Bad Parts, Model Defects, Technical Hassles… Beware!
Get the right guidance on your brand new bikes and learn about motorcycle recalls
When you spend the time, effort and money to research, seek out and then purchase a brand new motorcycle, you often assume that this new bike will be trouble free. In point of fact, one of the many reasons riders buy new bikes is to get away from the many maintenance issues they may have with an older machine. With most models, this is a safe assumption – technology is such that every single part installed while producing that vehicle has been inspected and is tracked throughout the build. However, that technology is just as prone to mistakes as the humans who created it. Bad parts get through on occasion, and some parts get installed incorrectly.
Other problems are only discovered once many models of the motorcycle are on the roads and in use. The design software and engineers behind each and every part of the motorcycle are not always capable of finding every single potential failure situation, so even the best designed parts may fail after many miles of use. And, sometimes recall notices are issued due to the motorcycle missing a required emission control- that control not functioning properly or a regulatory requirement which was omitted from the final production version of the bike.
If any of those issues are encountered on a production motorcycle, and it is a significant threat to the safety of the motorcycle and/or the rider, a manufacturer recall will be issued. These recall notices are handled in the United States by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a federal agency tasked with the safety of the American transportation system, and they keep extensive records on them in their massive database.
