maybe i should post this somewhere else, but this is about the only forum i use so here i go. i have been considering handlebar risers for my 05 fatboy for about 2 months. i have researched it through h.d forums. many riders opinions and many independent bike shops, but yesterday i was riding all day and stoped at a local dealer, because i wanted to see the ones i have seen on bikes on this forum. the parts man looks through his book and then says, well they dont make any for a 05fl. but if you had a fx i could help you. i asked again. are you sure no risers for a 05 fatboy. nope he said. you will have to buy different handlebars, cables, brake line. and it will be around 400. dollars.w.t.f.... so i just smiled and said thanks but maybe i will look on line for aftermarket ones. to which he responded, you can do that but i assure you you wont find anything.so i laughed and left. went to local mom and pop shop and ordered risers from drag specialities for 50 bones. what was he trying to do. make a big sale for a commission or did he just not know what he was doing. they lost a sale, cause i might have bought the harley ones if that had shown them to me. they have lost my business for sure now. but i guess it dont matter. i only bought 2 bikes and thousands of dollars of stuff there. and my brother bought a bike there also..back under my rock.............kerry

 

Well i look at it this way some dealers have old dogs working the sales counter that know there **** and know that hey this part will fit even though it says it wont or i know Drag or JP has it even thought HD doesn't have it.

And then you have the dealerships that have guys that should have never been put behind the parts counter as they don't know a derby cover from a timing cover from a license plate. You ask them for anything that is not spelled out in the HD book or right in front of there face and they are lost.

Lucky for me i have some good parts guys at the places i do visit.

 

I'm always amazed when I go into a dealer and know more about what's in their own parts manuals and how to find it than they do.
Its so much 'fun' training idiots, isn't it.

 

Find a new dealer I,ve heard of places like that but have not ran into them my self
My dealer showed me how to save all that money change my bars to what I needed and the cost was 50 dollars and they look like they belong there

 

+1 for me. I have 1 parts guy at my local shop that I go to. I've traveled to many shops around the country, and it always amazes me how little some of these guys know. If it's not in the parts catalog, they don't know a damn thing about it. Wears me out!

 

I just use this forum to find what works.

 

I can't stand the attitude of the guys at my local dealer.The parts mgr is great, he will bend over backwards to help and is always courteous. The two wienies who work with him are flippant and rude. I went and bought2 loosechrome bolts Saturday and one of the wienies waited on me. he handed me one goodbolt and one with rust all over the head. I asked if he couldfind another with no rust. He stated they were pretty much all like that, they had been in a flood. I asked again if he could look and maybe find one LESS rusty. He says flippantly"OK, let's start over......they're all a little rusty, got it?" and that was the end of the conversation. I handed him my $2 even though I could have left the bolts on the counter, but keeping a good relationshipwith the dealership is important. Long story, but just an example.All in all not a big deal, but it leaves me feeling like my business is unwanted. I bought my bike there and have spent literally $1000's on parts.....would a little courtesy be so difficult?

 

More often than not that's the case around here...the dealershipshire low paid know-nothings to man the parts counter so they go "by the book"...if I need a stock part I always go to the counter with the part #'s...if I want something that's "off the beaten path" I usually come to the forums and ask ???'s or talk to one of the HD service guys I know personally...He's built at least three customs (including a drag bike)...HE knows his ****!

 

I avoid Harley Dealers and their pompous idiot employees at ALL COSTS!

Flash

 

I've only been riding for a few years now, but I do get the feeling that I know way more that most of the morons working at the dealer.
After about the 5th trip in to ask questions, I realized that I had a better idea of what I was talking about than they did.