All the bikes that I've read about on these forums having issues with oil leaks, oil pumps etc seemed to be all bat wings. So it got me wondering if they produced these first then went on to the Roadies. I could be way off base here, like I mention, just an observation. I can't recall one Roadie with issues,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,YET.

 

You're doomed now

 

My Batwings fine...bought it 8/27....no problems.

 

I don't think they are assembled in the way you are thinking. The biggest seller is the street glide, therefore there will more reported problems with them. There are a lot of people that don't like road glides for various reasons as it is somewhat unconventional, and as a result they don't sell as many of them.

Another way of stating it is is for example if 1% of M8's have problems, and 10,000 Street Glides are sold and 5,000 Road Glides are sold, then you would expect to see twice as many problems with street glides, even though there is really nothing problematic about the street glide. That is just totally made up numbers for the purpose of demonstration of course. Road Glide riders love their bikes, but if you go anywhere, what do you mostly see? A crap load of Street Glides, with probably three quarters of them blacked out.

Before anybody gets their panties in a knot, I am not knocking either model.

I know some people are up in arms about there is no way this should happening etc. I know I would be pissed paying that kind of money for a new bike needing engine repair right away. I think it comes down sample size. You can test for millions of miles and as many engines as you want in development, but your sample size will never be adequate to assure 0 problems on a mass produced engine. There is the training aspect. There are factors such that might be unknown such as outside suppliers having their own qc issues. There may be issues with automation and who knows what else. Even if all those things are perfect, there is still the fact of having a .0001% failure which is small enough not to show up in sample testing but significant enough to show up in large mass quantity production. A failure of .0001% would not show up in testing 1,000 engines but would show up in 10,000. Even then, 1 in 10,000 might not sound too bad, but then when you are talking 200,000, then the actual number of engines with problems is alarming even though it is still a small percentage. A completely new design will increase the chance of that scenario happening because you are now introducing a whole bunch of unknowns whereas changes have been very small and gradual for the last 17 years.

These are mass produced bikes at a certain price point. Individual hand assembly and QC etc. to where each engine is built the way an Indie rebuilds your engine would end up driving cost up astronomically and volume would be greatly reduced.

All made up numbers and assumptions of course which probably make no sense whatsoever since I have been awake for a long time and can't seem to fall asleep.

So far it seems that most guys are being taken care of with replacement engines being installed and loaner bikes being offered in some cases etc.

 

They put good motors in the sharks because they know they're going to get ridden. Bats are usually garage queens and don't need to be as reliable.

All touring bikes, trikes, and softail are built on the same assembly line at the same time one after the other. It's an impressive operation. They don't put out a batch of street glides, then a batch of trikes, then a batch of sharks.

 

Here is an H-D touring fact. More touring miles annually are on RG's than any other Touring model.

Also, the RG's increase the numbers sold every model year. I try to help as I have had an 11 CVO Ultra, 12, 12 CVO, 16 CVO Ultra and a 17 RGS. The last three are still in my fleet.

The 17 at 5 weeks old has 5K on it and rising every day.

 

I've had the same thoughts . But get this. In 15 years I have purchased 12 new Harley Davidson's . Out of them, 3 Were Rd. glides a 2004, a 2009 , and a 2012 CVO. The rest were FL H batwimg models. I never had a single problem with any of the Road Glides, but every single bagger with the batwing faring I had more than my share of problems . I always found that quite strange . I know , why don't I just buy road glides. Jonnierock

 

Engines assembled in Wisconsin and shipped to York to be put in a chassis and have VIN stamped. Pretty much random. Also, York assembly line is a mix - you'll see a SG followed by a Limited followed by a RG followed by an Ultra etc.

 

Took the H-D tour in York it is an impressive operation and the bikes are mixed coming down the line

 

Need to be careful. Saying "All the bikes that I've read about on these forums having issues with oil leaks, oil pumps etc" is not completely true. Remember most folks who have no problems never post anything. Many folks are just lurkers anyway and never post, but read and learn. Which is cool, but folks with problems will post because they are pissed off. Rightfully so, and I am not saying there are no problems, I am sure there are. Approaching my 1,000 mile service with no issues at all.