Ok, as most of you know me by now. I have owned a harley before but only really owned it because I had to but i rode other bikes. I have never really ridden it but now I own a 2009 FLHTC electra glide which is still in the shop being built and i sold my other bike to pay for the work on the Electraglide.

So I have been borrowing other people's spare bikes or wives bikes so I can get around to events etc...
In the last 4 weeks

• two bike have broken down because of blown seals on the engine.
• 1 bike lost its air filter because the bolts sheared off.
• another bike lost it's exhaust because of sheared bolts.
• Fork seals started to leak.

Now not just these bikes but other bikes have also been breaking down as well.

The most painful breakdown was the loss of a drive belt.. Oh my god... I now realise how retarded the engine designs are..... I thought it was a 10 minute job...

I know most of the bikes were in the shop over winter getting serviced etc, so I felt safe with the bikes, but in the past 4 weeks we have done about 9k and we have spent so much time and money just keeping the bikes running. These are not old bikes they range from 2001 - 2012

However is this normal?
If yes why in the hell do people accept this?

I intend to put on another 15 -20k in this summer however I am now re-evaluating my holidays as I just don't want my bike to breakdown when i'm in the middle of nowhere when I now know how much it's going to cost in time and money to get repaired.

The bikes that were the most reliable that have not broken down yet have been the VRods. They seem to have the best motors.. Why doesn't harley migrate to these engines? they seem to be the best and most reliable.

 

Maybe it's you and not the bikes.

 

As in what? my riding style? riding the bike to hard?

 

the only thing i can say is, if the bikes were beat the crap out of then the wont last.... how many miles are on the bikes, how were they maintained, how were they rode, how many owners did they have.... so many things can play into how reliable the bike is, not everyone owns one with pride and takes really good care of their rides

and no i dont think its a standard that harley made the bikes to break down like that... and i think the changes the moco have made, have been an improvement over the older motors, except the evo its been the most durable of all the motors...

IMHO

 

I have had two harleys and the only problem I had was a fork seal covered under warranty

 

So, are you going to trade your Electra Glide for a V Rod when it's out of the shop and ready to ride?

I had my compensator go out at 10k and my counterbalance at 15k and now, after 20k I have a horrible vibration at 70-75mph but 2 shops don't think it's anything abnormal. At 60, my mirrors are useless. But I'll ride it until it falls apart and then tell them...it's not anything abnormal.

 

I've been riding Harleys for a while now & have NEVER had a mechanical break down anywhere? Maybe its you & how your maintain your bikes or the bikes that you rode?
The vast majority of people here have had thousands of trouble free miles.

 

The only thing I am getting from this is do not loan out your second bike or wife's bike to someone. They will blow seals, belts and other parts.

 

The vrod was one of the bikes I was looking at when I was purchasing the bikes. I just didn't like the riding style. I loved the engine.
Instead of doing the 107 upgrade on my glide engine I would have taken an upgrade to a Vrod engine if i could have. But that was not possible.

Wow im surprised that it's acceptable to have the issues you have mentioned. Im not sure people would be so patient with their cars etc...

The belt wasn't on the bike I was riding. As I said it was someone elses

Well the maintenance of the bikes were maintained by the people before I borrowed them as I borrowed them for the rides. Before the rides I made sure the oils, Lights, wheels were checked and asked when the last services were done. May be it is me. Maybe I'm asking to much from the bikes. I dont ride bikes like a nancy I ride them in a hard aggressive style and when around heavy traffic a hard defencive style. I have paid for most of the issues so no problem with the people and mostly they felt embarrassed. As they were riding with me they said I wasn't riding to extreme and felt the bikes shouldn't have broken down.

 

Harley's are meant to riddin. Since you only have a 6 week riding season, you have to take care of them while they sit for 10 months.