Commuting the Honda Pan-European

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Commuting the Honda Pan-European

Commuting the Honda Pan-European
Carefree travel

Honda praises the Pan-European as a high-speed tourer, but recommends not to be packed faster than 130 km / h. Otherwise the pan could just commute. Which is a burden for some that they don’t want to bear.

Michael Orth, Norbert Sorg

09/14/2006

There is one thing that cannot be said of Honda: to have held back with the truth. On Honda’s website, it is clearly stated in the description of the Pan-European that it is a “luxurious high-speed tourer of the future”. Which in turn means that it is not yet.
This is exactly what MOTORRAD tester Stefan Kaschel found out again. In fact. On the autobahn »the Honda commuted beyond 180 km / h as scary as a Dutch stroller after 20 Heineken«.
In other words: The STX 1300 commuting may not be an issue tomorrow, but it is still an issue today. And since the Pan-European driver lives in the here and now, that bothers him immensely. Especially since the most recent comparative test in MOTORRAD (15/2006) did not first uncover the problem, but only brought it up repeatedly.
Several e-mails were immediately sent to Kaschel’s address, the common tenor being that someone is finally writing that openly again. What colleague Kaschel also wrote: that there is hardly anything else to complain about on the machine. All the more, of course, the bad habit of commuting bothers them when … If what? When fully loaded. When equipped with a topcase. When the disc is in the high position. And especially when it all comes together. Too bad that most customers get something like a Pan-European justament from this drive: to travel with luggage as quickly and comfortably as possible.
As fast as possible, says Honda from the start, does not mean faster than 130 if possible. Which, by the way, is basically the recommended speed for machines with a topcase. But this also applies to the Pan without. As one of many points under the »guidelines for loading« you will find the note: »Even if you have loaded your motorcycle correctly, you should drive slower than normal with luggage [sic!] And never faster than 130 km / h.”
In that case, it is impossible to prevent the load from commuting, regardless of whether a topcase rounds off the line to the rear or the windshield is facing the wind or the side cases have swallowed up half the household. Clear announcement. In addition, when the motorcycle is not called Pan-German, but Pan-European. And the rest of Europe is ahead of Germany when it comes to limitations.
One cannot blame Honda that the 130 recommendation is not advertised aggressively, according to the motto “Pan-European, even when fully loaded, safe and stable”. “But my dealer didn’t even draw my attention to the section in the manual,” says Leon-Alexis Schweizer, not without frustration. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have bought the machine in the first place.” That is how Rainer Schenk sees it. »The Alps are my great passion. I want to get the 600 kilometers over there as quickly as possible. And for that purpose, I thought, be that
Pan ideal. «Schweizer’s Pan has been in the garage for two years. “I don’t want to drive it anymore, it’s too dangerous for me.
I can’t sell them either. Because someone could die with it. ”
For similar reasons, Schenks Pan has also mutated into a property. »With tires just before the wear limit, the oscillation has actually disappeared. This fact is known to many drivers and also to the Honda company. In response to my massive complaint, the technical manager of customer service told me that the motorcycle was commuting drastically again after I had fitted new tires, he knew that and I should first drive 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers again, then that would improve. ”It it was therefore detrimental to the conversion of the sales contract aimed for by Schenk that the appointed appraiser carried out his tests on the old tires. Refused change.
Which suited Honda very well. There would have been too many changes. Finally, a survey in www.pan-european-forum.de found that almost exactly half of all drivers of this tourer had ever faced calamities of the commuting kind. If Norbert Wenzlick from Ulm had known that earlier, he would hardly have bought a second pan. The first, he wrote, threw him off like a rodeo rider after an overtaking maneuver in which he was no faster than 130 to 140 km / h. Wenzlick still believed he had caught a Monday machine and simply refused to give up his Pan. “In the Alps it drives like a dream.”
Bundeswehr officer Wenzlick, on the other hand, reacts traumatically when he brings up the subject of “Honda reactions”. A letter from the company says: “However, since you have installed a topcase on your vehicle which (see the instructions on the inside of the topcase lid) should not be driven faster than 130 km / h, the accident may happen find its explanation in the fact that at the time of the accident you were a bit faster than the approx. 140 km / h you specified. With all due respect for your driving skills, a driving error that cannot be resolved depending on the current situation is also conceivable. In any case, you cannot expect a company like Honda Motor Europe (North) to assume that a product defect was the cause of the accident without at least clear evidence to suggest it. «What to expect from a company like Honda Europe is undoubtedly determined by itself.
The Federal Motor Transport Authority determines what to expect from a roadworthy vehicle. And that stated in a report requested by Pan-European drivers that there would be nothing to complain about on the Pan, provided that one adhered to the recommendations of Honda, the “high-speed tourer” loaded and with high Disk so obediently with a maximum of 130 km / h on the highway. According to EC Directive 2001/95 / EC on general product safety, the possibility of achieving a higher level of safety or the availability of other products that pose a lower risk is not a sufficient reason to accept a product as dangerous. ”
The argument between Honda and the dissatisfied-
Pan-European customers are more and more like a race
between the hare and the hedgehog. When pan driver the
Are of the opinion that they have finally achieved a success, Honda is already there and shouts: 130.

Commuting, yes or no? – This is how STX-1300 owners comment
the driving behavior of your machine

Hans-Peter, Pan-European-Forum: »There’s something to be said about commuting. My stove almost killed me, too. “
Reinhard, Pan-European-Forum: “I am of the opinion that the chassis is not designed for the requirements of German motorways.”

Norbert Wenzlick: »Completely surprising for me, without any signs / warning, the machine started to commute … so that I could get away from the machine within three or four seconds without any chance of reaction / resistance
Pan was catapulted down. “
Leon-Alexis Schweizer: »The motorcycle is used in the touring motorcycle segment-
offered, that is, anyone who has something like that
buys, would like to travel longer distances with it
cope and needs a lot for this
Storage space … and weather protection through
a high pane. “
Rainer Schenk: »The oscillation does not always occur in the same way. With completely flat
It’s just better on the Autobahn than if it were
Bumps on the road surface-
was to occur. “
Matthias Bunzel: »After the second recall campaign or after-
improvement without significant improvement-
ran over mine
Dealer pushed the change. That went without any problems, without a lawyer.

MOTORRAD asked Honda the following questions:

Why does the Pan-European commute?
What did you do about it??
There is a risk of an accident?
Have customers complained about the commute?
How many?
Can you understand the excitement?
Have you converted sales contracts?
Honda characterizes the Pan as a high-speed tourer.
What do you mean by that?

Honda’s answer after some time to think about it:

»When developing the Honda Pan-European, the focus was on the construction-
tion on a balance between stability and superior handiness.
As we have been repeatedly confirmed by customers and the press, the Pan-European scores above average, especially when it comes to handling. Adjusting the chassis geometry of a motorcycle is certainly always a compromise. In the case of Pan-European, not all of the customers’ individual needs could be met. However, we take the customer reviews received seriously. So were optimizations in the series production, although not safety-
relevant, also implemented immediately in the form of service campaigns to improve driving comfort in vehicles on the market.

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