Just saw this on Staton's site. Looks like he's pulled the plug on all Honda sales.
Not MAB friendly or wtf?
Not MAB friendly or wtf?
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Regarding the sale & use of Honda enignes on bicycles
- Thread starter happyvalley
- Start date
>.< Sounds "official" when it's put that way lol & I s'pose this means a motorized unicycle is still ok?
"Honda Engines Group, Alpharetta, GA 30005-2519 does not want"
Does not "want"?
Warranty issues? Liability concerns? Sustained RPM problems? General MB discrimination? TBH w/o the "why" it's meaningless.
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Yeah, I got no idea how far reaching it is, if at all or if it's just him. Seems like you could still buy one from an engine supplier and use it how you wanted. Interesting though, he's one of the granddaddies of MABs and I'd guess sells a fair amount of engines. Maybe Honda thinks if you want a bike, just buy one of their scooters or motorcycles.
I'm not finding any reference or similar statement from Honda or any other merchant, anywhere - I could be wrong, but I suspect this is simply a difficulty between Staton Inc. & their supplier *shrug*
!!! D'oh !!! My brand new GX100 is listed. Guess I'll have to hand it over to the Honda police. 
Heh...
Heh...
YOU ARE BUYING THE ENGINE ONLY!
There are a lot of people buying these and making mounting brackets to mount to bicycles, however we cannot help you with any of that.
Small Engine Warehouse: GX35 - Honda Engine 1.6hp GX35 OHC Mini 4 Stroke Clutch-Drive (Horizontal or Vertical Mount) 7000 RPM
There are a lot of people buying these and making mounting brackets to mount to bicycles, however we cannot help you with any of that.
Small Engine Warehouse: GX35 - Honda Engine 1.6hp GX35 OHC Mini 4 Stroke Clutch-Drive (Horizontal or Vertical Mount) 7000 RPM
Thanks for the link, hadn't seen it. Been wondering if/when this would start showing up at other dealers. Seems Staton was a lightening rod.
Heard from a friend today who says he's convinced this is about liability.
He said he had contacted Tanaka some time back about getting the BikeBug back in production and they told him: at Tanaka are no plans at all to reproduce the BikeBug due to concerns of liability and no further thoughts on any sort of transportation device, due to litigation concerns.
TBH I wonder about this & what it really means, there's still more questions than answers.
Is this an issue between just Stanton & their engine supplier - or is this an actual Honda policy?
If it is a Honda policy - we've still not actually seen a statement from Honda & I can't see them outright forbidding the use of their engines for any particular application. How would they? Particularly as with engine only sales, they'd not know the application unless you told them. It may void a warranty, Honda may refuse sales to individual distributors they disapprove of - but even if that were the case there's plenty of outlets that specialize in replacement engines, ones that aren't associated with motorizing vehicles on a "forbidden list".
Worst case scenario, even if this is a new official Honda policy - I believe it would only really effect some distributors, those that specialize in selling these engines as part of a package and/or kit parts, made to motorize something Honda disapproves of for "liability concerns" yet those distributors would simply stop selling those particular engines, they'd have no reason to stop selling anything else though, and the engines would continue to be available elsewhere, so I can't see this as having any major impact on us save a minor inconvenience at worst.
I could be completely wrong, but the statement from Stanton was vague to say the least, the disclaimer Small Engine Warehouse made could mean anything, like they simply sell no parts and have no knowledge regarding mounts for bicycles - I'd really want to see something from Honda before I took this very seriously. I'd really want to see how they'd word it lol
Is this an issue between just Stanton & their engine supplier - or is this an actual Honda policy?
If it is a Honda policy - we've still not actually seen a statement from Honda & I can't see them outright forbidding the use of their engines for any particular application. How would they? Particularly as with engine only sales, they'd not know the application unless you told them. It may void a warranty, Honda may refuse sales to individual distributors they disapprove of - but even if that were the case there's plenty of outlets that specialize in replacement engines, ones that aren't associated with motorizing vehicles on a "forbidden list".
Worst case scenario, even if this is a new official Honda policy - I believe it would only really effect some distributors, those that specialize in selling these engines as part of a package and/or kit parts, made to motorize something Honda disapproves of for "liability concerns" yet those distributors would simply stop selling those particular engines, they'd have no reason to stop selling anything else though, and the engines would continue to be available elsewhere, so I can't see this as having any major impact on us save a minor inconvenience at worst.
I could be completely wrong, but the statement from Stanton was vague to say the least, the disclaimer Small Engine Warehouse made could mean anything, like they simply sell no parts and have no knowledge regarding mounts for bicycles - I'd really want to see something from Honda before I took this very seriously. I'd really want to see how they'd word it lol
Wouldn't it be it nice if all things were black and white but that may not be the case. It's possible this could be official Honda position and they never make a declarative statement about it letting dealer's sales policy make the fact obvious. Who knows, in the meantime just reporting what is out there and discussing it on a discussion forum. Time will tell
When a company makes discissions like "not for bikes", they need only make a phone call to the distributor to stop selling motors to people building bikes kits. They don't take an add in the Wall Street Journal, just make the call, the distributor then tells Dave Staton that he won't get any more of them. They don't need to have a written policy.
Remember that in a lawsuit against a builder over the death of someone using their parts, reguardless of what went wrong, the "deep pockets" aka Honda will be brought in.
"Your Honor, Honda discontinued sales to this individual when we discovered he was using our engines on his motorized bikes, without our authorization."
Remember that in a lawsuit against a builder over the death of someone using their parts, reguardless of what went wrong, the "deep pockets" aka Honda will be brought in.
"Your Honor, Honda discontinued sales to this individual when we discovered he was using our engines on his motorized bikes, without our authorization."
A while back, an ultralight airplane vendor developed a re-drive system to use propellors with Kohler v-twin engines For UL powerplants. Kohler made him stop using their engines, for aircraft, or face a lawsuit.
Another vendor is marketing them now(Great Planes) as " airboat powerplants"
Another vendor is marketing them now(Great Planes) as " airboat powerplants"
While Honda is allegedly hating on the bicycle, Toyota is embracing it - to the point of mind control!
Ring My Bell: New Bike Reads Your Mind | ThePostGame
Ring My Bell: New Bike Reads Your Mind | ThePostGame
From what Dan said, this is not the first time this has been brought up. Quite similar to the many scares of all 2 strokes being banned and no more will be imported.
The 2 stroke scare has always been just that, a scare and not the truth at all.
Dan talked to the Honda dealers face to face and reported what the dealers had to say.
Hopefully this is just another scare tactic.....
I am betting that it is.
The 2 stroke scare has always been just that, a scare and not the truth at all.
Dan talked to the Honda dealers face to face and reported what the dealers had to say.
Hopefully this is just another scare tactic.....
I am betting that it is.