People would be relatively safe buying any bike from 2000-2006.

 

Makes me glad I own an '06.

 

This is just silly. There are quite a few around here that have very high mileage and very few problems. Some have problems and some don't. I did have to replace my IPB and compensator at 26k miles but knock on wood I haven't seen any further issues.

 

Give it some time. You will see.

 

No, one bike I was watching made a 165k and he tore it down for grins because he felt it should be tired but it really wasn't showing much wear. Out of the group I ride with, I am the only one that has had an IPB and compensator fail.

 

The weakness is in the flywheels and rods. Doubt he pulled them apart.

 

Only in high performance builds. They had some problems in 07 but I haven't seen or heard much since then.

 

I had the 5th gear pulley bearing fail on my '03 road king about a month and a half after purchase. Thankfully I bought the aftermarket warranty package, as they paid for the repair. BUT the STEALERSHIP (New Orleans Harley Davidson) held the bike for over TWO months for repairs.

I brought it in for a noise in the transmission. The "technician" said inner primary bearing, without taking anything apart. Well, the parts came in and they found no problem with the inner primary bearing. So they then went on a hunt to find the issue, after getting authorization from the warranty company to keep going. They found the problem and began fixing it. They claim the parts took 5-6 weeks to come in as they are "non-stocked" parts and only a few road kings were made that year. This came from the service manager (who has the people skills of a snake) and it takes time to get parts in.

I talked to a friend who works on his own bikes and he had the same bearing go out at the same mileage (~20,000 miles), and he just changed the same part out on a friends road king. Both of the bikes were '03 road kings. He said that his dealership had the parts in inside of a week, so why did it take my dealership so long? My friend in the parts department told me it took them several weeks to get the parts on order, so that was the hang up, not the B.S. I was told by the service manager. The service writer desk had a sign that all parts were ordered next day at appropriate charge, yet the parts department said they never order next day outside of a few special cases.

When I finally got my bike back I wrote a letter to Harley Davidson Corporate HQ. I got a phone call back that said effectively "sorry for your loss of use of the bike for two months. Each dealership is an independent franchise and you must take up your issues with them." I would have been happy with a $100 gift card, or any other similar item, but they gave me NOTHING. Needless to say I was not a happy owner. I have told people do not trust the dealership to tell you the truth unless you KNOW the mechanic, parts guy, and service writer, and DO NOT count on corporate HQ to help with anything.

This is why I am hesitant to buy anything from a dealership. Thankfully the three dealerships within 30 miles are all good about parts in stock and helping fix problems. I will not by choice deal with New Orleans Harley Davidson for any repairs, nor any dealerships owned by the same people. As such I do most of my repairs myself, or have an indy shop do what I can't/won't do myself.

 

Oh and on relatively stock motors the lower end on these bikes are well known to go through several top end rebuilds before needing lower end work.

 

Im just saying that with a lot of miles on all the 07+ engines you are going to see more failures. They really dropped the ball. HD made them easier to manufacture, not more durable even considering the larger displacement and potential displacement.