Little bit of a long read but wanted to get opinions on this situation. There are pics for some of the issues and for the others I can get pics if it would help.

Short background: I just bought this bike a month ago and it was used with just under 800 miles on it. It now has 2400, so it's running fine and hasn't left me stranded. History from the dealer was that an old guy owned it and decided to trade in for whatever reason. There were two small paint chips on it, one front fender and one rear, from a "dropped rake" and no windshield came with the bike. Whatever, I got what I felt was a fair deal and the dealership has been great to me ever since.

That being said, as I've been going through the bike I keep finding issues that tell a more bleak story:
--Found that one of the studs, on the under fender bracket that holds the rider seat on, was broken. Got that replaced.
--The rider seat itself is torn underneath and had black electrical tape covering the tears. No biggie, works fine and is being replaced anyway.
--Tab under rider seat is chewed up pretty bad. Again, being replaced so not a big deal. Just indicative.
--The saddlebag bolts were chewed up (as if they'd been taken off many times by tools not quite meant for it) and they seem to go in at a slight upwards angle. Rear left one doesn't get all the way tight but good enough.
--One of the cables coming down through the handlebar had the sheathing worn away just below the exit from the bottom of the handlebar and there was a small bit of exposed wire. I taped that until I get a chance to replace the bars and will properly fix it then.
--Recently developed a slight tick and does the "sigh" at some shutdowns. Dealer service dept said all is normal, don't worry about it.
--Lately my bike has been resetting the clock and seems sluggish to start...sometimes. I keep it on a tender when I'm not riding. Today, I pulled it off the tender and after securing that cable, tried firing it up and it just did not want to fire, rolled over a few times but wouldn't start. Turned it off, waited 2 minutes, tried again and away we went. Figured the battery was on the way out and decided, when I got back, to dig into it to make sure that was the issue and there wasn't something else obvious. Got everything removed to take out the battery and noticed a few things:

-Positive battery cable shroud is tattered/torn
-Fused plug (lack of better term) is velcroed on top of main fuse housing. This may be normal but doesn't look "factory" to me since there is a bolt hole to, seemingly, mount it.

I pulled the battery and put it on my tester. All good. While in there I tightened the two connected grounds on the left of the frame right above the battery and checked every other fuse. All good. Decided to put it all back together with these minor corrections (and a good cleaning). Tightened everything properly and fired it up. It's never started so strong and confidently. Awesome, problem seems to be fixed. We'll see in the coming weeks.

My questions are:
--Did I get some kind of parts bike or did the previous owner just gorilla everything, trade it in and now I get to fix it?
--Worth trying to warranty any of this since it's not technically "broken" but is definitely not "right"?
--Does any of this look normal to you guys?

I'm new to Harleys and willing to accept that maybe this is just how things are and I'll need to get used to it. But it sure doesn't look right. See pics for the above mentioned items. Also, don't worry, I was cleaning the bike while doing all this as well. So that dirt is all gone!

Underside of seat

Tightened these grounds

Positive battery cable shroud torn

Underseat tab chewed up

Fuse velcroed on top of main fuse housing

 

I'd go with that, way too many red flags on that bike.
Someone on here has a signature line to the effect of, the worst thing to happen to a Harley-Davidson is the owner..(Very loosely paraphrased)
Sounds like previous owner isn't mechanically inclined.
Sucks you're having so many issues, 2018+ FLHCS are great bikes.Hope you get some sort of remedy to this.

 

The fuse velcroed to the top of the fuse box is normal, that's the way it is on my 2021. The rest of the stuff looks like the previous owner was ham handed and just slamed things together

 

Sounds like bike may have been dropped and it may have bad electrical gremlins that they didn’t tell you about. But start with the simply things. Check to make sure the battery terminals are tight. You’ll be surprised how many times they’ll work their way loose and the stuff it can cause. Also check to make sure there’s not a ton of corrosion on the cables. Any electoral issues start with the battery and grounds first.

 

Thanks for the replies so far! Good to know the fuse thing is good to go and the other stuff is actually wrong and I'm not just crazy.

I definitely got the impression it was dropped and attempts were made, at home, to fix stuff. In the end, half the fun of motorcycling is wrenching and fixing things and, other than the weird starting sometimes, the machine runs strong. This does mean that I'll be holding off on warranty voiding upgrades until everything is sorted properly.

While I wish a more accurate history had been given, the dealer really has been great about everything so far. Only dealership I've been back to after purchasing a vehicle.

 

Hope you get it worked out. The Heritage is an awesome machine.

 

Yeah, sounds like the previous owner had hands of stone and monkeyed around too much. The good news is that it appears he didn't do any serious life-threatening damage. Sounds like you're on top of it, though you did and will have more work than you should on a 2020. I got a 2020 Heritage too and I haven't done a damn thing to it except beef it up with a stage one, apes, etc.

Those yahoos who sold you the bike should have warned you, if they had been honest. Those guys go over trade-ins pretty closely. I'd give them a call, no need to be a hard-*** or anything, just let them know what's going on and how you don't appreciate it on a bike that new. Could be they'd cut you a break on some fixes. They damn sure should.

 

A dropped bike might explain the missing windshield and maybe the apparent angle on the saddlebag bolts. I wonder if the fender support is tweaked a bit. It's likely not a big deal but I'd check the wheel alignment just to be sure you've got a straight frame. I can't explain the mess with the underside of the seat. It seems like the rest of the issues are electrical and you're on top of it with your battery connection clean-up. That bare handlebar wire is a concern. Maybe somebody tried to change handlebars but got over their head and aborted the mission, who knows.
The velcro arrangement on the main fuse holder looks non-stock but it's on my '19 too. Also, an occasional wheeze upon stopping is completely normal with these engines. You shut the motor down at a certain spot and it will equalize pressure. I don't know why my twin cams and Evo never did it but the M8's do. My motor is also a bit 'clicky' at times, definitely more mechanical racket than any other bike I've ever had, except maybe my old BSA's.
The new Softails are an excellent platform. I'm sure you'll get everything sorted out and you'll have a solid ride.

 

Thank you guys for the responses. I definitely intend to follow up with the dealer and see what we can work out. While I'm not thrilled that all these things are coming to light, they do seem to be reasonable people and have treated me well to date. So I expect no issues in getting this lined out.

As for the frame, I'm gonna go check that here in a bit but I'm curious what the solution would be if it were a bent frame. Surely that one would have legal impacts. The bike rides amazingly well and has given me no issues other than what's mentioned in the thread. I do ride in all weather and it really just couldn't care less. Definitely enjoying the bike and don't mind putting the time in to get it where I want it. I'll keep y'all updated on what happens at the dealer.

 

The chewed-up positive cable sheathing might be caused by clamps from jump-starting. Might explain the seat wear as well (on and off often).