i apologize as this is gonna be long:

I recently took my 08 deluxe in to my local indie to have him do the 1000 mile service.

I should also add that when I picked up my brand new bike at the dealership, i don't think they were ready for me as all the stickers were still on it, it wasn't detailed, and after checking the tires the next day, they were 10 psi's low in each tire. basically, they didn't set it up properly in my opinion. I had them pick it up the following monday and recheck the set up and detail it properly.

So... back to the story. I had my local indie who i trust infinitely do my 1000 mile service. He commented on how poorly the dealership had set up the bike, pointing out the pinched couduit from the clutch cable in the switch housing. He said, not to worry, they'd get it perfect. When I picked it up from my indie he said all was good, but that my front end was loose as a goose and he adjusted it. I never had a wobble, but i did notice some bounciness in the forks which may or may not be normal. The bike felt perfect after I picked it up, but after some miles i still noticed that bouncy feeling in the forks so I took it back to the indie for him to check the fall away again. He said that it did loosen up a bit, but they weren't shocked as it was so loose to begin with. I had them re-check it one more time after that and it was a teeny tiny bit loose and they re-adjusted it again. The owner told me that if I thought it was looseing up again, he'd call harley for me to give it a real good look over to make sure that there was nothing wrong with the front end. As **** and neurotic as I am I had them make the call and had harley pick up my bike and check out the front end.

Harley called me back two days after they picked up the bike and said that everything looked good. I believe they took the front end apart and check all hardware, the wheel, the spokes etc... they adjusted the front end to factory specs, rode it 25 miles and re-checked. they said it stayed where they left it and did not loosen up. The kindly asked me to ride it for another 100 miles and they would recheck it. I was impressed with the service and satisfied with what they had done...that is until i picked up the bike.

I should have turned right back around and gave it back to them. I am kicking myself for not doing that. The bike felt very wierd. It felt almost difficult to keep it straight up. It wanted to lean with very little input from me. It almost felt unsafe. I thought that it might be in my head, but no effing way.. it never felt like this before!!! Also, in my garage when I was backing it up, it would HOWL from the front end. Yeah, probably the brakes, but it's really loud and really high pitched and it didn't sound like that when they picked it up, that's for sure. I can only assume that it was put back together a bit wrong.

I called harley to tell them about the handling and they said that it was adjusted to factory specs, test ridden and no problems were found. I can't believe that they didn't hear the tremendously loud noise when backing up! They told me to bring it back in and they'd check it out. I instead called my indie who instructed me to get the bike over to him, and not to them.

I think they have the alignment on the tire wrong. The squealing proves that something was put back together wrong. Kinda hoping you guys may have some ideas.

thanks, and sorry for the long post.

Rob

 

I can't help you on what the problem is other than it sounds like the biggest problem is the dealer.

First, I would have not have picked up the bike in the first place until it was detailed and ready to go.

Second, I would have only taken it back to the dealer and insisted that they fix it, taking to your indy sets yourself up for the dealer to have someone else to blame it on.

Good luck, I hope you get it worked out.

 

I don't want the dealer to touch it again. Especially since they rode it and thought that there was nothing wrong.

I here ya on setting the dealer up to blame the indie. Thank goodness that this particular indie used to be the service department manager at this dealer and has a very good relationship with them. That said, he's not impressed with how they set up the bike.

If there was something wrong done by the dealer, I am going to ask my indie to call them and let them know what they had done. They will absolutely listen to him. He's the one that called them in the first place to have them look at the bike. The dealer also commented to me on the phone about how wonderful a job this indie did on my 1000 mile service. I have that message saved on my phone.

Thanks for reading.

Rob

 

I don't trust people to work on my stuff. My prev bikes never saw a dealership after I bought them. I bought the Softail service manual when I was in Tacoma a couple weeks ago and will do my own work.

I noticed my bars are not aligned properly on my bike. I was thinking about taking it back to the dealer to get them lined up straight. The dealer I bought from is 53 miles away and I don't want them handing it to some Newb mechanic. I'll just read up on how the bars are mounted and loosen the risers to set them straight and then torque per specs. They are turned to the right a little. I guess they were not straight when they tightened the risers.

When I got my bike it had just been delivered. I saw it outside and told them to start the paperwork for me. They serviced it up the next morning and I picked it up that afternoon.

 

I hear ya man, my local dealer will never work on my bike again. I was only saying that to you because it was new and you purchased it from them.

It is really cool your indy has that kind of relationship with the dealer, just hope he can work out the problems for you. Good Luck

 

I'm sure most shops only have a couple of trained techs. Most are just mechanics that may have a little experience and can be hired cheaper. Which guy do ya think will work on your bike each trip? How do ya know if it was handled by someone who went to school to be a mechanic? I went to a special school to become an aircraft mechanic and had to pass written, oral and technical tests before the FAA would give me my mechanics certificate. Bad thing is, aircraft maint shops can hire non certificated mechanics also as long as certain rules are followed. Who would ya rather have doing the work?

 

I was thinking alignment before I read the end of your post. Some alignments are offset and if the tech didn't know that (aprentice), it would be really screwed up.

 

Same with mine when I got it... I noticed it on the ride home, but didn't give it huge thought at the time. I figured I'd have it in soon enough and have them deal with it at that time, as they were close to 50 miles away and I'd have to make a service appointment for it.

I rode it as is for a couple of weeks, and the more I rode the more obvious it became, so I decided to take it back in. I made the appointment, rode out there first thing that day, sat for several hours waiting, and they finally said it was fixed. I checked it out and it was still as far off as it had been, and told them. They had a service mechanic come out, with another guy straddling the front wheel, and cranked the bars hard a couple of times until it was straight! Nice work... waited 6 hours for that???

Oh, and they gave me the third-degree when I first brought it in, as they thought it might have been dropped or some other negligent cause. Friggin' stealers! The dealership was great, but their service department left a very bad taste in my mouth, and it hasn't been back since. I too bought the service manual and have been doing my own service ever since. Just be sure you log the service in your manual, with receipts, so that they can't burn you if you have warranty issues as they also gave me the third-degree once I'd gone over 1000 miles and hadn't brought it back to them for the first service. I told them I'd done it myself, and had the receipts and log to show for it, and they shut the h@ll up.

Roger

 

thanks for the replies guys.

I have the utmost respect for this dealership...at least the sales department anyway. They gave me a wonderful deal on my deluxe and an incredible trade in for my sportster. however my respect for their service department is at an all time LOW.

This is my second bike. Every single bit of service has been done by this particular indie. Everything he touches turns to gold. Seriously!!! They are incredible. Ask anyone that lives around here and they'll say the same. Even the dealership agrees.

I am glad that this indie advised me to bring it to him. I am actually at work and he had me call his cousin to pick up my bike from my house and bring it to their shop.

If there is something that the dealership did wrong when putting the front end back together, I do hope that the indie calls them to let them know.

I will keep you posted and should know more on monday. Sad i'll be missing out on some weekend riding, but we're supposed to get the remnants of that hurricane, so riding would probably be out anyway.
Thanks-
Rob