I signed up for this site over a year ago, right after I purchased my 2013 ST1300PA on August 11, 2023 with 31,199 miles. Unfortunately, with other life things happening, I didn't get a chance to be active on here and I was deleted apparently. Well, I'm back and plan to be more active in the future. I have made a lot of changes to the bike I would like to share, as well as things I would like to change, as well as things I wish Honda would have done to make the bike better. As well as a few issues I have had that I'm hoping someone out there can help me solve, because no one I have talked to so far, including Honda and several other mechanics have a clue. I wish you all tye best.
Hello Everybody
- Thread starter 13ST1300PA
- Start date
Your best bet is I Go Far. He is without a doubt a total master of the 1300. Look him up & send him a PM. Plan ahead as when he calls you time will slip by like nothing you have ever seen.
Sadlsor
Site Supporter
Need pictures.
Welcome back, from Northumberland, England.
Get those problems posted up.
Upt.
Get those problems posted up.
Upt.
Welcome back from Cornwall UK! As posted above, Larry, @I golfer is the font of all knowledge fo ST1300 issues.
Welcome aboard.
You might look through the articles (blue band atop this page, click on 1300 Articles) as you define your problems and wants for the bike. There is a wealth of information there that Honda never published. Some of these might even answer questions you did not think to ask.
You might look through the articles (blue band atop this page, click on 1300 Articles) as you define your problems and wants for the bike. There is a wealth of information there that Honda never published. Some of these might even answer questions you did not think to ask.
I don't golf
That's where I started before mentioning it in my post. Apparently no one else has had this problem. Currently waiting on Larry to give me a call.
Since I'm sure to have everyone's curriosity up by now, here is this mysterious issue with my bike. The first time it happened to me, I was cruising down the road between 75-80 mph. I caught up to a semi and with other traffic coming up behind me, I decided to quickly get around him and pull back in. I opened the throttle wide open and the bike is pulling hard. At 5500rpm or so, the tack instantly lept to just under 8000 rpm without the corresponding speed increase. But at the sqme time, the bike never stopped pulling any less and the speed kept increasing until it matched the rpm. After the first time, I have repeated it several times and it does the exact same thing every time.
I know, everyone's first thought is bad clutch. That was my first thought. But I have been around standard shifts my whole life, I know what a bad clutch feels like and how to test one. It's not that. At the same time, I am not saying it isn't the clutch because that means I do know what it is, and I don't. So here is what I do know. It will only do it in 5th gear not 1-4. I can lug the bike down to an idle in 5th gear and go wide open throttle and I cannot make it slip or act up in any way until 5500rpm when it does what it does. Every time. It will not rev above 8000 even when the speed catches up to the rpm. When it's in that problem area, I can stand on the brakes and the engine rpms come down. If it was the clutch, the engine would run away not be drug down with the speed.
Now, I took it back to the dealer I purchased it from (not a Honda dealer), I explained what it was doing and his first thought was.....clutch. He went out and tested it extensively and his conclusion was "I don't know what it is but it isn't the clutch". Went by my local Honda dealer one day, explained the problem to their top mechanic.....clutch. He test drove it but was too chicken to get to speed to see the problem fr himself. Probably Honda liability. His conclusion "I don't know what it is but it isn't the clutch. Took it to another performance shop in town, explained the problem, his thought....clutch. His conclusion after testing "I don't know what it is but it isn't the clutch". And these are guys who are supposed to know and me.
And here's why it doesn't matter. Back in college many years ago, I purchased a Honda VFR F interceptor. I know how fast it would go thru the quarter mile and what I could outrun, I know what the top speed was and that it would hold that speed for 54 miles straight without problems. 142mph by the way. I also know that the red line is 12,000 rpm but it will rev past 15,000 rpm is needed with no adverse effects. I'm 58, I've done my go fast time. 5500rpm is 100+ mph on the ST1300. I no longer feel I need to go that fast. In my normal every day driving, the clutch doesn't slip and I don't know this problem exists. But I would like to know what it is. BTW it took me over a month and a half to find the problem the first time.
So please if anyone has and idea what is causing this, I would like to know.
