If you do your research and present yourself as you have a clue of the product, it doesn't seem to be any trouble with dealers and parts. Luckily with RK's most part numbers cross deep into later years but I'll still walk in with part numbers in hand to make the process easier for a most often green horn parts counter person, if you leave it up to him to locate the parts on a older bike, they will mysteriously don't stock it.
Had a plastic part of a choke cable vibrate and break this year in South Dakota and Black Hills Harley was helpful with knowledge of parts replacement and actually broke down the individual part of the cable needed, the counter person tried to put the cable back together and failed but he did his job that allowed me to ride.

My occupation is a shop foreman for a large International truck dealership and many have hit it on here "experiance", fortunatly I have several seasoned techs that jump at the chance to work on a older diesel truck, the problem that follows a older vehicle is when disturbing a area of it usually snowballs to another failure. Harley dealers usually don't have the seasoned techs I have and depend on the social media breed which I also have a bunch of them but will always bring in the old experianced tech when things go wrong with a social media tech, that is a proven fact.

Dealers situation is all about the profit margin, warranty is a major role but pays half of a normal repair so scan, replace a failed sensor is basic so when a HD flat rate tech enters the world of a older machine in a flat rate condition, it is usually a loser dollar wise plus less technical reader systems and experiance becomes a problem for the repair which many have spoke of and modern HD techs haven't walked this path.

Bottom line to blame dealer lack of older bike repair is profit margin! corporation type business practices influence this direction which is simply a person with little product knowledge, excels in emails, political characteristics, reads spreadsheets while crapping, subpar golf game and more than often bad business decisions but promote the future product is the answer because that's who signs his checks. I'll sometimes show techs my emails from corporate decision makers when a WTF condition has become initiated so keep an open mind when you visit a dealership and their direction, I explained it's driving factor earlier in this paragraph.

 

I know the dealer you speak of. I was frustrated with having to order a pretty common part from then once and asked, "What DO you stock?" Guy said "Sparkplugs". Never missed a beat.

In their defense, they have a LOT of makes to stock for.

 

Seems to me 10-15 years ago this problem did not exist at the dealerships. They use to work on any year bike you brought them.

 

It used to be they all worked the same, fuel, air, spark, exhaust. They still do, but in a convoluted way.

 

25 years ago I had friends who owned Shovelhead engined bikes that were not very old, and they had the same issue with the dealers refusing to work on their bikes.

This is nothing new.

 

We have a great Indy and they love the EVO's. I get all my parts from them. In fact the owner rides an EVO. Love it..

 

Just lucky here I guess... No problem here with local dealer and Evo parts/service. I, too, go in with part numbers in hand and have already explored options ahead of time. At least one of their parts people used to ride an Evo RK and loves the challenge of finding odd-ball parts...often goes 'in the back' and comes out 5 minutes later with something that will work. I try to make it a partnership...not me handing them a problem expecting them to perform miracles. The only failure we've had was in trying to find all the passenger back rest hardware for my '96 RK...nada. (Yes, that was a hint for anyone who might have it laying around.)

Same in Service...last tech said 'I love this bike' with a big grin when I picked mine up. They've never balked at working on it, including a recent electrical issue (Wheels don't do electrical...I'm a dumb@$$ when it comes to electrical failures).

If possible, I'd try another dealer (or Indy). Frankly, I steer clear of most massive chrome accessory and imported clothing palaces - with snack/coffee bar - that pass for HD dealerships these days. Guess who pays for all of that overhead? I look for the old school guys/gals behind the scratched counters and greasy wrenches...

And yes, what you're finding is not at all unique to HD...for all the reasons already mentioned.

 

It seems to me that starting a database of all the Harley and Indy shops around the country that work on the older bikes would be a handy tool to have for those of us that travel the country on our Evo's. Just in case there was a break down, but thank god that never happens. LOL

I know many of the good shops in MN, Wisc, and the UP of Michigan.

 

there as a time when our local dealer didn't want to work on older bikes, but I think the economic downturn has caused them to rethink that policy, as they need all the work they can get. Last summer I saw them rebuilding an '86 Sporty, so that's a good sign.

FWIW they still work on my '94 Softail, but only the service manager will touch it. I have a long relationship with the shop, and Matt. He was the one who rebuilt my bike back in '01, and he loves my old bike and won't let anyone else in the shop touch it.

Of course, I only take it there for something major that I can't do myself, and tire changes.

 

FWIW, If you took a 20 year old Buick to the Buick dealer, what do you think they would tell you? Or a Ford, or a Dodge? Harley does a better job supporting obsolete iron than most companies.