I had metrics all my life until I was 65 when I purchased my first HD in 06. From that day on it has been only HD for me unless HD does not have a model that I want like a 2wd sidecar rig.

My nine HD's from the 00,07,08,09,10,10,12,12 and 12 have had no repairs at all beyond one fuse that gave out at 6 years on the 07.

That level of reliability exceeded my experiences with Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki by a considerable margin. That record is meaningful because it covers many decades with the same rider on the same roads and conditions.

Many years ago I was a subscriber to Consumer's Report. I gave it up in disgust when after having many products that they gave bad reviews to or good reviews to things that I had and used. I saw that their testing many times was just the authors opinion. Example: I was a boater when I was younger and lived along the Mississippi. They did an article judging between Evinrude and Johnson outboards which were made in the same plant and only had different controls. It was the same thing as the difference between a Chevy and a GMC truck. They dissed the Johnson controls which had a push button forward/reverse switch against the Evinrude which had the throttle lever that was pushed back for reverse and forward for going forward. There was a strong detent in the center for neutral. In a docking area in wind it was very hard to control when trying to back then turn to go forward into a dock.

The push button for forward/reverse made it look like you were a pro at it.

That is when I realized it was just the opinion of the writer and there was little merit in many of their conclusions. I never renewed after that and never will.

 

I'm not surprised by BMW. I have a neighbor that has 2 of them and he has been a BMW owner for years. His bikes are in the shop a LOT. He travels quite a bit on his and they always need service either prior to or after a long trip. I don't ride nearly as much as he does, but I know he spends a lot more in repairs than I ever have. A lot of it is petty stuff, but it still happens. This latch broke, or the turn signals quit, speedo light keeps flickering, or the gas gauge isn't working, neutral light is out. Brakes pulsate. Stuff like that. The thing about the article is that it didn't mention the models. A basic jap bike doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles that a lot of higher end Hds have like radios, intercoms and cruise control.

 

I've owned all sorts of bikes since 1964...I've had ONE problem with one harley one time. BMW's are expensive to buy, maintain anf repair. Jap bikes are reliable and bland.
They used to be called UJM's.
Now speak to me about Nortons and Guzzis.

 

pretty lame report imho

 

Regardless of the outcome, I actually give a lot of credit to "Consumer Reports". They are the only consumer magazine that doesn't accept advertising with doesn't taint their in house results regardless of product brand. This article was NOT scientific as it was strictly an owner survey. Just my .01 cents worth on this thread.

 

>reported experiencing a major problem in the previous four years.

>most trouble with accessories, such as lights, instruments, switches, and radios (21 percent), brakes (20 percent), the electrical system (16 percent), and the fuel system (15 percent). Fortunately, most repairs were fairly inexpensive.

I would say nothing in the top category is "major."

 

So Consumer Reports conducted a study and featured an article stating that while Harleys are (marginally) less reliable than Japanese bikes their owners love them more ... Hmmm , I could have told them that .

 

H-D = highest brand loyalty. Period. Never seen a BMW, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki or Ducati tat in my life...

 

+1 to what Ih4x4 says.
I was also a CR subscriber years ago and I don't put much credence to most of what they rate.
For one thing, I found the points they picked to base their ratings on meant very little to me, in most cases.
I also found some things they rated very highly to be some of the biggest POS I ever owned.
They are biased to certain products and manufactures and can be blatantly anti-american.
Especially when it comes to vehicles

 

I have to be honest, I went into the thought of buying a new bike with a bit of a negative bias towards Harley and leaned more towards Honda. Sad but true.

I went to my local dealer that sells not on Harley (most of their business), but also Honda and Yamaha.

I found a brand new 2012 Sabre that I really liked the looks of at the time. I looked at the price and went home to compare it to book value. It turned out to be about $600 under book. At that point I wasn't quite ready to buy (would be in a couple more months) but I told myself that if the time came and that bike was still there it was mine.

For the next few weeks I I looked at more bikes online at various places including cycles.com and ended up finding that bike there with an internet price of just a bit over $2000 off msrp. At that point I bit my tongue and hoped like hell it would still be there a few weeks later when I was prepared.

Over the next few weeks I did a fair amount of additional research about the overall reliability of different bikes over time. What I found was that Honda rated higher in reliability but Harley had a higher customer satisfaction rating (as the article did).

In my heart I wanted to buy a Harley but needed a good reason. I went more in depth into looking at the evolution of the Harley engine. I think anyone has to admit that over the years they have had their share of engineering mistakes leading to reliability issues and I aint one who plans on spending my winters rebuilding my bikes engine over an over.

In my search I found that Harley has made made numerous positive changes over the years with the latest engine being the twin-cam. The biggest problem I could see from that was the cam chain tensioner which was made better in 2011 with the addition of the hydraulic tensioner. This made the tensioners prone to fail closer to 50k rather than 15 - 20. If a guy were that worried about it they could change cams and upgrade to gear drive.

My heart was leaning towards the Harley at that point. I also preferred the overall look of the Harleys. They are rolling art work and the sound is not to be beat and undeniably American.

Not long after that I made my mind up that I really wanted a Harley as long as it was a recent model. I was afraid that none of the late model units would fit my budget.

I looked at the dealership and they had just got a 2012 Super Glide Custom in that was in like new condition with 4800 miles on it. I sat on it and with the forward controls it fit like a glove. The posted price seemed pretty good at about $1000 under book but a bit more than I wanted to pay.

I had looked at a bunch of their bikes and priced them against book and they all seemed to be right at $1500 over so I made up my mind that I wouldn't buy anything there without at least that much of a discount.

A week or so later I was thinking about it and was seriously thinking about going back to see if I could strike a deal. That afternoon I got a card from them in the mail that said that they were taking $1500 off all big twins. This to me came as a sign. I would get the bike now for $2500 under book. I couldn't find a better deal anywhere in the country. I went in and snagged it.

Lot of thought put into it but in the end I am so glad I ended up with a freakin Harley. I owned a Suzuki years ago and never got even close to the feeling I get out of this one.

At this point I really do believe that the newer bikes are well built, look great and are all American. I am proud to ride it.

Oh yah, I did go for the 4 year extended warranty just in case....