My wife and I were enjoying a ride on my 10 MONTH old 2018 Heritage Classic 107. (<--- This is relevant in a moment.)

We were coming off the interstate, going about 40 mph, heading towards an intersection. Light turns red. So I hit the brakes, slowed the bike to a stop, and safely went about my day.

WRONG.

My Rear brake COMPLETELY Failed. Pedal went straight down. ZERO Response. My Front Brake had about 10% effect. My wife and I kept going.

Now THANKFULLY. Ive been riding long enough that I knew how to respond. I downshifted like a mother ****er, dropped it all the way into first, while pulling that front brake as HARD as I could to stop.

None of it worked. I rolled 3/4th of the way through the intersection, on a red light. A F150 pickup nearly killed both of us. I got the bike to the side of the road, F150 guy comes rolling over like he's gonna try and start something. Takes ONE look at my face, and realizes what was going down. Asks us if we're ok. I apologize, tell him BOTH my brakes just failed at the same damn time. He kinda looks at me sideways, then waits with us till I can get some assistance out with a trailer.
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Now... HERE'S where it gets fun.. and shady as ****.

I sent the bike into the dealership. First, the rear brakes were completely and utterly gone. The Front brake had about 10% (estimated obviously, but yeah.) The ABS COMPLETELY and utterly failed to kick on when I had the front brake pulled to the absolute max my hand could compress.

I figured this was probably an ABS failure or similar issue, so warranty repair right? I mean.. its got 9k miles, and its 10 months old.

Apparently, no.

I was told, over the phone.. the following. (verbatim) -

"The dot4 brake fluid ABSORBS water through the brake lines and can fail. Thats why we reccomend flushing it... EVERY 2 YEARS."

Remember the age of my bike? 10 months. almost 10k miles?

That's when it got shady. When I demanded to know WHY they would change the braking system from a system that WORKED to a dangerous unreliable piece of **** like this, he stuttered, apologized, and began rambling about maintenance every 2 years. I told him again my bike was 10 MONTHS old. This is DANGEROUS and is going to get people KILLED.

That's when he got REALLY quiet and began sounding like he was reading from a script. "Sir we have switched over from the dot4 fluid to the platinum dot4 fluid, and are now having much more consistent and reliable results according to our lab tests. We are telling everyone to get proper maintenance done every 2 years to prevent any issues."

So I asked again, "So what you're telling me is you've switched to a brake system that can fail at any time, without ANY warning whatsoever?"

"*silence* Sir I cant answer that."

Then they tell me its gonna cost me 150 bucks to fix, cause of course, its "not covered" by the warranty.

When I started asking the hard questions.. they suddenly dropped the cost and fixed it for free. Didnt even put it on my service records. <-- THAT is REALLY ****ing shady right there. I demanded they write it in and sign/date it. He refused at first. Then I told him Im not paying them and I'll call a lawyer if I have too. Thats when they re-printed the bill with the fix on the ticket.

This WHOLE THING stinks to high heaven.


So.. consider this a fair warning. If you're using the new braking system from Harley.. you'd BETTER be calling those ****ers and making DAMN sure you've been switched over to the platinum dot4 fluid. According to this dude, at just 4% water... the brakes WILL fail. I was at 5%.. in just 10 months. The water is apparently "Absorbed THROUGH the brake lines" so no, its not a user error. It also can be absorbed even IF you garage the bike.


Frankly, Im asking the mods to sticky this post. This is something that I consider a 100% lawsuit waiting to happen, and saving a Rider's life is the most important thing to me.

 

I wouldnt blame the fluid, if that was the case we'd all be dead.

I would call the motor company if you dont get satisfaction.

 

First off, I'm glad you both made it thru that situation unscathed.

Just another reason why I'm glad I do not have ABS, don't need it, don't want it. I've been riding for almost 50 years and have been just fine without it.

At least on a car/truck you have an emergency brake if the ABS were to fail. Obviously on a bike you have nothing.

 

Wow.
Glad you "put them in their place" got documentation and warranty repair.
Question - Does the OP concur it was water in system?

Rear pedal "went to the floor" front brake near the floor?
I would think either not enough oil, perhaps the abs module filling and not suppling oil to the calipers or a leak.
But want do I know.
Very interesting situation.

 

Brakes a deniable problem? At least cam tensioners won’t kill you.

 

Very glad to hear your both okay.

it strikes me as there is more to this failure than just a fluid change and flush repair. JMO.
Stay safe...

 

Who did the 5K service? Was the moisture content 3% or greater during that service?

 

We've had utterly , completely reliable ABS units on cars for what, 30 years, now, and if they do fail, the failure mode is normal, non ABS brakes. Why and how Harley riders are stuck with crap that can kill them amazes me. And they wonder why I don't want a new Harley?

 

On my BMW if the ABS fails you still have regular brakes. I had the AbS sense fail on my 04. Is it truly not the case with other marques ?

I am curious how the dealer measured the moisture content of the brake fluid to get at 5%

 

Wow that's freaking scary. Glad you and your wife are ok! Thanks for the information and keep us updated.