forgive my ignorance, i am having a hard time understanding your comment, is it dark humor or is it out of line?

[@jamescampolo7824]

Steering head bearings won't make it wobble. If you have bad steering head (tripple tree/tripple clamp) bearings, you will notice one of a few things. If the bearing are wore or adjusted too loose, when you hit the front brake, you will feel a "clunk" as the shaft shifts due to it being loose. If the bearings are "bad", you will feel a lumppy, grinding when you turn. If they are adjust too tight, it will be harder than normal to turn the forks. One time I bought a bike from a guy that was a maintenance freak and he thought that the tighter the better on everything. He tightened the tripple clamp so tight that there were divits in the bearing races. When you turned the forks you could feel the divits so I replaced the bearings and races. On the same bike, (which I got real cheap but looked imaculate) the clutch slipped. The guy thought that tightening the clutch adjustment was the way to go. Zero free play in the clutch. Adjusted the clutch and rode it another 20kmiles. Finess and tact is required when ever working on any machine.

[@jamescampolo7824]

The shop manual doesn't show common sense.

[@sgtace]

steering heads been known to make wobble yamaha bolt, they made some silly design decisions and it's partially made out of plastic that wears out I've never heard about honda steering head bearings being broken tho, if gus says it's tire it must be tire.

[@jamescampolo7824]

@@sgtace I agree that it must be the tire. It is either not molded right or mounted right. I've had many many bikes, Hondas, Kaws, and BMW. I had two Hondas with steering head issues but they didn't cause a wobble, one "clunked" when braking because it was loose and the other was "stiff" and "jerky" because it was tightened too much and the bearing races were damaged.

[@ontherebel11]

You are correct, however convincing the dealership that they are wrong about their diagnosis required some work.... including installing my front wheel on this bike... the tire was deformed, defective, it happens even on cars tbh

[@jamescampolo7824]

@@ontherebel11 Could you imagine how much they would have charged you to diagnose their screw up. (and then maybe not admit to it).

[@johnmitchell9705]

My bike was wobble free when new however it now has a wobble over certain road surfaces. I have checker the front end and all is good. I suppose it is possible retorquing the steering head bolt could work? However I plan to replace the tires before the next tour. I've noticed the stock tires do not grip in the rain is well as Michelin tires on my Sportster.

[@ontherebel11]

Hi John! I'm sorry to hear about your wobble brother, i hope it is a result of a defective tire like in this scenario. Michelin tire are fantastic!!!

[@QuasiMotard]

Bent wheel or just a bad tire? It could also be improperly seated at the bead. I'd spin it on a static balance stand to see if the bead is not concentric or if there is any lateral runout in the tire... could be a separated belt. 🤔

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Quasi!!! Thankfully it was the new Tire, as soon as we changed it, it disappeared.

[@SLIGHT_]

Gus do you have a static balancer? If so I’d recommend rechecking that balance. Possible a weight fell off? Or it wasn’t balanced properly (you just did the wheel bearings so that shouldn’t be it). At times a bad tire (shifted belt) can do this as well. Yet I’d be shocked if that was a head bearing issue. (Low mileage with a huge difference between tire changes only? If it was a head bearing issue you would have had this issue before.

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Slight, this is a friend's bike, The dealership was trying to swindle money out of my friend.... We went to a different shop and ordered a different tire so that we could go back to the first dealership for them to finally accept responsibility and process the refund.... crazy...

[@SLIGHT_]

@@ontherebel11 wow I just realized this was not your bike… lol I mean even the color is different lol. Oops. so it was fixed after that tire was replaced?

[@ontherebel11]

@SLIGHT_ immediately! They were giving my friend the runaround.... They took $$$ to "Tighten" the steering stem nut...... And then said they have to replace the bearings since it didn't fix the problem.... Yeah, long frustrating story behind it.

[@tkstylem]

@@ontherebel11crazy stuff... your friend is really lucky to have you

[@ontherebel11]

@tkstylem thank you T! It's all about our community and helping each other out brother

[@RollWithSoul317]

The before and after tells the whole story! Your bike wasn’t wobbly like that when you brought it in and they realize that, it sounds like they want to fleece you for more money! I guess they don’t know who you are and to whom they are dealing with!?! 👍

[@ontherebel11]

Thank you for the vote of confidence sir! This is my friend's bike, i was very upset that they tried to take advantage, hence why i felt the need to share the symptoms so others can be mindful.

[@Stop_It_Just_Stop]

⁠@@ontherebel11 Unbelievable they did that 🤦🏽‍♀️ I plan on doing the work on my bike myself but this is great to be mindful of if I do end up getting someone to do some work of it. Thanks for the heads up on this!

[@ontherebel11]

@meetoo5088 I'm glad you found it helpful brother 🙏

[@Stop_It_Just_Stop]

@@ontherebel11 lol as a chic I’m down to be a brother

[@ontherebel11]

@meetoo5088 oops, sorry! 😅

[@sgtace]

Yeah, that is dangerous. You should show side by side before and after.

