A couple of days ago I noticed a strong vibration of the batwing at idle,went to the dealer and they diagnosed "broken fairing brackets"!The mechanic replaced the following parts:58938-96C,58479-96B,58478-96B at a cost of Euro 168.00=US$ 220.00!Note that my Ultra has only 10,000 mi,is that normal?Shouldn't HD use better quality components instead of this flimsy POS metal?

 

Ouch, I paid about $10 US for each bracket

 

That does seem like a lot of money. They must charge 2 hours to change them! I priced them once for about 10 dollars for one and 40 for the other. I still need to replace mine as both of my left brackets are broken. I could make my own for that kind of money though!

 

That's about when mine broke. It is a bit of work to replace them but I took then out, and made them better by beefing them up when I fixed them and haven't looked back. There seems to be no sense to it either I know folks that haven't had any trouble. And really the are in my opinion on the thin side and I would expect them to break sooner than later especially the top ones which are a joke.

 

If ya have a batwing, sooner or later your brackets are gonna break.....assuming you actually ride the thing somewhere other than in & out of the garage.
Judging by the strength of construction, I believe HD wants the bracket to be the weak link.....in other words, in the event of a problem...(drop, crash. bump, etc) I think they would rather the bracket break rather than the attaching point in the fairing.
JMO....

 

i replaced both sides and both upper brackets on my 99 ultra after about 95,000 miles, then traded the bike off at 124,000 miles! so not to bad for under $100

 

When I looked at my 2008 earlier this summer, all 4 were broken. I don't know what was still holding it together. Anyhow the 2 smaller ones by the speakers were replaced with a newer heavier bracket that they sell now. The 2 main ones were broken near the top and I fixed them both for about 3 dollars with a couple 90 degree brackets from the local home improvement store and they are much stronger now.

 

If HD used higher quality parts they'd lose out on the money made from people replacing the bad parts

 

Early on in my EG's life the barckets broke. I fab'd my own out of some scrap in the pile and about 20 minutes to replace. Years later, still going strong.

 

Yes,it is al lot of money and the majority of it was for the parts alone,they only charged 1/2 hr labor,which I think is pretty honest.Since I'm computer illiterate I'll ask my wife to post the invoice (for the skeptics)!