Re: 2004 Sportster

Hello Clayton, I enjoy reading the various messages that folks send in to you. I agree that Harley's are not all bad, they do tend to have more problems that their Japanese competitors but as we all know Harley seems to spend more R&D money on paint than on engineering. They are masters in "Milking" out their technology by not being all that concerned about "Updating" their technology and in all honesty, I can't blame them, why spend the money on technology if you do not have to do so. Harley's sell because they are Harley's, plain and simple. I think that a big problem that all of us customers have is somewhat sell induced, when we allow the dealers to "Modify" and or build or motors we are opening up "Pandora's Box". Sure they have certain design flaws such as the cam bearing issues in the early twin cams, and the chain tensioner issues in all of their twin cams, but when we agree to modify our engines we are asking for trouble. The fact is that I honestly believe that most of the dealers mechanics rush the jobs they are working on to beat the "Flat Book Rate" and in doing so, they create new problems for their customers. It is a fact, the majority of Harley riders do not put a great number of miles on their bikes and all shops guarantee their work for a period of ninety days so after work has been done and paid for many problems appear beyond the ninety day period. If the dealers were forced to guarantee their work for a period of one year, I am one hundred percent certain that fewer problems would appear since the mechanics would themselves have to guarantee their work for a full year instead of the standard ninety day guarantee. Clayton, if you recall, I have had five upper ends and one lower end on my 2000 Road King. I agreed to build the first motor to a 95" with 203 cams, mainly due to the fact that I had one of those suspect bikes build prior to 12/99 that had potentially bad cam bearings. The mechanic that built that motor inadvertently lined up the rings and oil ran straight through the motor. The third engine that way built had a bad wrist pin, the forth engine blew the front seal and the fifth engine blew when the chain tensioner let go after eighteen thousand miles of service. It appears that half the problems were mechanical and half the problems were due to the mechanic possibly rushing through the project. The bottom line is that if you ride a Harley and load up the miles, it will break much sooner than a Japanese motorcycle of similar displacement. If no one believes me call an Underwriter at Western Warranty and ask them. Lastly, I also own a BMW 1200 LT, a much superior mechanical motorcycle, but, in all honesty, I ride the Harley more than I do the BMW so, what's that tell you? LOL!