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What am I Missing?

70_West

70_West

Member
I've had my '09 Heritage for over a year now, bought new right off the floor with 0 miles, has 17.5k on it now. This is the first true HD bike I've ever owned, moving from a Buell Ulysses to the Heritage. To date, I have never turned a wrench on it other than routine maintenance. I mean not so much as a bolt vibrated loose. Having been riding for over 40 years, I can't think of many machines that I owned that didn't have some inherent issue that needed to be headed off...

Still, on this forum and through internet searches I haven't found anything to be concerned about. On recent bikes I owned, all had potential problems, some that I experienced first hand, the Uly was prone to an electrical connection issues, rear wheel bearing failure, a KLR that had a "Doo-Hickey", even my 83 V65 is prone to catastrophic oiling problems with the cam bearings.

I'm just concerned in that I've never had such a problem free bike before... How's that for a complaint? Maybe I should write the MOCO about it!

Anyway, I thought that I would throw it out there to see if I've missed something, maybe I should keep an eye on some gadget or such for a future problem? From reading here, I feel like there may "possibly" be a lean fuel issue that may come up in the future, but that's the only thing, far-fetched as it is, that I can come up with...

Any suggestions?
 
Well, check this out for a bit of irony...

I had not ridden a bike since I was a kid (had an Arctic Cat mini-bike) when I bought my 2004 Honda VTX-1300 last spring. The bike was really sweet looking with a flame paint job! Right about there was where the positives ended...

The bike ran rich INCESSANTLY--the front plugs were carbon-fouled, the backs, were OIL FOULED. I tried re-jetting, putting on a heavy breathing air cleaner, bub jughuggers... NOTHING worked. While trying to fiddle with it earlier this summer, I checked the oil and it smelled like gas. That was the last straw! A week later I had my new fatboy in the garage. Oh, and before I forget, the neck bearings needed replacing (death wobble upon deceleration) and the fork springs needed replacing. Bear in mind I bought the bike with 8,700 miles on it and it had around 15,000 on it when I traded it in.

Did I buy a lemon? Maybe. Someone else's problem? Definitely...

So far, the only thing I don't like about the fatty is the pipes. Too quiet! Lol!

At the end of the day, I think doing maintenance when scheduled will go a long way--with ANYTHING you ride on/in.

Den
 
Yep... Normally problems that crops up repeatedly with a specific model, shows up in forums and it appears a lot worse that it really is. But at least it gives you something to keep an eye on, or out for. I haven't been able to find anything on the Heritage like that.

Granted that any bike can have problems of one sort or another, but if half of those are broken widgets then you would know to check yours...
 
One problem that keeps cropping up allot with Harley's is your face hurting from smiling so much...:)
 
I was very hesitant about getting another Harley after purchasing an '81 superglide...It takes decades for a company to regain it's reputation as a reliable motorcycle. I have to say that I haven't had 1 problem with my '04 softtail standard.
 
The only problem that should really concern you is the number of really cool (expensive) goodies available from the dealer and aftermarket. If you'r not careful you can ride that Harley straight to the poorhouse. LOL:s
 
I used to ride brit twins, then guzzis, then ducatis before HDs.I've heard all the stories about what was wrong with them but I was rarely let down by any of them if at all.
Different nationalities have a different approach to building motorcycles.
Americans generally build tough heavy motorcycles that can go the distance and be fixed by the home mechanic (ok, they are getting increasingly technical cos of noise n pollution stuff), but in general harley are still building bikes that are tough as nails-its the american pioneer thang in my view-you don't need an arab stallion when you have to cross mountains and deserts, you want a tough breed that can haul you and your stuff over the distance.
Its no surprise to me that hogs are solid motorcycles. Sure, there were some problems in the AMF days but you still see shovels and Evos blatting around,
yeah, they may have had some work but they still go good.
Have faith in your american motorcycle-its built good.
And for the record I'm not american-I'm a limey but I appreciate american engineering even if you can't spell tyre, colour, nor pronounce aluminium or tomato.
 
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