I have a friend wanting to update from his Ultra Classic to a newer Rushmore. He never buys new and his budget is around $16k.

He likes our 2017 M8 and has seen that it is reliable and has been trouble free to date. That said I told him that based on the sumping issue I would probably look at a 2016 with 103, that we really liked ours. Far more powerful than the 96 CI he is on now. I then told him to ride them all and if the M8 is what he wants I would have a dealer pull up the VIN number and show me exactly what has been done to the bike, if the warranty is still good (not flagged) or if beyond the warranty was it voided early for any reason. Then buy the ESP.

I know many have bought new and had problems. But when I look at the used M8's on the dealers floor with low miles I always wonder what went wrong with that bike.

 

I agree with your thoughts about seeing low mileage bikes at the dealer and wondering what went wrong even though I’ve had 3 problem free M8s. I met a guy recently that had a ‘17CVO SG that he had traded for a new BMW. He talked about how much he enjoyed the SG but then said he had slumped and Harley had replaced the motor, so you really never know. I also think it would be difficult to get a M8 Touring bike for $16k.
Good Luck to your friend

 

Suburban Motors Harley Davidson has lots of low
Mileage Bikes. They sell to 90% of factory employees that get a new bike every year and don’t ride. Just to have. So I would give them a call and they can ship you one.

 

I think you gave your friend great advice Cosmic.

 

That’s a tough one. I like Drbuick’s advice. I typically don’t buy used or sell mine to the public.

This may sound arrogant, but I’m very meticulous when I’m working on my vehicles. A lot of people aren’t.

If I were to buy used, it would have to be rare, or within 2 years old with documentation of all services. Mileage/dates would have to be listed on each service document, and if it was an indy shop, they must be extremely well known.

A bit off topic, but I don’t sell to the public because I don’t want phone calls... there is a story about a low mileage, 2 owner, numbers matching, factory original 77 L82 Corvette behind this. (It was a collector/show car, not the race car that the buyer tried to use it as).

 

A quick BTW, there was an issue with the cooling systems on the TC water cooled bikes. Search for it, but I think it was a pressure cap issue. I believe they released a cap that fixed the issue. Make sure he does the standard coolant flush fill (on electric pump systems, I like them done annually). I saw on the CVO forum that some were failing because they were gumming up from lack of maintenance. Not sure if the factory service interval is bad or if the owner just neglected them.