Prior to 2007, I was a jap bike rider. I had taken a Yamaha Road star and lowered it, added real flame paint, forward controls, etc......great bike that would smoke the tires from a 1-2 mph start, just by nailing the throttle. But, I started looking at how much money I was putting in the bike and realized I would never recoup even a small percentage of it.
Fast forward.....I was taking that road star and making it a pro street scoot. This was during the "chopper craze" that we all know and love. Bought a Saxon which had an excellent drive train (S&S motor, baker tranny)...problem was the bike wasn't reliable....spent more time in the shop then on the road.
Got tired of the hassle and traded for a 2007 Street Glide (new). Loved that bike...put 30K miles on it the first year. Since then I pretty much bought a new HD in 2009, 2010, 2011.
Even with all the talk on this forum about problems.....I never experienced any problems with the bikes. I did the upgrades to include cams. Only thing I ever noted was the Road Star always out performed HD. A lot of that had to do with 4 valve heads and cam used in the stock bike.

Fast forward to 2017......oh wow. HD finally did it. The M8 had more power that the twinkie even with the SE 255 cam. Traded the 2017 RK for a 2018 RKS. Love this bike. Absolutely no problems being experienced. Great power stock. But just a tad to quiet...lol. Since 2007 there has alway been a common complaint about HD bike....they run to hot.

Air cooled bike guys and gals....your gonna get heat. Can't stand it, buy a goldwing.

Moral of this story and the bottom line: the M8 is a jewel...HD makes a great bike. There always will be parts available to rebuild (can't say that for Jap bikes). My only gripe is they are getting to expensive. HD keeps up with the price hikes, watch the sales go down and require incentives.

Be happy with your ride, make it yours and ride...stop crying on the internet.

 

Good stuff, I'm loving' the M8 more and more. Just came from a 2015 RK, great bike but the RG is much better, IMO.

 

love my 18 RK,but sumping sucks,i know mine did it yesterday,i really enjoy how the bike ride and handles but I wish they had better quality control they are shooting themselves in the foot,people are starting to look at other manufacturers and I don't blame them,jusy my

 

I owned a 2005 Road Star, and my late wife also bought an 05 Road Star the next year. We rode those bikes all over the West, with very few problems. However, we had MORE problems with those two Yamahas, by far, than I've had with the two Harleys I've owned since the wife died.

Both bikes would occasionally flood the carburetor on a hot day, killing the motor and dumping a quart or so of gasoline onto the hot motor.

The wife's Roadie, on Day Two, upon cold start, tossed a pushrod. Dealer refitted the offending pushrod and said he had no idea why it had happened. I suggested they replace the lifter, but they didn't agree. It never happened again, but I worried about it all the same.

Both bikes had a defective lock washer on the countershaft sprocket that allowed the sprocket nut to come loose. Yam later redesigned the washer, but that new washer wouldn't work on the jackshaft in the previous models. We were out of warranty. Rather than replace the jackshaft, we just lived with the problem.

Both bikes' fuel pumps died. I replaced them with similar automotive pumps rather than spend $250 on the doomed-to-fail Yamaha pumps.

Both bikes fuel senders died. Common problem around Yamaha Land.

There were more, but you get the idea.

My two Harleys have had a small handful of minor problems, the 2016 way more of these than my 2018. At 8500 miles, my 2018 RGU is perfect. It may be transferring a tiny amount of oil from tranny to primary, but it is a very tiny amount, not really worth thinking about at this point. Left clutch switch pack had to be replaced. There were a half dozen or so assembly issues, like too-tight drive belt, radio mounted crooked in the fairing, steering too tight, etc. Once these were addressed, the bike has settled down to being perfect. I love it!