Just that issue alone is a piss-off.  

One wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a dealer to at least set the rear shocks at delivery to suit the owner,,, let alone HD to supply a piddley C spanner to adjust them as rider, load, road conditions inevatabley change.

It's blatently obvious that manufactures and dealers don't want their customers to perform even the simplest of settings, and are trying to force an expensive booking at the service department for anything no matter how basic.

Wonder what they'de do if ya called Harley Assist to come out and set the shocks to enable safe opperating perameters?

 

At the end of the day it's easiest to accept what their game is, and simply buy the "special tools" required to perform these little tasks.

 

(carry one in ya tool kit, you'de be surprised how many riders you lend it to on the road)

50 bucks to set the rear shocks, fer fucks sake the C spanner is only worth 15 bucks, If they were at least half decent they could have thrown in the tool for ya and said "here mate, use this next time"

Did ya get a quote for checking the air pressure in the tyres?

1; Had a mate whos pipes fell off and rolled down the road 5 mins after leaving the stealers.

2: Another mates bike had no oil in it after picking up from service.

3ver priced for doing fuck all.

4: A mate who picked up his bike 3 days before, dropped it when his custom grips slid off the bars while doing a slow Uturn. He had to pay for new mirrors, new pegs.

5: Another bloke I know had his starter motor shit itself 1 week out of warranty, they tried to charge a bullshit amount to replace it untill he rung Harley in the states to complain so they had to replace it for free.

6; They failed to replace the oil on my first service and charged me for it.

I now do all my own services and if theres something I cant do the boys from Pro street in Adelaide look after me very well. Awesome service and no bullshit.

I bought my Street Bob from Frasers in Sydney, and to be honest I didn't have a single bad thing to report.

They were more than understanding when I kept changing my mind about what bike I actually wanted to buy. I started off thinking a Superlow would have been alright, then a few weeks later they offered me a 48' to ride, I was hooked. Then two months through my deployment, a bloke I work with with said to me, fuck the sporty, get the Dyna.

I spoke to Frasers, explained what I wanted and sure as shit they made it happen. Kept all the delivery dates the same. I couldn't have asked for more flexibility.

When I picked the bike up, they had thrown a free battery maintenance trickle charger on the bike, given me a free service voucher, and a discount card for parts and accessories.

All that said though. I do prefer to patronise smaller workshops which provide very personalised service, don't have the ridiculous levels of staff turnover and have the stake their reputation on their work.

So far P&L at Girraween have been lined up to Tune and service my bike, and they were more than happy to show me what they do. I can't see how any of the actual dealers in Sydney can provide such a service at a reasonable cost.

All in all, good on Frasers for their efforts, but it's as far as I will go with them with my Street Bob.

Obviously I'm not the only one that thinks the stealer in Adelaide are a mob of arrogant rip off fucks that don't deserve to be in business. Just because they have the Monopoly on Harley and Triumph in Adelaide they think they can bend ya over everytime ya walk back in the door. It was cheaper for me to ride to Mildura with the missus on the back, Book into a bed & breakfast for a couple of nights and have a look around the town while the dealer there took care of my 16k service on the trumpy than it would of been to get it done in Adelaide. At the end of the day the missus was happy that I took her away for a couple of days, My bike was serviced by people that actually seem to care about their workmanship and I had a couple of hundred $$ left in my pocket from the thieves in Adelaide wanted.

As someone has already said, try taking an older bike to em for help (or ringing them)....they bassically laugh in ya face....fuk em....and now HD is gunna make it harder to get new parts (from hd dealers only).....gee thats gunna help with new bike sales....been thinking about getting rid of the old softail and replacing it with one of them honda choppers for a second bike.....they're butt ugly in the pic's but the one i seen in the flesh looked shit hot.

I got my bike from Harley Horsham and they were great, they could not do anymore for me at all, even paid for a room for the night prior to picking up my bike. They smashed all other prices i got quoted on my bike and extras i wanted. Its a pity they are 4 hours from me, i now use HH for parts as Luke/Pat match or do the best they can and their service is top notch (always call me back asap) I had my first service on Saturday and i got a discount from Luke/Pat on the parts and bike feels good, i have no reason to question their work, besides my clutch cable has a damaged clear sleeve now but they have said it will be fixed, at this point their is no reason for me not to go back, they have been friendly and all the staff i have spoken to have all the time in the world for you.

Regards Andrew

I've used a few different dealers, bought my bike from Blacktown Harley and would never go back there again.  They really fucked up the entire process and blatantly tried to rip me off.  Used Sys's Harley and had no issues @ all, however have moved all work over to an indy in Pendle Hill and they're brilliant.

I buy bits and pieces from Frasers from time to time, but its only when the part is small and cheaper to buy here than from USA.

Will continue to use an indy, better service, its a lot more personalised and they're always willing to help and talk ya through each individual step.  I have no mechanical background @ all, so I really appreciate the extra time and discussion. 

I walked into the dealer in Townsville, Tried to buy a sporty and told the owner i had a Honda to trade. I asked him the price of a new sporty which was pretty good and he said he would get back to me on a change over figure later that day. No call, after 3 days i called back and he was busy and was advised he would return my call. 2 days later i still had not got a call so i contacted them again. I spoke with him and was advised that he would give $4000.00 but the the bike was now $2000 more because i had trade. I told him to forget was very polite which is more that he deserved. 18 months later i sold my sporty which i bought privatley and walked into his shop again with $23k cash in my pocket. I walked around for 10 min and could get served so i walked out, but that's okay as he has now lost his dealship.....

