The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

Forza front wheel hits curb going into parking lots. The other day I was going to McDonalds and it felt like the forks totally collapsed. I hit the little lip of the sidewalk really hard. I was going slowly. I looked at the wheel and it had a dent in it. I don't know if I did it then or a little earlier on a pothole.

So is this a fork problem? Are the wheels too small for real life road problems? Is it an under inflated tire problem? Do I need more or heavier oil in the forks?

It has happened a few times.

Who sells replacement front wheels?

Sounds more like a user problem.

gn2 wrote:Sounds more like a user problem.

I sure hope not or my last 100,000 kilometers on all sorts of motorcycles has been a complete waste!

I have had it happen 4 times in the last 3000 km. It is a violent hit when it happens. It happens really fast at slow speeds and it does not seem as if the front of scooter is collapsing. How prone are the tubeless Dunlops to sharp edges. I might try increasing the tire pressure a bit.

Are your front forks working right? Not talking about the dent in the wheel!, but if at low speed it seems your getting too much of a jolt at low speed from the front, seems like the suspension is not working properly.

iceman wrote:Are your front forks working right? Not talking about the dent in the wheel!, but if at low speed it seems your getting too much of a jolt at low speed from the front, seems like the suspension is not working properly.

That is my guess too. I bought the scooter used with 1200km on it but I have no idea what the previous two owners did to it.

davenowherejones wrote:

iceman wrote:Are your front forks working right? Not talking about the dent in the wheel!, but if at low speed it seems your getting too much of a jolt at low speed from the front, seems like the suspension is not working properly.

That is my guess too. I bought the scooter used with 1200km on it but I have no idea what the previous two owners did to it.

2 previous owners in 1200 km ?

If you are riding up standard kerbs you need to be doing it really slow, less than 5mph.
The suspension travel is less than the height of a kerb and if you hit them at any speed you're asking for a dented wheel.
Oh silly me, you've already got one.

gn2 wrote:If you are riding up standard kerbs you need to be doing it really slow, less than 5mph.
The suspension travel is less than the height of a kerb and if you hit them at any speed you're asking for a dented wheel.
Oh silly me, you've already got one.

No I am not hitting 5 inch curbs at speed, I am hitting the little 1 inch rain gutter as I cross the depressed section of the concrete sidewalk as I enter a business. And I am travelling very slowly at that.

I have done a few stupid things in my 56 years but I try to avoid the really dumb things.

DAB wrote:

davenowherejones wrote:

iceman wrote:Are your front forks working right? Not talking about the dent in the wheel!, but if at low speed it seems your getting too much of a jolt at low speed from the front, seems like the suspension is not working properly.

That is my guess too. I bought the scooter used with 1200km on it but I have no idea what the previous two owners did to it.

2 previous owners in 1200 km ?

I suspect that the original owner was a young Asian couple. There are boot marks around the passenger pegs. Probably Asian because the fat white people around here would not ride a scooter but a HD. The Forza also has some strange scrapes on the mirrors.

The second owner came across as a guy privately selling the scooter on craigslist but he had all sorts of vehicles in various states of repair in his front yard. His dog did not look that friendly nor did he. I gave him the money and got out of there fast. The vehicle registered OK but the paperwork was weird.

The scooter was probably crashed and rebuilt. I have ridden it a few thousand kilometres on the highways and it handles OK.

It seems reasonably powerful for a 279cc scooter. I have RCMP paperwork to prove it goes too fast. $196 ticket for going 98 kmph in a 60 kmph zone on a country road outside my house. There was a 55 kmph wind behind me and I was concentrating on staying upright and not watching my speed. The Chevy Blazer had red and blue LED's hidden in all the wrong places. The officer was not even from my local detachment. He said he actually had me at 105 but gave me a break until I got below 100 and then he lit me up. 105 was $3000 dollar fine ? Jail time? Impounded bike? I think he thought I was some kind of Ninja superbike that he had caught and was going to make him famous. He did not look like he was in the mood to be told he had just pulled over a scooter. I was less than 100 meters from my house!!!

davenowherejones wrote:I am hitting the little 1 inch rain gutter as I cross the depressed section of the concrete sidewalk as I enter a business. And I am travelling very slowly at that.

