Nomad oil leaks?

[webby]

I have been reading some reviews about the Nomad and they say the Nomads have oil leaks from the engine and other places. Is that an issue on Nomads? Also I hear that Kawaski is not very good about fixing these leaks and other things under warranty. I also hear that there has or is problems with the gas cap venting. I was considering a Nomad but now I am kind of backing off because of these reviews. Whats the real scoop? I have always had Honda's in the past and never had any trouble with them but Honda dosen't have anything that I would be interested in at this time. I really like everything about the Nomad.

[ispeed77]

first off, welcome to the forum.
now, about the Nomad. #1, you won't find a Honda that will give you what the Nomad has, out of the box. the VTXR can be made into a decent crusing bike, but the Nomad is just a better touring cruiser. as for the oil leaks, i have not heard anything. i had an 03 Nomad that i put 20K miles on in two riding seasons with no problems. the warranty issues, i think come down to the dealer that you use, but that is another problem that i had not heard of. in my humble opinion, i don't think you can go wrong with the purchase of a Nomad. it is a great bike with no more problems than any other new bike on the road.
oh, and i almost forgot. there is a small problem with venting on the gas cap, but there is an easy fix. Gadget's site has the fix for it. i'm sure someone can throw the link up here for ya.

[fretbuzz]

21k in less than 2 years on my '05 Nomad and nary a drop leaking or used. I haven't experienced any fuel venting over either -and it gets HOT here.

[ispeed77]

the only thing the cap does is whistle on some bikes, not a big deal

[simon_hed]

I had a '98 Classic that leaked like a sieve. I now have an 06 Nomad that I have 10,500 on and it has not leaked a drop of anything.

Don't know what to tell you, other than that. After my experience with that 98 (and my past experience with Hondas) I was hellbent that a Honda would be my next bike. Like another poster said, they just didn't have the package the Nomad offers. So I bought the Nomad and added the extended warranty.

[bross]

Sorry don't have a Nomad, a meanstreak but the motors are essentially the same. I have over 40,000kms on my meanstreak and it has never leaked anything. The oil is always sitting on the full mark come drain time as well. The vulcan 1500/1600 motor has been around a long time and is known for it's reliability (albeit loud reliability ). I'd buy any vulcan with confidence.

Originally Posted by ispeed77

the only thing the cap does is whistle on some bikes, not a big deal

Yep mine does that too. It's just because the fuel injection is a pressurized system, you can crack the gas cap to relieve the pressure but I just quit worrying about it.

[ispeed77]

Originally Posted by bross

Yep mine does that too. It's just because the fuel injection is a pressurized system, you can crack the gas cap to relieve the pressure but I just quit worrying about it.

yup, that's what i did. oh, that, and crack the throttle so i wouldn't hear the whistle

[bross]

Originally Posted by ispeed77

yup, that's what i did. oh, that, and crack the throttle so i wouldn't hear the whistle

Mine never whistled while riding, only after I shut it down, about two minutes later it would start to whistle and sing it's happy little song for about 20 minutes. I just figured it was content after having a good run.

[ispeed77]

i honestly can't remember too much whistling from mine either.

[Classic]

Oil leaks on the big Vulcan engines seems, and I need to emphasize the word "seems" to have been an infrequent problem in the earlier years. I have just over 27,000 miles on mine and no leaks...knock on wood. If Vulcans were notorious leakers, I wouldn't have one and this is my second Vulcan.

[2WheelFun]

I recently sold my 1500 with 27,000 miles on it and no leaks from it.

[BigJohn]

My '00 Nomad has 21 or 22K and no leaks that I haven't induced. And there is no whistling.

[CTRider]

I'm thinking that Webby is confusing the Nomad with a V-Rod...

....or a Road King, or a Soft Tail....

[fretbuzz]

Originally Posted by CTRider

I'm thinking that Webby is confusing the Nomad with a V-Rod...

....or a Road King, or a Soft Tail....

[CTRider]

I joke, but it's somewhat from my own experience. We had a guy take a ride with us with a brand new Road King. Beautiful bike, but it started leaking oil 3/4 of the way into the ride. He had less than 500 miles on the thing.

I fully appreciate the history, the beauty and the appeal, but the KZ almost 30 years old. The worst offense is the petcock has a very slow drip if you leave it in the "on" position for extended storage.

[fretbuzz]

Originally Posted by CTRider

I joke, but it's somewhat from my own experience. We had a guy take a ride with us with a brand new Road King. Beautiful bike, but it started leaking oil 3/4 of the way into the ride. He had less than 500 miles on the thing.

Yeah. One "marked his territory" as they like to say in the parking space next to my bike. It put down a circle about 8 inches across in less than 4 hours.

[bross]

Originally Posted by nomad16

Yeah. One "marked his territory" as they like to say in the parking space next to my bike. It put down a circle about 8 inches across in less than 4 hours.

Yeah but remember Harley used that for marketing purposes and turned leaky motors into a positive?????

[stargazertony]

Hi All: /rant on What I don't understand is why some listen to a few complaints and seem to take them as indisputable fact and completely ignore the vast majority of owners who offer only praise for the bikes. /rant off

Tony.

[bross]

Originally Posted by stargazertony

Hi All: /rant on What I don't understand is why some listen to a few complaints and seem to take them as indisputable fact and completely ignore the vast majority of owners who offer only praise for the bikes. /rant off

Tony.

Yep I have to agree, it's pretty easy in this age of the internet for a few negative comments to get repeated on multiple boards and then rehashed so that it looks like a serious problem, when in reality it only affected a few riders. Not to take away from the pain and aggravation that those affected riders went through.

I see this happening all too often with the BMW now. The servo brakes are crap and are going to kill me, and my final drive is going to leave me on the side of the road. There have been failures of both components but there sure aren't many actual documented cases and there are way more BMWs out there happily rolling down the road than there are broken down so I'm willing to take my chances and take the internet noise for what it is, noise.

[CTRider]

People who are displeased tend to rant more often than people who are pleased with a product tend to praise it.

There's the old phrase, "When someone is happy, they'll tell one or two people. However, when someone is unhappy, they'll tell ten."

I don't think that is true anymore. I think the ratio is even worse than that.

With the internet, someone who is unhappy can tell literally hundreds - or even thousands - of people about their poor experience. On the other hand, most people who are happy tend not to say anything at all unless asked about it.

In addition, anyone can have an opinion on the internet. The secret is sorting them out from the facts. If someone has a leaky Nomad and mentions they have a leaky Nomad, we see a problem with that particular bike. If more people speak up and claim they have the same problem, then you can make the connection that something might be wrong.

However, if some bloke goes online and says "My Nomad leaks oil - Nomads suck!", you have to take that with a grain of salt, especially when the piling on begins (i.e. "Yeah, I hear they leak oil" and "Yeah, Hondas are sooooo much better.").

A good example of this is with the experience I had helmet shopping. When I looked up the EXO 400, most people seemed happy with it, but most mentioned they were noisy. The reviews were fairly consistant and seemed reliable - except for one. This particular person trashed the helmet and claimed he would never buy another one. His reason? It didn't fit him. He blamed the brand as opposed to his lack of trying before buying.

Generally, the best reviews bring up both good and bad points. A glowing review that doesn't bring up any negatives is something I usually give less weight along with the all negative review that has nothing good to say at all. However, a good pro/con review can be very helpful. Those are the ones to really pay attention to. When you see the same positive and negative traits in those reviews, that's when you can establish a full picture of a product. Anything else is just blind fandom or biased product bashing.