You mean that just because HD asks an outside painter to paint the CVOs the quality is better? A few guys with 2006s will argue with you about that.
Skreminegul07,
I think you may have misinterpreted my remarks. I didn't say anything about who paints CVOs or how good the quality of their work is. I don't know too much about the problems with the '06 paint jobs. (We had some bad paint on our '05 RK, but our dealer gave us the "they're all like that" answer.) I would just like to be able to buy some reasonably good quality painted parts from HD to match the paint on my SERK. Instead we get to do our own research and take our chances. I agree that everything the MoCo sells should be of the highest quality -we certainly pay enough for it.
I have had a little trouble getting a pair of saddlebags painted to match my bike and that is what led to my comments. My BSR and I started out at the beginning of February with a pair of new saddlebags. We went to a local painter whose work we had seen before -and it was all excellent quality. He required half the money to start the job, so we paid him $600. The bags were supposed to be done in 2 weeks... After several months it got to the point where the painter was very hostile when we would visit to ask about progress. We began to wonder if he was going to beat us up when we visited, and then he would call an hour or two later to apologize. We started to seriously consider packing some heat when we went to see him. We're not sure if he was on drugs, or the paint fumes got to him, or who knows what?
Finally, in July we got our unpainted bags back, but didn't get a refund of any of our "downpayment".
Painter number 2 received the saddlebags at the beginning of August, along with a side cover off the bike so they could match the paint. They figured the job would be done in 2 months. Shortly after receiving the bags their lead painter had some health issues -bad luck for us.
We're still waiting on the bags and the side cover now, and we genuinely hope that the painter is recovering from his relatively serious health problems.
My gripe with HD is that if they would at least sell the paint (to CVO owners with a VIN number) we might have a small amount of confidence that our painted parts had some chance of matching the rest of the bike. Instead we have to rely on the skill of the painter to match the paint. An even better approach would be for HD to sell matching hardbags and tourpaks as an option for our bikes. A friend with an '04 SEEG has an optional tourpak he was able to buy directly from HD that matches his bike perfectly.
I've had a few disagreements with my local dealer, but I've never felt like I might need to bring a gun along for protection when I visited them. And most of the time (not all the time -see above
) the dealer will usually work with me to make sure I'm at least somewhat satisfied...
I guess I don't have any real answers to any of this. I just want to fix my bike up a little -without being ripped off too badly. I'm embarrassed to admit how much money we will have invested in these saddlebags by the time they are done, and the amount of time it has taken to date -and they still aren't done.
Signed,
Frustrated
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Topic: Paint Codes for 07 SERK (Read 4649 times)