It was Mildura Motorcycles Boxa, That was for a service on my Rocket III and apparently Quick Fix are really well priced in Mildura aswell.

Now I am trying to find someone on the northern side of adelaide that will take on rewiring my Shovel and setting up the twin plug ignition system properly

Thanks for that , i'll give them a ring . If nothing else be a good excuse for a ride.

dont get me wrong I love the twin ....but ....things are loose and the dealers keep telling me "its a Harley thing"

I hope to GOD I never have an electrical fault after my warranty runs out ....in fact I think it would be best to sell it at the end of warranty and go new again ....I guess thats what HD want us to do ?

Or Maybe try out the new Indians ?

I could always forgo cool and go back to reliable and modern designed ....honda ....

Wouldn't mind Chief Dark Horse bobbed!!! now that would look good. I've had a few late model Indians at work (friend imports them) and they are very nicely finished and very easy to ride..... Jase if you get stuck with anything let me know, i can fix anything mate!

Andrew

This is turning into a bash the dealer, trash the Harley, not what I would call constructive, partic on a HD forum...

Bt

 I have used Sys's, Frasers and Trivett's in Sydney over the past 10 years of Harley ownership. I got good service from Sys and Trivetts (though expensive). Now i am in north queensland I walked into Townsville Custom Cycles on the weekend with a shipping issue on my bike - great service, advice and they found the cheapest (andf in truth best) solution to the one I was going to do. I now wonder why I was going to stealers in the first place. My bike will be serviced there in future

So what should you pay for a service and what would you expect to get?

Oils changed, filters cleaned/oiled or replaced, check brake pads and discs, adjust clutch, oil cables, adjust rear belt, check tyres, check headstem swingarm and wheel bearings, adjust carb, check timing, wash bike. Please add what I have missed to this list. 

I recently had a service that I thought was a bit pricey but I do know that the mechanic is very thorough, but when I rang back to ask advice on a problem, I received a barrage about how my bikes wiring was shit, bit shocked and a lot dissapointed.

Its time I started doing all of the above myself. I am pretty confident with all but the timing.

Edit; the bike is old so ya cant jus plug it into a computer.

i own and run a retail workshop, i work on HDs daily, as well as any other brand of bike. the common statements i hear from HD owners is how the dealers gouge prices, poor customer service, poor workmanship, parts quality is down,warranty is out the door,the list goes on. like most blokes here i have owned HDs continuously for the past 20 odd years, i am aware of their faults, i dont pretend they are the best handling, fastest bike around,i am well aware of what i own. like many here i have been a loyal HD customer for many years, i am also a trained , qualified bike mechanic with HDs PHD qualifications, i have worked in several well known dealerships, going back 10 years or so, i have seen the factory attitude change from supporting the customer,treating them with respect and dealing with their problems to treating customers like shit, fobbing problems off, denying warranty issues and generally raping them for a quick buck. HD are in deep shit, their customer base is turning away from them, they have lost the loyalty of many die hard HD owners due to their bad handling of the customer base. you would think someone in their management[high level] would see the writing on the wall and attempt to correct the slide, rather than alienate the customers they have left. they need to go back to their basics and start treating customers with respect,start accepting the faults of the bikes , and bring the dealers back into line with a program looking at correct the shit going down. my days of dealing with dealerships have gone, my parts all come from other sources, at better prices, which can then be passed on to my customers so we all win.

I paid $32000 for a brand new 2011 Fatboy Lo.After all the paperwork was done( rego etc) the salesman was giving me a once over on the switches,controls etc ,I fired it up.It had been running previously in the workshop. I said to the salesman "geez it sounds rattley",He said"no mate , they all sound like that when there're new, it'll take up" ,Well 20k's later on my way home the PRIMARY CHAIN LET GO! Rang Harley Assist blah blah. When I got back to the dealers ,I asked the owner "don't you check these things" He said "they're checked at the factory before they let them go" THIS IS THE PART THAT GETS ME: THE STORE OWNER, THE SALESMAN, THE TECHNICIAN? DID'NT PICK-UP ON A RATTLEY PRIMARY CHAIN!!! They put a new primary chain adjuster in but I let HARLEY AUSTRALIA know what calibre of people are running dealerships.

cool

Personaly i would of thought thats what dealer delivery charges are for

Sometimes just sometimes , its not actually the dealer but the people they have working for them that is the problem . I had a problem with my new bike , and was told on 3 ocasions with a smile yeh no worries bring it in , and then 3 times with a smile told we can't find anything wrong with it . In the end i said to the service manager , look i'm gonna do 3 things now , whats that he said my answer was

1 ---- I'm gonna ride this to the ploice station and show them the problem and get it defected

2--- I'm gonna ring and e-mail consumers AND THE AAAC and complain to them you sold me a defective bike .

3---- I'm gonna ring and demand to speak to THE OWNER of this dealership and let him know why i'm taking a civil court case to get back the money its gonna cost to get someone else to fix it .

Leave it with me next day , i got a call come get it its all fixed, , he then explained it was'nt there fault one of the aftermarket parts they put on at the service was faulty .

Err Derr i then had to ask him why was i charged for genuine parts , and they used aftermarket ,,, but point being i doubt the dealer principal would of been happy he pays there wages , and it was just a bunch of lazy twats who could'nt be arsed doing there job .