Newbie Intro

[81Delorean]

Hello from Arkansas all, just wanted to stop and say hi. I've been looking for a proper sport tourer for a little while, looked at concours, fjr, tiger, K-bikes and then thought of the st1300 so I started reading up. So far it has moved to the top of the list unless I find something very unsettling about them but I doubt it. My current daily is a '17 Vstrom 650. I've done a couple of 2,000+ mile trips on it and it does alright but I want a tad more luxury and comfort I guess. Not ready for a Goldwing. Seems there are a ton of ST's for cheap with reasonable miles to be had. I'm just going to lurk around on here for a while, learn more about them and any quirks about them (like an apparent high speed wobble with a top case, but what is considered high speed?). Anyway, thought I would say hi, learn more about them and keep an eye on the for sale section. Others in my garage besides the vstrom are a '98 ZX-11, '96 Aprilia RS250, '88 ZX-10 and a '62 Honda S90.

 

[ToddC]

Welcome from WA STate!!

T
You can't go wrong with the 1300.

 

[SMSW]

Welcome aboard.

 

[81Delorean]

Welcome from WA STate!!

T
You can't go wrong with the 1300.

I like that solo seat/backrest with the rear cover

 

[wczimmerman]

Welcome from northern MS!

 

[bstig60]

Welcome aboard from Florida's space coast.

 

[Sheriff41]

Welcome and howdy from Texas!

 

[STRider]

Welcome from Oregon!

Any 1300 model year 2008 and newer would be my targets. Actually, it was and in 2020 resulted in finding a cherry 2012 with 3,600mi; my current main ride.
Read up and you'll understand why.

 

[Bikeric]

Welcome from Cornwall UK! Good luck with your search, please post photos when you get one.

 

[TipSTer]

Welcome from the land of 10,000 lakes.

 

[Mr ed]

welcome from Tucson.

 

[Al Gully]

Welcome from Canada, once you buy one (first one bought in 2009), you"ll want 2 of them. Just picked up my second one in May of this year and having a barrel of grins on it. After typing this, may head out for a 8 hour ride on it.
Enjoy want you decide on.

 

[81Delorean]

Welcome from Oregon!

Any 1300 model year 2008 and newer would be my targets. Actually, it was and in 2020 resulted in finding a cherry 2012 with 3,600mi; my current main ride.
Read up and you'll understand why.

You gonna make me do more research than I anticipated aren't you?

 

[NTausch]

Welcome. And you are welcome at any event with your current ride. All of us most likely started with a ST. I started with a 2007 ST1300. Current ride is a K1600. You’ll find some have moved to bigger some to smaller bikes. The key here is, we love to ride and most like to camp or just get out there. Check out events somewhere on the homepage. Great people no matter where you end up.

 

[snowworks]

Welcome from WA STate!!

T
You can't go wrong with the 1300.

That ST looks GREAT!!

 

[81Delorean]

Well, almost one year later to the day I'm back on here. I finally decided to sell the Vstrom and will be delivering it to the new owner next weekend. I've currently got my eye on an '04 ST with 18,000 miles. I'm going to try to go look at it in the next week or two. Anything I should specifically look for? Any real trouble areas? The bike looks great in the pictures and with it being a Honda I'm not to worried about much mechanically but just in case I thought I would reach out.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Anything I should specifically look for?

My opinion- click the below link. Because of the below, I would focus on 2008 and newer.
Below 2008 are not to be ignored out-of-hand but, it would have to be in really good shape at a good price for me to consider it after it had been thoroughly investigated.

The first thing that I would do on any pre-2008 ST1300

 

[81Delorean]

What changed in 2008 to make this problem go away? You have me paranoid now. Is there a way to look at the past history of any error codes? I saw how to check for any current codes and riding the bike to see if any codes pop up. I'll also print out the error code sheet to and take with me. I was planning on changing fluids anyway when/if I got the bike. I sure doesn't show any obvious signs of being abused or neglected, even with on 18,000 miles in 19 years. So worse case scenario, if it all checks out good and 2 years down the road the code pops up, I lose a little power and a little mpg from what I've ready. Correct? or is there more to it?

 

[bstig60]

IMHO a 20-year-old bike with only 18k miles on it, I would be skeptical of regardless.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

What changed in 2008 to make this problem go away?

Different ECM. What Honda changed within the ECM is unknown.
There have been a few reports of this same failure on post 2007 ST1300's, but the numbers are so low and with the reports that I have seen being third-hand I consider this to be irrelevant so far.

You have me paranoid now.

Did not intend to make you paranoid, only better informed.

Is there a way to look at the past history of any error codes?

Maybe if you had a Honda scanner, otherwise not as far as I know.

So worse case scenario, if it all checks out good and 2 years down the road the code pops up, I lose a little power and a little mpg from what I've ready. Correct? or is there more to it?

So far the above is what is most commonly reported by people who continue to ride with this condition, some for several years. I am not aware of any other damage being caused directly as a result of using the motorcycle with this defect present.