of course you'll hear stories, both good and bad, on any dealership or product. My local HD dealer is awesome. They have an express lane for simple things like an oil change on a first-come-first-served basis. They will drop what they are doing if it's an emergency (like a broken down traveler) or something super simple (like a cable adjustment).

I've also had a bad experience while on the road. I had a very rough idle/noisy compensator and was very concerned. I stopped into Latus Motors near Portland and the service advisor couldn't have cared less. I could wait a week to have them look at it or just hit the road and hope for the best. Wouldn't even have a mechanic come out to listen and tell me if he thought there was an issue or not.

 

I would never own a Honda, well, first of all I can't see me changing my whole wardrove to colorful billowy shirts, kahki shorts, and bright white Velcro tie tennis shoes, and 2nd of all, they are Japonese. I bought my first Harley in 2000, it had a leak at about 500 miles, the dealer picked my bike up, fixed it, apologized and I was on my way. at about 6K I was riding from S Indiana to Toledo and my dash light, and turn signals quit working. I called Napoleon Harley (back when Marv owned it) and told him my dilemma. He said bring it in, we are backed up but since you are out of town, we will see what we can do. His 2nd best tech worked on it, first was off that day.. he worked for 5 hours on it before finding a pinched wire under the tank. Meanwhile he was repairing it, I was getting hungry, I asked Marv if he had a used bike I could "test drive" to go get something to eat. He handed me keys to his pickup and said it's out back. He let me borrow his $40K Harley Davidson diesel pickup to go to lunch. What a guy. I made the right choice I think.

 

All good points. I briefly owned a Honda and the local dealer could not have been a bigger dick. Every service was like it was an inconvenience for him and he was doing me a favor.

My Harley Ultra had a valve stem fail [my fault] over 150 miles from home. It was after hours and the nearest Harley dealer was closed. The bike was towed to that dealer and parked in their lot. A note was taped to their door with a description of the problem and my phone number. While driving back to the dealership the next morning I received a call from the dealer, gave them authorization to do the repair and it was completed by the time I arrived. https://www.tsiharleydavidson.com/ ETA: the repair was done on Columbus Day.

The second incident, the engine quit with no warning. Again over 150 miles from home during a group ride. We located and visited the nearest dealer. They immediately sent out a van to pick up the bike and repaired it while I waited. 3 hours from breakdown to resuming the ride. http://www.sthd.com/

I've also been told by a third dealer that their service department had an unwritten policy to suspend repairs mid-job, if necessary, in order to give priority to a stranded biker who was away from his home location.

 

Plus don't break down on a Monday...alot of Powersports are closed

 

HD Dealers can be very accomodating. I broke down a couple years ago outside Reno, NV. Called Reno HD and told them my status and that I was waiting on the two truck (Road America) and they knew it'd be there after closing but..... THEY WAITED until we got there with my bike and ensured it was under lock and key inside the dealership. Next morning they diagnosed my problem within a couple hours (rupture hose in tank) had her fixed and back on the road by noon. So my hats off to all the HD dealers who cater to those of us on the road, often miles away from home. I live in TEXAS and Reno HD will always have your back!!

 

Just to pile on, back in my Honda days, the dealer was always a real turd. Granted I was 15-16, and kind of an *** myself, but I paid for my own repairs/accessories with cash, and that dealer was never nice about it.

Adding to the exceptional HD dealer service while on the road; Yellowstone HD in Belgrade, MT treated me as well as possible with a tire issue (valve stem). I think a lot (most?) of their business is people traveling, so the 'traveler priority line' can get kind of long. The day I was there they had 4 travelers from the morning, and 2 more in the afternoon, including myself, all with various issues ranging from complex to relatively simple. My mechanic and the manager stayed after hours to get me back on the road. I gave my mechanic a bottle of bourbon when I left, also bought a few t-shirts.

 

The wife and I hit a deer in the Nashville area last fall. The fender cut the front tire really bad, but it was still holding air. I limped on to my destination near Nashville and at 3:30pm called the HD dealer and asked if he could put a tire on the NEXT day, Saturday. He said no, they were booked up. Told me to call the other dealer. The other dealer told me he "might" could get to it the next day. Called the dealer in Clarksville, TN, he told me he would do it, no problem. I was shocked that neither Nashville dealer would not consider the need of someone traveling.

 

One of my riding buddies picked up a nail on the way home from a trip. He stopped at the HD dealer in Green Bay, WI to have a new tire put on. They said sorry you don't have an appointment. His wife had just bought her new switchback from them not long before that. To me that's just unthinkable to send someone back out on the road with a compromised tire. Needless to say none of us will as much as buy a spark plug from those aholes again!!

 

Grand Canyon Harley Davidson sucks, I had a cut in my front tire on a road trip, me and my wife on the bike. I stopped by and asked if they could replace it, I was told not until Monday. This was a Saturday morning when I stopped by. I called my local Indy back in SoCal and he made a call to a local Indy near me. I limped the bike over to his shop and by noon I was on a fresh new tire. No extra charge and a good price too, to bad he moved back east. I did ask the Dealership if they new any Indy shops and they told me no.

 

I saw a guy touring on a forest green Goldwing 2 years back....all he was wearing besides boots was a green Speedo...it matched the bike.

True story.

I think he was trying to get a tan.

He had on a full helmet too.