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Ace, yes we did, the only way we could prove it is by installing the front wheel from my bike on this one to prove that it was a defective new tire, and then we had to buy another tire and install it at another shop before the dealership accepted that it wasn't the steering stem bearings.... the gave us a replacement tire instead of a refund.... all good now, and my friend completed an 8,000 mile cross country trip with zero issues a couple of days after this video was shot

[@jamescampolo7824]

Here's a thought, what if they didn't seat the bead right? Or, was the tire deformed? I had a new car once and one of the wheels had a terrible "wheel hop". That was a deformed tire.

[@ontherebel11]

Hi James!!! you got it right man!! the tire was deformed!! This is my friend's bike, we eliminated the head bearings by installing the front wheel off my bike, then bought another tire and got that installed, that was the only way we were able to prove to the dealership that the tire is defective....

[@JesseAflleje]

Did you replace the tire? If so, recheck balance. Doubt it was something else on the bike if the situation was not present prior to tire change. If there was no pre-existing condition, gotta be the tire or something related to that change. Also, did you do this at a dealer or a tire place? Want to know because I'm trading my Harley for a Rebel 1100 DCT in maybe 2 weeks and want to know what to expect

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Jesse, this was an aftermarket tire, not the Dunlop oem tire. The tire the dealership installed was defective, as soon as we installed a different tire, the bike was perfect once again. I posted this video to illustrate what the symptoms of a defective tire look like, in case someone experiences it in the future. The bike I was riding went on a second cross country trip a few days after this video was shot. Don't let this turn you off, this video is to educate people so that the dealership doesn't try to take advantage of them like they did with my friend.

[@jamescampolo7824]

At 47 mph, bad balance isn't going to show up. Only until you hit around 60 will you feel it and even then, you won't have this drastic of wobble. I haven't seen this bad of a wobble on any bike in 40 year until hitting around 80mph. Here's a challenge, mark the location and take all of the weights off of your front wheel, then ride up to 60mph and I bet you don't feel much if any issue. Then put the weights back on in the locations you marked and take it up to 60 again to see if there is any difference. Then take it up to 80 and if you have a wobble then, your tire is not balanced correctly. I have had my factory stock Rebel 1100 up to 99mph and experienced zero wobble. The guys in the factory do this hundreds of times a day and get it right. Dealers, who knows who they hire. Honda wouldn't let this out of the plant, they would just put a new wheel assembly on it, dyno test it and then release it if all is good. I say dyno test it because they spin up both wheels for quality assurance before they let it out the door of the factory.

[@jamescampolo7824]

Watch a KZbin video on how Honda manufactures and test their bikes before packing them up to go to the dealer. They don't have to road test their bikes because they have all of the equipment to simulate everything required on the road from engine performance, traini performance, wheel stability, etc.

[@robertsilver1296]

Hello Gus, didn’t you replace that tyre for a new one in 2023, or am I wrong?

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Robert!! you have a keen eye brother! This is my friend's bike, after we replaced this defective tire to a tire brand that i am a fan of, the problem was fixed, in the nick of time as my friend was going on an 8,000 mile cross country trip a few days after shooting this video. Thankfully i personally didn't experience a defective tire on my bike. Wanted to share so that others could benefit from our experience with a faulty tire and a wrong diagnosis by the dealership.

[@almuradyh]

You need to secure the tank

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Murad, the rebel's tank is mounted on rubber bushings, they all move like that.

[@almuradyh]

​@@ontherebel11I found it odd that the bike was shaking so much due to the tire not being properly balanced. Can an unbalanced tire really cause that much trouble and why does it only happen with this model?

[@ontherebel11]

@almuradyh hi Murrad, This was a defective tire from the factory, it happens from time to time, I have seen more violent shakes. Such a defective tire will never be able to be balanced. Once we changed the tire to a different brand, the problem was fixed.

[@almuradyh]

@@ontherebel11 Thank you for enlightening me. I hope you have a safe ride.

[@ontherebel11]

Thank you Brother! 🙏

[@QuasiMotard]

First! 😉👍 --QM

[@Julio-bc7pj]

hi, so you said it was the tire, can you give us the tire specs so we dont buy it please? LOL ;)

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Julio, since this isn't my bike, i prefer not to provide the brand. It isn't a brand that i had recommended in the past.... in fact, we fixed the problem by replacing that brand with the cruisetecs, the problem immediately disappeared.

[@Julio-bc7pj]

@@ontherebel11 ohhh gotcha my friend. Big hug and tie to candy please 😛

[@ontherebel11]

@@Julio-bc7pj i Sure will brother!🤣

[@MiroVaclav]

Hi Gus, I would say I would try to rebalance tire, after that I would try those bearings..... I have not such a experience with my Rebel....... I am lucky one😉👍 Have a nice day Gus👍

[@ontherebel11]

Hi Miro!!! This is my friend's bike. We took the tire and got it rebalanced but it didn't fix the problem... in order to prove that the new tire was defective, i installed my front wheel on my friend's tire so they can see that the wobble disappeared, after that we bought a different tire. no more wobble thankfully and my friend completed an 8,000 mile cross country trip with the new tires without any issues!