Geez, I hesitate to start this but I learn from your wise council, and because this continually bothers me, here goes.
I have a 09 SEUC. My purpose in buying this unit was to put the “project bike” behind me, get something that I could ride 100K miles and with good maintenance, buy gas, oil and tires, a lot of each. One would think that for $35,000 the MoCo could design and build something that could accomplish that simple mission. My predecessor was a 02 RK that had stage two, gear cams, 95 kit, etc, was marginally reliable and had 86K miles. It was underpowered for touring from the factory and had cam failures, hence the mods. The shop I used was one of the best in the Seattle area.
The 110 engine has warts that a company designing motorcycles for 105 years, IMO, should never had allowed if they valued their customers at all. It has heat problems, head gasket problems and other maladies that you are well aware of. Just to extend the engine life of this touring machine to a reasonable 100,000 reliable miles, I understand I need to remove the CAT, get a SERT, increase the volume and cooling capacity of the oil cooler, stage 2 air cleaner, etc. I did not buy this unit to have to do this stuff as it should have already been done. I now have been riding 20K miles a year.
The GPS is garbage and should not even exist. A $100 Garmin Nuvi is more functional. The HD Garmin 550 should logically be OEM on this bike, but no. Just an example of other stupid stuff I see here. I enjoy riding the bike and bought this touring frame mostly because of my wife’s comfort. It is one of the few and best passenger platforms out there.
Here is the question I wrestle with. Should I just suck it up, spend the money to fix design and MoCo failures or will this thing go 100K with gas, oil and tires in a reliable fashion? I don’t want you to make the decision for me, I am looking for ideas, e.g. maybe I expect too much for $35,000? Maybe I need blind loyality? Please share your constructive wisdom. And thanks.
Road Hog