2007 Ultra with the 110" SE kit - total P.O.S.
Don't know where to start. I've had problems with the bike from the day it left Biggs Harley-Davidson[1] shop in San Marcos, CA. Dealer's kept the bike without doing work or calling to say the parts are on back-order, shoddy work, trying to add parts to the bill that weren't in the estimate, etc. In 15 months, the bike has been in the shop 100 days. Leaking head gaskets 6,000 miles after they finally got around to installing the 110" kit (which took three months to arrive), etc. Then, with only 17,000 miles, it literally blew up - lost all oil pressure followed by lots of metal-to-metal noise.
Nothing but trouble. I feel that the Harley engineers are using crayons to begin with, then the dealer compounds the problem by being incompetent. I am pursuing the dealer hard with all means at my disposal with a campaign to let the world know how they treat their customers. I hope to someday be able to say: "I had a hand in putting them out of business." Sad that I have to resort to that, but I don't like being screwed with. I've owned about 50 motorcycles. This is my first Harley and I've never encountered anything like this - EVER. So far, I have posted my letters to the dealer and the logs of my encounters at the following web site:
http://www.kingtrips.net/projects/biggs-letters-emails.htm
I have also sent a copy to the dealer and to Harley corporate. Still waiting to hear their reaction. For all looking to buy a touring bike, go with the BMW K1200LT. A friend has one. Of course, after 120,000 miles, it does need a valve job.
Thanks for your time,
Richard King, Poway, CA
Comments
Richard, sounds like you have
Richard, sounds like you have had a whole lot of problems with your bike, check out the problems that I have had with mine. The first mistake that we both made was purchasing a Harley. I also own a 1999 BMW 1200 LT, which I purchased new. Under warranty the BMW dealer replaced an ABS sensor and recently I had to replace the clutch slave, other than that I have had 44,000 miles of trouble free riding on the BMW. It sounds like the cam chain tensioner in your 110" motor might have let go. That design is a complete joke, they should install a gear driven set of cams right from the factory. I guess one reason that they don't other than the additional cost in building the bike is that they probably do not trust their crank shafts. One a crank goes beyond a certain tolerance a gear driven set of cams will have serious problems while chain driven cams are more forgiving up until the tensioners wear out as they did in mine. I have had gear driven S&S cams for the past 30,000 miles and as of the date of this email the 5th motor appears to be running well. If I were you I would go after Harley for a new ride, tell them that a California Jury might be somewhat unsympathetic to them in a California Court when they find out how many problems that you have had with your Harley. I might suggest that you ask them to have their lawyers look into the Beverly Song Act, I asked them to do that back in 1999 after having had five upper ends in my 1998 Road King and they gave me a new 2000 Road King. However as you can see from the 2000 service history that I attached, the 2000 also had five upper ends, one bottom end, two transmissions, two swing-arms, two starters, three stators, and a whole lot of other mechanical repairs. Harley's do make great static displays but when you drive them, unfortunately they break. This becomes much more of a problem when you let the dealer mechanic's screw with them. Good luck in going after the factory. I might suggest that if they agree to replace your bike ask them for the cash and go and purchase a new 1200 LT.
Gabe Zolna
Mission Viejo, CA
Gabor, wow - are you going to
Gabor, wow - are you going to get rid of that Harley when your extended warranty ends? I feel your pain. You also posted informaton about brake pad replacement. Reminded me that I'm on my 4th set of rear pads in only 17,000 miles. I DO NOT rest my foot on the brake arm. I'd have to be pigeon-toed to even touch it. They seem to wear out even when I'm mostly on the highway pegs. Any thoughts - anybody? My '96 ATK and '98 CR500 go through mud, sand, and dirt and are used extremely hard in severe conditions. I've never replaved the brake pads on either bike. My Buell Ulysses has 18,000 miles on it - original pads also.
Also, Ward made the point that the people who have good luck with Harleys rarely post, so that's why it seems that we hear mostly negative comments. I'll give him that. However, do a Google search for problems with Harleys and you'll discover page after page of blog sites like this one, each containing multiple customers complaints. I did the same search for Honda Goldwings and found only a few individual complaints. I did the same search for BMW K1200LT and found ONE. Someone was complaining about leaky fork seals. That's actually a problem that wouldn't even interrupt a long trip. In fact, it probably just makes the forks smoother due to less stiction.
Richard King, Poway, CA
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