Ok 2007 Harley Davidson Dyna. My issues are with support and warranty loop holes. The Bike itself is great, handling, power, "largest engine". First problem was the purchase of heated hand grips, they didn't work, so bike was being serviced at Harley and they took a look at them and said I shorted them out, wrong. When I purchased them they weren't sealed tight, the inline fuzz wasn't installed. I discovered that when I started playing with the original ones, I argued and won, they still charged me for the labor, the fuzz is the first thing they should have checked, that would have been a cheap fix. I bought the extended warranty 6 yrs, $1200.00 Look at the way things are worded, it seems if there is a problem it is most likely your fault. Flat rear tire, several hundred dollars, no warranty, 1 year old. I posted a complaint at Harley and I received a call, they were nice, but so what I got nothing in the form of reimbursements. The way things are structured there are no resolutions. There name and past reputation has gotten them far, sadly they seem to be losing that on the after sale side. You can't send Harley an email to complain, try to call and you spend the day on hold. Them and their dealers need to understand customer satisfaction is the key to successful business. Things need to improve or go down. I live in Central Mass. Hey hopefully this complaint will alter/fix their issues.

I have a 1996 FLHT that I really ride. I've had it for 5 years and have put over a hundred thousand miles on it. The troubles have been few and thank goodness I am able to work on it myself. I wouldn't even attempt to work on the newer models. The EVO engine is wonderful and the enjoyment I have had is worth every penny I have spent.

Now to the real problems:

Finding a repair shop I can trust has become a task I am no longer engaging as I have been through every dealership and a few shops and all have proven to be unreliable, even to the point of life threatening mistakes, oversight, laziness or poor management. That is why I bought the repair books to work on them myself. The special tools I could not fabricate myself are quite costly but my life and my wife's life are worth it. The dealerships that I found to be totally unreliable are, Republic Harley Davidson, Mancuso Motorcycles (Both locations), Goe Cycles, Big Dog (not here anymore) and of course several repair shops.

A friend I ride with has a 1996 FLHTC and about a year ago we were riding and he heard a noise that troubled him. Upon checking we found the swingarm broken completely at the axle hole on the left side. Luckily the washer jammed in the swingarm preventing the rear wheel from breaking loose and possibly killing both of them. Of course Harley had never heard of any such problems which seems to be their way of responding to problems as well as their dealerships. (I could tell you horror stories from the dealerships I mentioned earlier but that's for later)

hello my name is joe from north ontario canada. i have been a harley owner for 29 yrs 14 harleys and no 1/2 harleys all big twins my first 1968 FL was a dream come true for me being a poor boy. harley dealers have always been liars. i can remember all the bikes in the dealership having oil on the ground under them. they have come a long way from those days. and if it wasn,t for us guys there wouldn,t be harley davidson i have been building bikes for over 29 years.

Thanks Clayton, I appreciate how much work it is to keep a site like yours up-to-date.

The latest with my bike is actually good news for now. The good, albeit slow, El Cajon Harley[1] came through ultimately. And they did it with an excellent attitude. I have a new full-floating rear rotor, new rear caliper, new rear master cylinder, new (from the factory this time) motor with matching serial numbers, and a new oil cooler. As for the oil temp sensor, they ended up installing an adapter directly into the engine, so now I get real-time engine temp readings instead of the way it comes in the kit where it only starts moving the gauge after the oil cooler thermostat opens. Very nice. Still, the bike was down for almost three months total.

They comped my 500-mile oil change too. I highly recommend El Cajon Harley Davidson for their great service department. As for the bad guys, Biggs[2] in San Marcos, we're meeting in court in January - if they're still in business. I hear they're stocking even fewer and fewer parts, so I hope that's a sign that they're about done. The last time I went there, they threatened to call the Sheriff on me and threw me out. Guess they didn't want to talk about my service issues. I'll tell you how the Small Claims suit comes out after it's done. Don't want to give away anything in case they actually do have someone there who can read.

Thanks again for all your help,
Rich

[1] http://www.elcajonharley.com/
[2] http://www.biggsh-d.com/

Hello Clayton. Rich King here. Got back from a 4-week trip and was looking forward to riding the Harley once again. Of course, we both know it just wasn't going to be that easy, didn't we. Here's the latest for your web site.

Went to pick up the bike (2007 110" Ultra P.O.S.) Friday, October 24th. They've had it two and a half months. Three things to do:

1 - Replace Engine (flush all oil, passages, primary gaskets, etc.)
2 - Replace Oil Cooler
3 - Rear Brake calipers (4 sets of pads in 16,000 miles - something's wrong)

Pam and I went down to personally meet the head service writer before we left. Wanted to let him know I was going to be gone and wanted to meet him in person since I had only talked to him on the phone. When we were down there, I again reiterrated those three things. They were on the work order written by the other service writer, when I first brought the bike in. I also called from Italy last week to see if the bike was done. Gracie said it was all done. I mentioned the three items again and she said "yes, according to the ticket, it's all done."

So you might imagine how ever so slightly pissed I was this morning after asking to talk to the mechanic who worked on the bike to explain to me what he had found wrong with the brakes (in case I needed to keep an eye on something in the future). His answer: "what brake problem? - guess I missed that on the work order."