I have seen some real Rube Goldberg engineering on these motorcycles throughout the years. It's like the engineers designing them have never owned a motorcycle. A case in point is the removal of the radio box in a touring bike.... I can think of a 100 ways that could have been made more serviceable. Another is the way the belt and drive is designed. Why do you have to pull the primary apart to change the belt? Is this all just to drive service hours in the shop?

I was originally going to title this thread, if you could punch a MoCo engineer, who would it be and why, but I don't want to promote violence. However when your knuckles are all bloody from a shitty design it can alter your personality.

So let's hear it...what pisses you off?

 

You've never worked on a bike where it takes an hour to change the air cleaner, have you.

 

Had a Yamahaha Maxim that you needed to pull the seat off. Only took a sec though, then I went to K&N per carb.

My ATV is the same way....

The stock Harley is easy to get to if you have a wrench... I'll surrender that

 

I'd rather punch all of the people that wear a collared shirt to work everyday and have no mechanical or engineering experience and then get on the Internet and start acting like they know more about engineering and fixing motorcycles than professional engineers and mechanics

 

I hope that is not meant for me, I have 2 engineering degrees. I bet the engineers at MoCo wear collared shirts. In fact the CEO of MoCo is from Ithaca NY and a mechanical engineer from RPI and I don't think he ever owned a Harley.

To each his own.

 

haaa, didn't take long for this to start going down hill...lol

However, change the location of the damned oil filter for cryin' out loud...there's gotta be a better spot....somewhere...

 

The team that has yet to relocate the oil filter...

 

Have you guys seen how hard it is to install an aftermarket air filter on the Indian Scout? I believe you have to remove part of the frame to do it and if you do it wrong it could possibly damage the frame. I installed a K&N air filter on my Iron 883 last week in less than 5 minutes. One of the reasons I love my Harley.

 

Yes, changing a belt is a pain, but it's because back when the big twin was designed in 1935, the rear drive was a chain with a master link, easy to replace. The primary drive and the rear chain on the same side is because Bill Harley didn't think the Knucklehead frame strong enough to handle the twisting forces a "crossover" drive would have imparted. The belt came later. Fortunately, I've only changed the belt on mine twice in 22 years/200,000 miles.


Most routine service on my Softail is a snap compared to the metric bikes I've owned. That's the biggest reason I own it.


I do wish Harley hadn't deleted the "piano hinge" rear fender. That, the belt drive, and the rear disc brake have vastly complicated rear tire changes far beyond what Mr. Harley foresaw.

 

Truthfully I am pretty satisfied with my Heritage. Its certainly not as simple or easy as my '74 XLCH or a few others I have had but that is just how it is nowadays.