If the O.P. paid more than $100 for a rear wheel that's his fault. I see them all over CL for a hundred to one fifty many times with a decent tire and cheaper at the swap meets.

As far as the trans, don't stomp on the shifter and don't shift without the clutch! My '93 FLSTC trans is 24 years old and it shifts just fine. I had my '77 Shovelhead for 36 years and only had to rebuild the trans once.

Myself, when I hear people bitching that Harley's are unreliable and expensive to maintain I immediately think they must be getting them worked on at the dealership. My experience has shown me that it's not always what you do to your bike but rather who does it. Dealerships love to hire techs fresh out of school because they only have to pay an entry level wage and there's always a fresh crop of newbies looking for a job. I stop at my local dealer almost every Saturday and for me, as long as the guy who makes the free popcorn and stocks the free Coke machine knows what he's doing I'm happy.

 

The 10-13 Heritage have been rock solid. Therefore your issue is disheartening at best. My friend has a 12 as well and so far it has been problem free. The only work I've done on his bike was to install progressive front inserts. Your issue, the spring, is rare and could happen to any bike with this design. I just do not know if there is anyway to determine if a spring is going bad. Anyway, these issues are unrelated and hopefully, the balance of your ownership will be positive. I do understand you wanting to wash your hands of it. Sometimes, there are lemons, Friday afternoon assemblies or whenever. But the spoke issue was probably noticeable prior to failure and the spring, well just had a hidden flaw.

 

I'm surprised you could find a tech at a dealership who would build a wheel. I couldn't, so I built the last two sets of wheels, including the set I'm riding on now. In my case, they were rebuilt/built new due to rust and age.


Spokes do have to be checked no matter who builds them. I check for loose spokes at every tire change and every 5,000 mile service. That way I catch any that are beginning to loosen. I can't believe you didn't notice several loose spokes. the bike must have ridden like it had a flat tire.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, and I will likely keep the Heritage once it is repaired but it is pretty depressing. I bought the Harley when I retired last year after riding Honda’s for several years so being retired with less income and getting hit with large repairs bills was not something I was hoping to deal with. Someone made a comment about stomping on the shift lever and shifting without using the clutch, believe me that is not the issue.
For replacing the rim, They ordered a new rim from Harley Canada as I preferred not to get a used one that may have the same issue. As far as noticing the loose spokes, I had taken the bike in 2 times previously to get the spokes tightened as they were loose and you did notice a slight wobble when riding. There are several threads on here about the issue and likely for me, once the bike was ridden with loose spokes the damage was done. I have not had any issues with the new rim or the front rim so far. Hopefully once the tranny is fixed I will have no more issues with it either as I love the bike and hate the thoughts of getting rid of it.

 

I understand your frustration. Am glad you are able to get it repaired.

Something to consider, they are mechanical devices, put together by humans. If you are planning on keeping it, it may be worth it to consider getting an extended warranty.

Would hate to read, down the road, that you had to sell it, or park it, because of another costly repair.

I view warranties like insurance...you hope you don't need to take advantage of the benefits, but you sure don't want to need them and they're not there.

I, personally, would not consider owning a EFI Twin Cam without a warranty.

 

I've had a few bikes with spoke wheels an I've never found a lose one but I had multiple bikes at once so I didn't rack up a lot of miles. I have a slim now with spokes an I'm thinking of swapping to mags since I already have a switchback front wheel I bought for another bike I sold...I know some guys love the look of spokes an certain bikes might not look right/traditional without them but I like the look of the switchback wheels, they look like old muscle car wheels to me.

Hope you have many trouble free miles once you have it straightened out.

 

Sounds an awful lot like this thread.