It seems like smaller issues get a larger volume. One person has an issue and they claim that it is a brand or model wide problem.

I see people making comments about overall quality based on very minor issues. Something breaks, the dealer fixes it, yet there is demand for additional compensation because of the inconvenience.

There also seems to be more 2nd and 3rd hand stories that get passed around.

 

Personally I agree with your assessment that there are more issues coming up on the later year bikes. When I was out travelling this summer this subject came up in a conversation at a dealers. I made the statement that based on this forum and other general chit chat I thought there were more complaints starting about 2008 (may-bee 07). The individual at the dealer said (un-officially) that they were actually seeing that in the claims. The same person also said they had heard that the MoCo was looking at bringing some manufacturing back to the US because they could control quality better. Post made as anonymous as possible because I dont want to get the dealer in trouble.

 

I have an 09 with 23,000 miles much of it (maybe half) in traffic on Houston freeways and traffic. Its my daily driver. I generally ride it like I stole it. But I do take good care of it. Follow the maintenance schedule etc... I do have some mechanical ability so I do my own wrenching. The bike runs better now than when I bought and first did the basic mods I have done. I do wish I could get tires to last 20K like some on this board but so far my rear tire is bald at 10K.

The negatives get a lot of attention and they use this forum as a place to seek help and vent. I'm not faulting them just saying it draws a lot of attention. Every brand has individual instances of problems. How many bikes has Harley sold? Look at the proportion. I bet its pretty low.

 

i think the bikes are getting better not worse.
Yes there are some lemons out there but you get that with any product from washing machines to high priced cars.
I love riding and Harley is still my favorite bike.

 

The internet is very contagious to your bike. If someone claims to have a problem
with their bike and you read his post, your bike will end up with the same problem.

 

We read many posts here from owners of other brands switching to Harley, why? The reasons are varied for sure but, the one reason has to be the Harley experience. Now that means different things to different people. For me, I have ridden Harley's for over 47 years through the dreaded AMF days. The bikes today are for sure better than they have ever been. Part of that is because whether you want to believe it or not, Harley does listen and hear what goes on various websites. The proof is in the many changes we have seen just in the last 5 years (I won't go into all the changes). There will always be those bikes that have problems but, the question becomes, what percentage. As has been stated here many have problems after doing modifications and some people just aren't mechanics. This doesn't address all peoples problems and some are legit. But, when a problem is stated numerous times for the same problem the company usually gets it fixed, albeit not soon enough for some. So, the next time you have problems think of me 40 years ago alongside the road looking for some wire to hold a part on that fell off or oil puking all over my leg and your problem may not seem so bad.

 

Go to any service shop for any brands of bike, car, boat, semi, plane, 4 wheeler, golf cart, etc. etc. etc. Truth is, they are all busy. Buy a refrigerator, chances are it'll have to be serviced within the first 5 years.

 

Bloomberg News | BMW, the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, said it’s recalling almost 350,800 BMW-brand and Rolls-Royce models worldwide to repair a power-brake system fault.

Affected Rolls-Royce Motor Cars models include:
* 2003-2010 Rolls-Royce Phantom models

 

With 151,257 forum members, I would think the number of complaints would look pretty high to the casual observer.

Does anyone else remember when we had 3,500 members? Not too many threads about complaints then.

 

Whew that was close. It's a good think I with an F-150 instead of that Rolls.