I know “we are our own warranty station” but the dealer said there was a mandatory first service that must be done by Honda. Any truth to this?
thanks
shoot870p
The short answer is no. The duration of the warranty on the Trail is for defects in materials and workmanship, for one year. The maintenance schedule in the owner's manual specifies an oil change and clutch inspection at 600 miles. The first service that requires either inspection or cleaning of several items in addition to an oil change is required at 4,000 miles. Many of these additional items are identified as intermediate level maintenance that's recommended service by your dealer, unless you have the necessary tools and are mechanically skilled. Performing the work yourself will not void your warranty if you have the skills to do so.
Due to the facts that the little engine works so hard, only holds less than a quart of oil, and doesn't have an oil filter, I followed the path of many others on this forum and changed the oil myself at 300 miles. I also installed a magnetic drain plug recommended by others during that first oil change. I changed the oil again at 600 miles and 1,600 miles. In the future I plan to change it about every 2,000 miles.
I've had the bike about 10 months, and it has a little over 1,800 miles on it. Spring is around the corner, but I doubt I'll put 4,000 miles on the clock before the warranty is up. I still plan to take it to the dealer for the 4,000 mile service just to make sure everything is checked out.
I realize my approach seems like overkill to many of the old graybeards on this forum. Especially since there are countless stories about earlier versions of the Trail that were used and abused with little or no service for decades, that are still chugging along doing what they were built to do. I hope my grandkids will be telling stories like that about the bike they'll inherit from me. A few dollars invested before that happens is worth it to me.