I currently have a 2004 BMW R1150r.
Out of 100, there's only 1 thing I like on that bike and that one thing is that parts don't fail. Basically the only time that bike is down is if I ran over a nail and need to replace a tire. For that reason alone I don't want to sell it.
The same Indy shop that maintained and sold me the aforementioned BMW offered me a 2002 Fat Boy with 30k miles for $5k. I know I could probably do a little better price-wise but for the care that they give their bikes I'm willing to pay the extra. They told me it's a simple design and should be fairly trouble-free.
My only question is whether this is indeed the case since most HD riders I know only take their bikes out for fun. In my case, my bike is my daily transportation unless there's ice on the road or I'm having to carry people or stuff.
What has your fat boy experience been and how would you compare the daily rider reliability to the BMW R-series?

 

Can't say i can personally compare it to a BMW but 30,000 is far from being used up and unreliable. Same as at any point in your bikes ownership being on top of your bikes overall wellbeing will avoid leaving you stranded. Ask if the cam chain tensioners have been addressed. Aside from that there shouldn't be any surprise issues that would leave you stranded that won't be obvious in a routine weekly once over.

 

I put almost 90,000 miles on my 1999 Roadking that I rode everyday back and forth to work twelve months a year, it had the same motor, a TC88. When I sold it in 2007 was because I was retiring and moving. it was very reliable, of course I changed the engine and primary oil every 3k miles and the transmission oil every 10k miles.
Had to replace tires about every 10k miles, brake pads about 25k miles, battery every 3 or 4 years, in other words, if you maintain it, and don't run the **** out of it, it will last. I let my bikes warm up for a few minutes while I put my helmet and gloves etc. shift easy when they're cold, ride like a 65 year old that's been riding since I was 15. I'm on my 4th Harley, they last.

 

We have a thread in the Sporty section on mileage and one member has over 200k miles on his, others have over 100k miles. What was your question?!

 

I 'be been that road, have a BMW 1000S and a Fatboy 2012. Both I love to ride, though they are totally different bikes. If the Fatboy is technically all ok, I would not be worried to use it as daily commute vehicle. The Fatboy will need more frequently checks, compared to the no worries setup of the BMW. For me that's also the main reason why I bought my Fatboy. To be able to modify as I like, the BMW does not allow that to that extend

 

Congrats on your first post.......

 

Ok so my definition of frequent checks is:
a) tire pressure (1x/week)
b) oil level (every couple days)
c) critical bolts before nearly every ride (witness marks are on the critical bolts so I can visibly see if any are starting to come loose, everyone should do this)

What else needs to be checked on the Fat Boy and how often?

PS Nice Panamera

 

Now you are getting ridiculous. It`s a motorcycle, not the space shuttle.

And contrary to what you may believe, parts haven`t been falling off Harleys for at least 30 years (as long as they were installed properly, of course).

 

Nothing will fall off when all is properly torqued and loctide used as per service manual.
Ride and enjoy, the service manual also explains clearly what needs to be checked and when.

 

Even longer than that! I bought a new shovel in 1974 and that did not shake itself to pieces, in fact it was more reliable than a new BMW twin I had around the same time! I don't ever recall needing to tighten stuff up, except after routine servicing.