If the forks bottom out doing that they're fucked.
Also that would not dent the rim, you need to hit something big amazingly hard to dent the rim.
I once hit a big piece of timber about the size of a railway sleeper while going about 55mph on a PCX.
It didn't damage the rims.

gn2 wrote:

davenowherejones wrote:I am hitting the little 1 inch rain gutter as I cross the depressed section of the concrete sidewalk as I enter a business. And I am travelling very slowly at that.

If the forks bottom out doing that they're fucked.
Also that would not dent the rim, you need to hit something big amazingly hard to dent the rim.
I once hit a big piece of timber about the size of a railway sleeper while going about 55mph on a PCX.
It didn't damage the rims.

If I go to my local Honda dealer and tell him to unfuck my forks I think my wallet will get fucked. I need to understand the problem better so that the dealer can't bull shit me.

How technical are the Forza forks compared to some of the better forks? Are there any adjustments available? Any clickers? Pressure release valves? What's in there?

There's absolutely nothing complex.
Spring and oil and damper.
No adjusters.
http://www.seadooparts1st.com/oemparts/ ... front-fork

I started this thread a long time ago. My 2014 Honda Forza 300 now has 65576 km on it now.

The fork problem was sorted out by having heavier oil put in it. I did not ask the dealer mechanic how much oil was in it originally. I suspect that there was almost none.

The suspension has almost never bottomed out since then. I have hit a few unexpected holes hard at speed and it did bottom out.

My dealer does have the name of the previous Asian owner but refuses to give it to me. I saw it briefly.

My original problem was so bad that I had to go very slowly into McDonalds. In hind sight (fat ass) I should have stayed out of McDonalds. The Forza was trying to protect me.

At 135,000 now on the Forza. The fork oil was replaced at 9500 km. Things were substantially better.

The fork seals were replaced at 52,000 km.

I had a bit of a fork seal leek a little while later.

The forks work so I am not going to fix them.

I still have the slightly bent front wheel rim after 130,000 so I am not going to fix it either.

I rode the Forza 300 over the logging roads a few weeks ago. No real problems.

The tire problem at 140 kmph has made me sit and wait for a new one. COVID is making me wait.

Small wheels, lightweight scooter - you feel every bump in the road.

My 300kg plus BMW Touring bike - larger wheels, heavier bike....better suspension ( manufactured for long comfortable journeys ) - rides over most bumps in the road with ease.

Scooters are not really built ( the small sub 400cc ) aren't really built for ride comfort ...They are built for getting from A to B easy and quickly - short journeys.

Yorkie150 wrote:Small wheels, lightweight scooter - you feel every bump in the road.

My 300kg plus BMW Touring bike - larger wheels, heavier bike....better suspension ( manufactured for long comfortable journeys ) - rides over most bumps in the road with ease.

Scooters are not really built ( the small sub 400cc ) aren't really built for ride comfort ...They are built for getting from A to B easy and quickly - short journeys.

This was an update on an old post.

I am guessing that Honda Thailand never put any fork oil in my scooter.

Once appropriate oil was added it became substantially better.

I find my 194 kg Forza 300 quite comfortable for long distance touring.

My longest trip was from Hope, BC to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada return, 6431 km.

The smaller pcx have very small amounts of travel on the front forks and the rear are spine crackers

that mileage is impressive and would be great to see a pictorial log of the journey

I have family in Cambridge - I thinks that’s Ontario - but it’s been over 35 years since I last saw them

Yorkie150 wrote:The smaller pcx have very small amounts of travel on the front forks and the rear are spine crackers

that mileage is impressive and would be great to see a pictorial log of the journey

I have family in Cambridge - I thinks that’s Ontario - but it’s been over 35 years since I last saw them

Cambridge, Ontario is 2561 miles from my house and my biological mother lives close to there.

I really want to go there but I have very limited money. I was stolen by the Anglican Church when my mother was 16. I did the DNA testing and found her after 58 years apart.

I would go there on my Forza (faster) but I would also like to try a Zero electric motorcycle also (more challenging).

I have had two dual sports, KLX250 & DR650. I have taken the Forza carefully on logging roads going around all the pot holes. I went straight through on the dual sports barely even noticing the holes. Same road, vastly different riding styles & speeds.

I have about a thousand miles on the gravel with the Forza 300.

Once upon a time I HAD money but I spent most of it on motorcycles and the rest I just wasted.