If you're the owner of a 2025 Honda Africa Twin 1100, Rebel 1100, or XL750 Transalp, you'll want to pay attention to the most recent recall information from American Honda. Due to a manufacturing issue with crankcase sealing bolts on some bikes, there may be unexpected oil seepage that could end up on the rear tire of affected motorcycles.
I probably don't need to tell you this, but oil is one thing you definitely don't want anywhere near your tires if you want to keep the rubber side down, where it belongs. As Honda describes it, "if oil is splattered onto the rear tire, traction can be significantly reduced, increasing the risk of a crash or injury."
According to American Honda's records, approximately 1,016 motorcycles, or about one percent of the population, may be affected by this recall. Please be aware that the chronology of global Honda's investigation (that's American Honda's parent company) makes note of the problem first being noticed on a pair of CB1000s during an inspection at the factory in Japan, toward the end of 2024.
Since that time, this issue has appeared on various bikes, in various global markets around the world. Honda has been investigating it this entire time to determine what the issue is and how it happened, and eventually found that a certain range of sealing bolts were not manufactured to proper specifications due to key errors in the manufacturing process. The description of the actual issue gets extremely detailed, if you're interested in reading it.
For now, I'd just caution that even if you're outside the US, where this recall from our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been issued, I would check with your country's Honda customer service to see if any similar recall is on the books for your 2025 Africa Twin 1100, Rebel 1100, or XL750 Transalp.
For those of us in the US, American Honda notified its dealer network about this issue on May 27, 2025. It plans to notify registered owners of potentially affected bikes on or about July 25, 2025. A corrected component was introduced into the assembly line for these bikes on or around February 17, 2025, so bikes produced after that date should not have this issue.
If you believe your bike may be part of the affected population, the recall service will involve visiting your local authorized Honda Powersports dealer to have the affected crankcase sealing bolts replaced by improved ones that were manufactured to appropriate specifications. If owners have already paid to have these parts replaced prior to the recall, they may be eligible for reimbursement for that service, pending appropriate documentation to back their claims.
American Honda's campaign number for this recall is KS2. Owners may contact Honda Customer Service at 1-866-784-1870. Additionally, owners may contact the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-888-275-9171) or go to www.nhtsa.gov.
