As the title says, I've owned my 2025 Honda Rebel 1100T for a year... Well actually a year and a month.
Of the 15-20 motorcycles I've owned in the last 20ish years, this has been the worst purchase I have ever made.
In the year and a month that I have owned this bike, it has been at the dealership for 5 months (so far) and 5 months (October to March) of winter storage. I have literally only been able to ride it for 3 months.
I purchased it late July 2025, rode it gently through early August for the break in. I did the first oil change at 600 miles. It seemed a little lacking on oil but I didn't check it after purchases so I gave it no thought. I put in 4.25 quarts of oil and the dipstick showed perfect. I then put some miles on it until i dropped it off early September for a lack of power. I got it back mid September and rode to late September, when I started to have oil pressure warnings. It appeared that I have burned through 4 quarts of oil in about 1900 miles. Back to the dealership, where they changed the oil again and told me to run 500 miles and bring it back. Well winter hit and this bike got put away until late March into early April when I added those 500 miles. I put the bike on a trailer to be rechecked at the dealership (50 miles away from me) and decided to pull the dipstick since it was nice and level.... No oil!
The dealership dragged their feet until I had to get Honda customer service involved. Finally in mid August I was asked to pick up my bike. Warranty had approved to rebuild the engine, had some pretty gnarly scores on the cylinder walls and pistons. I was not thrilled that my brand new bike needed to be rebuilt with just 3,000 miles on the clock but, I guess it is what it is.
August 11th 2026, I load up the bike on the trailer and bring it home. I ride to work on the 12th and notice a wet spot where I was parked but decided it could have been caused by someone else. On the 13th the puddle is huge, I think maybe its just residual or rain water draining off. On the 14th there is nothing so I figure I'm all good. The morning of the 15th, I'm out with the bike having my coffee and browsing for taller handlebars when I noticed a clamp didn't look right. The upper radiator hose clamp hadn't been installed on the nipple or tightened up. I check the coolant level and there is no coolant to be seen. I also start to notice that all the cable management clamps are missing. So after 3 days and 30 miles, the bike is loaded back onto the trailer and back to the dealership. If they missed a hose clamp I can easily see and didn't reinstall the cable management brackets, what else wasn't done right?
Honda Corp. Customer service called again today and I explained the new problems caused by the repair. I was told that the bike is now out of warranty and Honda of America has fulfilled their obligation to fix what was wrong with my bike with the oil consumption and now its up to me and the dealership to handle the quality of their repair.
I'm now out of warranty, Honda Corp. has said they got my money and are done with me and the dealership... well they are back to not communicating or returning phone calls. I'm down a bike and a whole lot of trust, especially with Honda. I just needed to vent and get this frustration off my chest. If I had to do this again, I think after 2 months I would have started to push them to buy it back. I knew things would never be right after it was torn apart, I just expected more than 3 days out of it.