I have a couple air tools but would never use on a motor for a bike. If they used anything over an inch pounds air ratchet then they have poor techs.

 

Looks like a consensus building here.

The break looks fresh otherwise it would have grime on it like the surrounding casting. Hitting a pothole would not cause that kind of damage.

Something that would cause that kind of break would be something you would know about when it happened.

I call foul!! And I would take it up with the manager.

 

If your anything like me with your bike, you would have seen that strap flopping in the wind long ago. dunno know about the rest of you but it looks like you can drill a new hole and tap to fix, as someone already said take it back and discuss with the dealer. if they refuse find a good indy and never turn back.

rk classic

 

Is the bolt hole or bolt look cross threaded ?

 

What John said about the threads got me thinking so I zoomed in on them and I have to agree with the threads being demolished. Almost looks like they grabbed a bolt with the wrong thread pattern and tried zipping it in with an air tool. If they did it by hand then that tech need to learn proper tool feel and also that you don't go beast mode on any part of a motor. They are torqued to inch pounds for a reason and the few parts that are foot pounds on the motor aren't astronomically high poundage.

This is why I'm glad I went to school for motorcycle repair. I may not work in the industry, but I can do my own repairs and when it comes to talking shop and spotting tech f ups I'm not left in the dark.

 

Just to give a little more background, I stored the bike away since last november till about a month ago. I have only ridden the bike 2 times this year and both were really short rides. I was thinking the same thing and did think it looked way to clean. Never thought about it being a mechanical error and they would straight up lie to me. Its a pretty reputable dealership (bergen County Harley Davidson) so its shocking to me that they would do something as dirty as this. I honestly don't even know how to go about bringing this up with the dealership from the start. It does look like the ground should be bolted onto it. I'm not the most mechanically inclined so would have never noticed it honestly. I have the receipt from the dealership saying that they stopped doing the 5k service because they "found" the damage while working on it. how would I even prove that they were the ones that made the mistake? Does every dealership have a camera in the repair center? what a f'ing nightmare.

 

i'm just wondering does anyone know what part connects to that screw opening? would there be any reason why the mechanic would have to touch that area? how serious is this damage causing the bike?

 

you should be under your original warranty? or at least extended if you got it. its like the dealer messed up. im not even sure you could bump that? would the wishbone link be scratched to ****? and or why didnt the frame get hit? bs talk to the manger and owner...

 

I didn't get the extended warranty and the one year warranty was up since 2015. My thoughts exactly, I wouldn't even know where to begin on figuring out if the mechanic was the one to mess it up since I wasn't in the shop when he was first working on it.

 

worst case scenario if I'm screwed on this, is it safe to ride this thing with that piece missing?