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2005

6 months in on the Harley saga

Wed, 01/11/2012 - 00:04 — jeveretts

I have been riding for 30 years. I have never ever owned a Harley Davidson. As a matter of fact, I was quite opposed to the idea. I was a BMW GS rider for the last several years. I got with some older gearhead type guys, who were into BMW's as well. But all of them had a Harley in the garage too. After a couple years, I started getting the itch for one. So I picked up a 1983 XLX Ironhead 1000. It was a really fun bike, but it was also a death trap with fasteners always coming looses, iffy brakes, ect...
A good friend of mine owns a car dealership and picked up a 2005 XL1200C at a repo auction. The bike only had 3000 miles on it, and was running like crap from sitting, but I picked it up for a song.
Took it to my local dealer who spent about an hour on the carb, and it was then running great.
I have had this bike since Oct 14, and I have rode it almost every single day. I LOVE THIS BIKE. I never really got the Harley thing, but once you own one, it becomes more clear. No, it doesn't handle great, it is quick, but not fast by any means. But it does seem to have a good bit of soul.

Call me a convert. I still make fun of guys who buy all the Harley clothes though :)

Harley , nothing new here

Mon, 08/03/2009 - 08:00 — omegarun

well, hears my take, as a kid friends and myself would love to go to the harley shop to see the new bikes.

But come time to drop the wad- we dropped it on honda's or kawasaki's or what ever our individual favorite bike was. i always wanted a dirt bike , in new mexico, back in the 70's dirt bikes were the way to go. Lots of open land and no fences.

Harley 2005 FLSTCI

Fri, 06/26/2009 - 08:00 — russ

I own a 2005 Harley Davidson Heritage Soft Tail Classic with about 24,000 miles on it. I have a problem with the rear laced wheel spokes coming loose for no apparent reason.

The Bike has always been serviced at HD dealerships at the proper intervals, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000

The rear tire was replaced at 9,634 miles

The rear tire was replaced again at 20,486 miles

Harley reliability

Sat, 08/18/2007 - 08:00 — cheetah

I am on my second Harley...My first one was a 1999 Electra glide Classic (bought used)... No problems at all. I traded it because I wanted something easier to handle for my size.

Need to clarify something

Mon, 09/18/2006 - 08:00 — tony

To make this short, I had a problem with the oil level on my '05 Heritage. I have seen some remarks on the site referring to this i.e.: "How can this guy let this go on for so long" and "What did he think, it was going to fix it itself". Here's the answer: This was my 1st Harley, (I've had many other bikes), thinking the Techs at Harley (at this point) knew more about this engine than I. The first time I noticed this problem I brought it to the attention of the Harley Techs. Yes there answer at that point was to let's keep a close eye on this and take it from there.

Update to my previous submission

Mon, 07/03/2006 - 08:00 — tony

Just wanted to make an update to my previous remarks. Recap: '05 Heritage was using excess oil and plugs were fouling out. Brought the bike in for service. Bike was in for a week. Gulfcoast Harley replaced the valve guide seals and the 2 plugs. I'll see how it goes from here. By the way there was no charge for this being it was a defect in the seals. One other thing here, all the hex bolts and well for that fact ALL the exposed bolts on the bike have Chrome Toppers to dress the bike up more.

'05 Heritage Softail

Thu, 06/22/2006 - 08:00 — tony

Love the site. Some interesting stories.... I have a 2005 Heritage Softail Classic and over the past year or so I have been losing a quart of oil every 2 to 3 months (depending on how much I ride) and plugs going bad. I've been hearing stories that the '05 Heritage has a problem with the valves causing this problem. While speaking to one of the parts guys at Gulf Coast Harley here in Florida he had mentioned this to me also, confirming what I had heard.

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by Dr. Radut.