Based on your stated milage, you NEVER stop riding! My Iron Butt Hero!

 

Op should buy a Victory.

 

I would take merlin 2 up on his offer of $ 100 a pound and cash in for what $86,000. And he said he would pick it up. lol

 

So I paid the $1000 to repair the water pump. Also spent $2700 on the extended warranty.
So with all that and my tools and twist ties I will ride on. I just need to get the first 300 miles in before my warranty takes effect. Cross my fingers.
To all that responded to my post with good advice and intentions. Thank you.
To all other smart assess. Who cares!
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Hi

I also rode metrics for many years before switching to H-D.
My 1st one, an old Sporty, broke down on literally every single ride.
I loved that thing & hated it in equal measures.

I learned to fix it but I never trusted it & so I sold it.
But.. the H-D bug had bitten me & now, many years later, I'm on my 5th one, an Ultra Classic.
Every one has been 2nd hand.

Stick with it, it'll be worth it ...

 

In all fairness, I’m a MC Tech and work on all brands. “Most” bikes that I see with issues are from owners who’ve neglected them from lack of maintenance or attempting work they shouldn’t have done.

 

That's roughly $80,000.00. I got one I'll sell you for that.

OP, a Harley might not be for you.

 

Many of us who started out on metrics bought into the myth that Harleys are unreliable. I know I sure did. I bought my first Harley (2011 Road Glide Ultra) used with 37k miles on it from a dealer and popped for the ESP because I was afraid it would break down. It didn't. I only put 20k on that bike before I traded it for my current ride (2017 Heritage) and negotiated ESP into the deal because, again, I still didn't really trust a Harley to go the distance. I've been riding it most every day for the past 2 1/2 years and 38k miles and it's been completely faithful. After a total of 58k miles neither of my two Harleys have ever been in the shop for repairs. If I had it to do over I would've saved my money and not purchased ESP. In fact, of the 12 motorcycles I've owned since 1976 only one ever stranded me and that was a 1987 Goldwing I bought brand new. It stranded me twice, once with a bad transmission and once with a bad stator. Thankfully both repairs were done on Honda's nickel. So much for the legendary Honda reliability. My experience with modern Harleys has been if you keep up with the scheduled maintenance and don't mistreat it a Harley will treat you like a faithful friend. I do not carry any tools nor zip ties. What the hell do you expect to do with those anyway? Just act like you got some sense and enjoy riding your Harley. Take care of it and it will take care of you.

 

The bike that used to leave my stranded was my old Yamaha Virago. For a while, I'd only ride if when the wife was home and I'd already hooked the trailer to the truck. I'd go off, and in an hour or two, maybe three if I was lucky, I'd call and she'd come get me. God that bike was a mess.

I know being on this forum and reading of all the horrors, I was semi-convinced my bike was going to die any moment. Cam chain tensioners, cam bearings, scissored crank, left crankshaft bearing, compensator failure, drive belt failure, the list seemed endless. Was enough to make me considering selling the bike before it all went to hell in a handbasket.

Here I am, a number of years later, and virtually none of it has ever come to pass, and the bike has something like 60k miles on it now. The bike, while not perfect, has proven to be one of the most reliable bikes I've ever owned. And, the most pleasurable, for me.

 

[QUOTE=hattitude;18890577]I had never purchased a used Harley from 1978 until 2017, when I purchased a used '01 Springer with 9.8K miles... all OEM except for the seat... rare find and at a good price.

I stayed away from used bikes because I read a couple Harley forums regularly... I am always amazed at the questions some people ask, and the bad advice they are sometimes given... I'll shake my head and think, I'd hate to be the poor guy who buys that bike a few years from now...!



If I had not owned a Harley when I started reading these forums I would have NEVER bought one. ..especially a used one. Over the recent year or two, this Forum has turned into one of the most negative forums I have seen. Some people just can't wait to post about a problem they've had.
I don't know if I'll ever buy another used Harley or not...probably not. Mainly because of what you said Lattitude. It's amazing what you see here about folks that work on their own bikes and what they have done to them. ...folks that don't have a clue what they are doing. Also folks that "short-cut" things they do. And these folks are giving bad advise to others too. It's really scary.

If I was going to buy a used bike, I'd want to see a service history DOCUMENTED, by a QUALIFIED service professional, not some DIY jackleg. You can open up my right saddlebag and pull out gallon size Zip Lock bag with my owners manual in it, with ALL the receipts of the service work done on my bike...by my Harley Davidson Dealer. And it's all been done at the proper service intervals too, mileage wise. If a seller can't provide that kind of info to me, I don't buy that bike. That's my version of a CARMAX history.

And for the record, I have NEVER owned a Harley that didn't have an issue at some time. When I read these quotes from folks that say they haven't had an issue with their Harleys and they have ridden many thousands of miles on multiple Harleys over a long span of years, I just shake my head. I must be the most unlucky Harley owner ever, or some of these folks have a bad problem with memory. Really, no problems at all? And all you did was change tires and fluids? REALLY???????????????? Boy, I wish I could make a statement like that.

Of course they have had issues. However, here's the caveat: what WASN'T an issue to them, might be a "broke down on the side of the road stranded" issue for others. For instance, a shifter linkage break. A shifter shaft strip and they are stranded too, because you don't pull the whole primary and tranny apart to repair that shaft that won't work to change gears when you're on the side of the road. Thank goodness the Cam Tensioner issue has finally been fixed by Harley.