Look, people have to stop saying this kind of thing....
ANY motor on ANY vehicle can have a catastropic failure that causes it to lock up/seize. A Ferrari, a helicopter, a Vespa -- they can all lock up their motors. What happens? Well, the cars spin, the helicopter starts heading down, and the Vespa...um I dont know...wrecks maybe. Maybe going too slow to actually wreck.
The point is that any HD (or Honda, Suzuki, etc.) bike can blow its motor, instantly lock its wheel, and kill the rider. It is VERY RARE. This has always been a known risk of motorcycling (or driving a manual car, or a helicopter, etc.)
The extremists on here have everyone scared to ride their bikes for fear of a freakin' lockup, when the odds against that are huge... Way slimmer than your odds of being flattened by a minivan.
So, please layoff the "blew up, locked up, and killed him" stuff, especially since we can't even confirm any cases of motor failure actually causing a wreck on a 96 or 110.
I would like to suggest that while it
used to be very rare, it obviously is much less rare with the '07 H-D. This forum reflects the experiences of just a tiny percentage of all Harley riders, and yet we have at least two first person reports on this site of engines locking up and causing a crash. On top of that, there have been others who just had their engines quit running while running down the highway due to ACR failures, or who lost oil pressure and shut the engine down prior to it locking up. These types of failures are also dangerous if you suddenly lose power and mobility in heavy traffic.
You can look at a situation like this in several ways. Some would say we need to publicize and hammer at the issues to force the MoCo to address them, as well as to warn potential
victims customers of the possibilities. Obviously, others seem to think we should shut up, drink the Kool-Aid, and let the potential
victims customers venture forth into the world of Harley with blinders on. All I can tell you is that I appreciate knowing about these potential problems before the fact. Assuming I had lost my mind and traded for an '07, knowing the engine had an increased risk of lockup would cause me to be more aware of changes in operating characteristics. It would also allow me to modify my riding style to include
always riding with my fingers on the clutch lever. And if publicizing all of this causes some to pass on buying the MoCo's latest flawed offering, so be it. If enough people quit accepting this kind of product quality, perhaps the complacency and arrogance in Milwaukee could be shaken enough to result in improvements for all concerned.
BTW - if you go back a few years in the archives, you won't find engines locking up due to defective crankshafts being discussed. However, you will find plenty of conversation about high speed wobbles which also caused a few crashes. Those discussions prompted some to seek modifications to eliminate the wobbles, and others to adjust their riding styles to avoid the issue. I like to think those discussions may have helped save one or more people from a very painful experience, or worse.
Jerry
Author
Topic: Update 110" Replacement Motor Installed by Harley Davidson (Read 18715 times)