Hi Dave. I drive my car for commuting, and I don't drive it anything like I ride my bike. I would find it disingenuous for most of us to say we just mildly go through the gears on these bikes like most do while driving their cars. At least I know I like to "get on" my bike quite often on every ride. That is part of the fun for me. I DO NOT do that for my car. Big difference in mechanical stress between the two circumstances. JMHO
Well, my car is a 14 Stingray with a manual transmission. I rest assure you, I stress the car engine and drive train much much harder than I do my main bike. Chevy trusts their motor and drive train so much, my warranty is still valid even with Race Track use. Yes, I can race my car, and if anything fails it is covered. My car has launch control, if I launched a Harley like that it would come apart.
The Harleys I have had with lifter failure have all be stock except the exhaust system. They were not raced, not beat on, not abused. They were my traveling bikes, that saw 22K or more a year miles. I have a bike I use when I want to run through the gears, or get on it hard. Its a 13 CVO King with a very built motor. It has not had failure. The reason is, I have better lifters in it, I have better valve springs in it, I have better cam bearings and so on.
So I have a bike to ride hard. Again, the bikes with failures are never beat.
Most would never accept a car that did not last 100K miles. So why is it ok when a Harley fails at 21K like a friends 14 CVO, or 35K like yours or 44K like my last 110 bike? Just read the forum, many have failures, and most accept it.
Had Harley not replaced the motor in my 15 SERGU that failed, I would not be on a New Harley.