My 1953 Panhead is still on the road- daily rider.

http://www.bikernet.com/pages/Sturgi...the_Month.aspx

 

[QUOTE=TenMidgets;11497589]Can anyone reasonably without being brand defensive why Harley takes years to solve simple issues or worse uses less expensive inferior parts when they know they have a reliability reputation that follows?
/QUOTE]

Because they can still get away with it. they know they own the heavy cruiser market so why bother? The "share price" might suffer.

 

Why does it take so long to fix design issues?

Because manufacturers buy parts from vendors. They choose these vendors from bids submitted and the lowest bid wins. Let's take wheel bearings for example. Harley buys 500,000 wheel bearings from a vendor. They build 250,000 bikes with these bearings. 10,000 miles later they begin to fail. Harley takes these bearings and analyzes them to determine what made them fail. Did they meet the specs that Harley gave the vendor? Did an outside force cause them to fail? Were they installed correctly? If by some chance the bearing is truly at fault by design, then Harley goes back to the vendor and alerts them of the problem. The vendor then retools to make a different bearing. During this retooling time, Harley has purchased another 1,000,000 bearings and assembled more motorcycles. Why? Because the vendor now has to warranty these bearings to Harley. They only have to warranty the ones that Harley returns to them. So all the people involved are just hoping that the majority of these bearings will sit in some garage until the warranty expires, and then it's the customers dime. Build them cheap, and hope that they don't fail while under warranty. Bike and car manufacturers are like every other profit driven business. They don't make products to last forever, just to outlast the warranty.

 

The reason there are so many low mileage bikes out there is simple.

Too many people joining the fad of "hey look at me on my brand new harley". Then they realize they don't know how to ride or are simply too scared or it was just a purely status symbol purchase.

 

I have 5 or 6 baggers starting in 1995 now 2012 some bought new a couple a year or two old with low miles and every single time the new bike was significantly better than the last one : handling ,frame ,engine, fuel injectors, etc etc .When I sold my 94 wth 40k I was ready to shake apart when I sold 98 with 95k it was still going real strong. Each bike I bought has been a noticeable upgrade from the last I don't have any other way to measure Harley improvement over the years other than personal experience. Too bad for you if all your future purchase turn out to be crap ,and yesterday is always better than tomorrow, and the other guy always has better stuff than you.

 

Why would someone come to this forum to ask such a question.

Every manufacturer has issues and some never get attention, I own my first Harley as of March and have not found any obvious items as mentioned so brand loyalty is clearly not my motivation, what's yours OP?

 

When you change something that works better, you are admitting the might have been a problem, thus you might be responsible to fix all. That's the way bean counters and lawyers think. Guess who runs most large companies.

 

ORRRR, it's not their only bike, they live in a climate that isnt condusive to riding all year round or maybe they have a family that cant all fit on the bike so they need to use a cage more often and the bike is his/her weekend toy.

Just saying.

 

+1 especially if she lets you on top of her as much as the ol Hog does....

 

Dude you have no ****ing clue....You are part of the problem. Protect and defend the indefensible. I am BUYING a Harley. I would never buy a new one and I can buy six of them today whoo ****ing whooo. I am not one of those people who needs to be cool or who will suddenly have orange and black blood. HD IS a premium BRAND. The envy of WALL STREET....not a premium motorcycle.

I had an FXR that had it's electrical issues. But never an engine issue. I rode that thing form San Diego to Phoenix and Vegas, North Rim South Rim, 15 into Colorado, Tahoe, ONLY had ONE electrical issue that left me on the side of the road.....It had a EVO motor. A HUGE upgrade to those prior. I sold it because a Swede offered me more money than I paid for it on the street and I was not in love with the bike or brand. I was not about to pay what the dealer were asking for new AND used ones IF you could even get one. So I went back to metrics. I am back again and doing the research. Picked out a bike HD does not make anymore and am looking for one.

HD felt they needed to make a more reliable motorcycle THEN. Their asses were being kicked by the metrics. They stepped up. When you "loyalists" began making excuses for their failures and omissions YOU gave them a license to steal. Not me. Many People in my position buy a new bike pay cash for it, run it awhile, get tired of it, want something different, then sell it with low miles on to the next toy before the cheaper parts and $1400 issues before 20K poke their ugly heads out. NEVER see 20K miles. I don't throw money away. I go into things with eyes wide open.

I see HD going the OTHER way now, using cheaper parts and taking 8 years to change something as silly as a spring can tensioner. I know of NO OTHER BIKE OR VEHICLE MADE FROM 1998-2006 THAT WILL NEEDS the good possibility $1500 work to keep the engine from grenading. is 20K miles. Do you? Name one. Then show me the hundreds of links of people who experienced that issue. I can show you the same.

I never saw another brand motorcycle release a memo about an expensive squealing bearing going bad because of an alignment issue then release another on saying "never mind"

I look at thing realistically and ask question from those who are in the know about today's bikes and I am "trolling" for answers. YOU APPARENTLY and a few of your Kool-Aid drinking "Harley or die" co horts are not in the know. You are **** poor in so far as getting straight dope from. You are the ones making excuses. I have ridden Metrics from Hondas to Yamahas for 30 years before and after Harley and never had an issue that I had to worry about. Show me ONE on a VT1100 where if you put 12000 a year on you have to open the cases to check something to prevent an engine failure

Others are honestly answering a legitimate question. People like you will become all defensive and bury the issues...like the metric guy your Kool-Aid drinking buddies claim do. buy anything that has HD spattered on it and defend them to the death..... I GET IT.

Your blind ignorance and loyalty is why HD can get away with this crap. Not those who have the ability to buy and pay cash and sell them in 8 years with 4000 miles. They have no clue. I am buying their throwaways and want to know what I am buying. Its to Damm bad if you don't like the questions. Pops

Just move on and find threads where you and your ilk can circle jerk around a statue of the Bar and Shield.