Ken, what you are saying is exactly how I took others questioning my decision to use my dealer. In fact I called out one guy for sarcastically questioning my decision as if I couldn't change it myself, hence my statement inferring it isn't hard to do if that was the only item on the list. In fact my point is that I decided on this first go around just to lump out the cash for all three fluids to be changed plus the other items to be inspected. Hell, if I needed someone to belittle me for spending a few dollars just to dodge the work I could have discussed it with my wife! lol
Point is...YOU don't know me either nor what my experience in building is or has been in the past. Maybe I've just grown tired of building every ride and those of a few friends and finally decided to ride stock. The fact that I come from a building back ground is why I purchased a CVO......because its stock...but not.
One of the problems in an Internet forum is that things people say are often misinterpreted because there is no voice inflection nor body language to clue the reader in to what the writer really means. Thus, it's easy to take offense when none was really intended. Or vice-versa! Also, some people have a blunt and/or terse writing style that can lead to the reader interpreting things differently than the writer might have intended.
No, I don't know you, nor your background... and I certainly I don't fault you nor anyone else for having work done by a dealer. Having the 1000K service, or any other service, done by a dealer puts that dealer on the hook if anything relating to those items goes wrong later, because it's documented in Harley's system that the service was in fact done, and done by that dealer. Nothing wrong with that at all. It's an expensive insurance policy though, in my view.... and I don't take my bike to a dealer unless it needs something done that I can't, or don't care to, do myself.
I was talking with my wife last evening about having
my Honey Badger's bottom end rebuilt by T-Man with a welded/balanced/plugged crank, Timken bearing, etc. Her response was "why do Harleys have so many problems? You paid a lot of money for that bike, and it seems like you are always needing to do something else to it to make it run right." My response back was "because Harley is out to make money, and they build things as cheaply as they can to last until the warranty is over, and they build the cost of warranty work into the price of their products, because in their financial view it's easier to fix the relatively-small number of things that break in the field than it is to reengineer things to be reliable from the factory in the first place." Plus, they make a lot of money on service!
Maybe it shouldn't be like that, but it is. Harley gets by with this because their bikes are just so damned beautiful… they are like rolling pieces of art compared to other brands, and they attract a lot of attention on the road, in parking lots, etc. We buyers keep buying Harleys because they are beautiful, and they ride so nicely on long hauls. And, we spend a ton on P&A, clothing, etc. I guess it's just all part of the Harley culture that the MoCo has developed over the past several decades, and if you look at their financials, it seems to be working for them. Harleys may not be the best performing motorcycles, nor have the latest high-tech design, but they seem to hit a visceral part of us that makes us keep coming back… despite the things we have to do to the bikes to keep them running at their peak, or even to fix things that break than probably shouldn't have broken if they had been designed and manufactured better.
I have been fortunate (so far) to personally not have had many of the problems people talk about here on this forum - but I know as the miles pile up, things WILL start to go wrong that shouldn't have broken in the first place… such as a scissored crank, compensators going out, clutch not holding, etc. I have replaced several items that I know are weak spots… lifters, cam bearings, cam plate and fuel pump, primary chain tensioner, etc. I have also done a few things to improve performance - such as Cometic head gaskets, different cams, a two and one pipe, a good TTS tune, etc... But nothing really major such as a bottom-end rebuild, head work, etc. That's likely in Honey Badger's future tough... at least the bottom end is, so I can ride for a long time and not be concerned about the engine blowing up!
I could trade for a newer Rushmore bike - but I am just in love with Honey Badger, and I'm willing to invest the dollars I need to down the road to keep her running at her peak. My bike is perfect for me, and I have her set up exactly the way I want her, so I will probably never trade to a newer model. It's cheaper to keep her!
Nothing wrong with staying stock - provided you are OK with the relative lack of performance. I wasn't, and many others aren't either. Hardly anyone stays with the stock exhaust, and most people replace that to get rid of the cat and open it up, and then have it tuned - so they can get decent performance and not have the bike feel like a 1974 Chevy Impala. Many people don't go any further than that. That's good if you have an ESP, because if you read the fine print it says that any vehicle modifications will void the ESP., and even changing the pipes and tuning it can technically void it. I have an ESP, but I should probably cancel it and get some money back, because I have done so many things to my drivetrain that there is probably no way anyone would ever honor it anyway.
Sorry for the dissertation... I get carried away writing sometimes!
Ken
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Topic: Power HP 2015 (Read 15278 times)