I know, everyone's first thought is bad clutch. That was my first thought. But I have been around standard shifts my whole life, I know what a bad clutch feels like and how to test one. It's not that. At the same time, I am not saying it isn't the clutch because that means I do know what it is, and I don't. So here is what I do know. It will only do it in 5th gear not 1-4. I can lug the bike down to an idle in 5th gear and go wide open throttle and I cannot make it slip or act up in any way until 5500rpm when it does what it does. Every time. It will not rev above 8000 even when the speed catches up to the rpm. When it's in that problem area, I can stand on the brakes and the engine rpms come down. If it was the clutch, the engine would run away not be drug down with the speed.
Now, I took it back to the dealer I purchased it from (not a Honda dealer), I explained what it was doing and his first thought was.....clutch. He went out and tested it extensively and his conclusion was "I don't know what it is but it isn't the clutch". Went by my local Honda dealer one day, explained the problem to their top mechanic.....clutch. He test drove it but was too chicken to get to speed to see the problem fr himself. Probably Honda liability. His conclusion "I don't know what it is but it isn't the clutch. Took it to another performance shop in town, explained the problem, his thought....clutch. His conclusion after testing "I don't know what it is but it isn't the clutch". And these are guys who are supposed to know and me.
And here's why it doesn't matter. Back in college many years ago, I purchased a Honda VFR F interceptor. I know how fast it would go thru the quarter mile and what I could outrun, I know what the top speed was and that it would hold that speed for 54 miles straight without problems. 142mph by the way. I also know that the red line is 12,000 rpm but it will rev past 15,000 rpm is needed with no adverse effects. I'm 58, I've done my go fast time. 5500rpm is 100+ mph on the ST1300. I no longer feel I need to go that fast. In my normal every day driving, the clutch doesn't slip and I don't know this problem exists. But I would like to know what it is. BTW it took me over a month and a half to find the problem the first time.
So please if anyone has and idea what is causing this, I would like to know.
Bad tach.
Well, it is either the clutch, the tach, or the crank position sensor that is sending multiple signals. What else could it be? Let us know what Larry says.Maybe you should. Get out in the open air, hike around a bit, whack around a little ball on top of a bigger ball trying to sink the little ball into holes in the big ball.I don't golf
Problem with electronics, they are hard to figure out. But I would probably start with check you grounds? 
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Accepting your assertion that this is not a clutch problem and after eliminating the obvious like bad connections and a defective tachometer/signal, if I could get my hands on another one just to try as a test I would try another speed sensor. They fail in strange ways, as in not totally and not with consistent symptoms, and cause strange and seemingly unrelated symptoms that one would not think has anything to do with speed or a speed sensor.
Spoke with the OP last night, we are going to run through a few checks/tests today to see if anything jumps out at us.
While all the shops don't think it has anything to do with the clutch, it still may be something like the clutch slave cylinder sticking in the bore causing things to slip, and then un-sticking itself.
Or, as Andrew mentioned, it could also be something like the speed sensor switch failing, but the OP said he didn't notice the lights going out, or the tac and speedo dipping then bouncing back up during his issues, which is what the speed sensor does when they fail etc.
Being an ex-police model, we don't know the condition of the bike, nor what the shop has gotten into, concealed, or worked on to sell it etc.
My first thought (of course) is it may be brake related
I'm going to call the OP this morning and have him check a few things in the brake system as well.
I'm wondering if the rear brakes are grabbing/dragging or locking up, so when he is in a weaker/higher gear, its holding the bike back, but the RPM's are raising trying to pull etc.
We'll let you know what we find out.
While all the shops don't think it has anything to do with the clutch, it still may be something like the clutch slave cylinder sticking in the bore causing things to slip, and then un-sticking itself.
Or, as Andrew mentioned, it could also be something like the speed sensor switch failing, but the OP said he didn't notice the lights going out, or the tac and speedo dipping then bouncing back up during his issues, which is what the speed sensor does when they fail etc.
Being an ex-police model, we don't know the condition of the bike, nor what the shop has gotten into, concealed, or worked on to sell it etc.
My first thought (of course) is it may be brake related
I'm going to call the OP this morning and have him check a few things in the brake system as well.
I'm wondering if the rear brakes are grabbing/dragging or locking up, so when he is in a weaker/higher gear, its holding the bike back, but the RPM's are raising trying to pull etc.
We'll let you know what we find out.
From the OP's post it's gotta be clutch, I think.
If I'm right Cocoa Chap is saying the engine revs rise, not just the tacho, but the engine revs. No?
So I think he is saying he twists the throttle in 5th only, up to around 5000 rpm all is fine and dandy, then the ENGINE as indicated by the tacho revs its nuts off up to 8000 rpm and the speed finally catches up. No?
It's clutch. A strange one admittedly but engine revs can't rise in relation to road speed unless something is spinning. Now I know tyres can spin on the rim but I think it would have exploded by now. Plus it would spin at other times.
Good luck Larry, hope your phones charged.
Upt.
If I'm right Cocoa Chap is saying the engine revs rise, not just the tacho, but the engine revs. No?
So I think he is saying he twists the throttle in 5th only, up to around 5000 rpm all is fine and dandy, then the ENGINE as indicated by the tacho revs its nuts off up to 8000 rpm and the speed finally catches up. No?
It's clutch. A strange one admittedly but engine revs can't rise in relation to road speed unless something is spinning. Now I know tyres can spin on the rim but I think it would have exploded by now. Plus it would spin at other times.
Good luck Larry, hope your phones charged.
Upt.
After a couple brief phone calls, we've identified a few things wrong with the bike so far.
Appears that the clutch/brake system has not been flushed or serviced often enough for starts.
The SMC appears to be dying a slow death, and it has a pretty loud "clank" when pushed back and forth (usually when the piston is stuck down in the bore a bit leaving space between the rod and the piston). Its very hard to "describe" or "read" how to perform the safety inspection when someone has never done it before and does not know what it feels like. I've had people push the bike off the center stand in an attempt to stop the rear wheel from turning, and then think it passed the test because the rear wheel finally stopped under this much force etc.
The OP indicated that it took "quite a bit of force" to stop the wheel, so the SMC is suspect at this point.
The rear, and possibly the front brake pads are not Honda pads, and the rear appear to be EBC pads, with one side worn down more than the other, and of course missing the heat shields.
The rear of the rotor is scored from either the pads, or metal backing plate dragging on the rotor.
My best guess so far, is that his issues are from his clutch slave cylinder sticking in the bore, causing the clutch to slip since the system has not been flushed or bled that the OP knows about.
I've instructed him to purchase some tubing and tools, and he will call me when this is done, and I will talk him through flushing and bleeding the clutch system.
IF this helps, it reinforces the thoughts of the slave cylinder sticking, however, it would only be a temporary fix, as the CSC should probably be replaced.
We will jump off that bridge when we come to it.
Its worth noting that the clutch lever was an aftermarket lever, (adjustable) and the bushing had some wear on it, and the lever was in the closest position to the grip, which may be causing the throw to be off when using the clutch, which could wear the clutch.
The bike was serviced at a powersport type place, and he did not know what kind of oil they used, or what the prior owners used.
We are trying to eliminate the easy to do and inspect stuff first before he starts jumping in to replace the clutch etc.
We will post what we find, as it happens, when it happens.
Appears that the clutch/brake system has not been flushed or serviced often enough for starts.
The SMC appears to be dying a slow death, and it has a pretty loud "clank" when pushed back and forth (usually when the piston is stuck down in the bore a bit leaving space between the rod and the piston). Its very hard to "describe" or "read" how to perform the safety inspection when someone has never done it before and does not know what it feels like. I've had people push the bike off the center stand in an attempt to stop the rear wheel from turning, and then think it passed the test because the rear wheel finally stopped under this much force etc.
The OP indicated that it took "quite a bit of force" to stop the wheel, so the SMC is suspect at this point.
The rear, and possibly the front brake pads are not Honda pads, and the rear appear to be EBC pads, with one side worn down more than the other, and of course missing the heat shields.
The rear of the rotor is scored from either the pads, or metal backing plate dragging on the rotor.
My best guess so far, is that his issues are from his clutch slave cylinder sticking in the bore, causing the clutch to slip since the system has not been flushed or bled that the OP knows about.
I've instructed him to purchase some tubing and tools, and he will call me when this is done, and I will talk him through flushing and bleeding the clutch system.
IF this helps, it reinforces the thoughts of the slave cylinder sticking, however, it would only be a temporary fix, as the CSC should probably be replaced.
We will jump off that bridge when we come to it.
Its worth noting that the clutch lever was an aftermarket lever, (adjustable) and the bushing had some wear on it, and the lever was in the closest position to the grip, which may be causing the throw to be off when using the clutch, which could wear the clutch.
The bike was serviced at a powersport type place, and he did not know what kind of oil they used, or what the prior owners used.
We are trying to eliminate the easy to do and inspect stuff first before he starts jumping in to replace the clutch etc.
We will post what we find, as it happens, when it happens.