I wanted to get some feedback from anyone who has a 103 cubic inch motor in a recent (last few years) touring bike ? and ask what maintainence or if any warranty issues have occured or if there is a typical batch of issues owners have after doing alot of kilometres over a year or two ?.
I watched a few videos tonight on the Harley motors versus another manufacturers model and the HD motor seemed to have some outdated design features within its DNA, espescially a chain drive set up to drive the primary drive in the gearbox versus the more updated gear drive newer bikes like the victory or jap/euro bikes have. It seems HD is the only one who still uses this old design (excluding the VROD).
It made me worry about the so called ongoing maintainence costs of having to maintain a bike if I want to keep the bike for a number of years (say 5 yrs or more) with these so called inbuilt HD motor issues. Other stuff mentioned in the harley versus victory videos is low oil pressure on a harley, plus ten other things. Is it all bullshit, or are Harleys maintainence pigs,maintainence money pits, or is the video of the victory versus harley just crap.
** I am about to buy a new bike, wanted to spend up to $35 K and was looking at the Electra \Glide. I want a bike that aint going to cost a mint to maintain up to and over 100,000 kilometres etc. Anyones opinion who has owned large touring harleys over a number of years would be appreciated. That Victory versus Harley video made the HD bikes seem outdated motor wise but I dont know enough to work out if its hype and BS versus partly/mostly true/not true at all..
Thanks in advance for any help on the 103 motors/issues.
regards, Brett
Fuck all problems with my 07 after 6 years. The only money I have spent is rego tyres and a battery this year. (Thousands in hot up parts ) They are very reliable bikes and if serviced regularly should get over 200.000 K's with fuck all problems. There are lemons with any manufacturer but modern EFI Harley's need to be tuned off the show room floor as they run hot lean from new. The best advice is to read up on all the stg1 kits on the market and choose your poison wisely as most of us have changed pipes, air cleaners tuners randomly to get the most from these engines. Good luck.
if you are truly concerned about out-dated design then skip harley , skip Victory , and go german or japanese ....
*insert thinking smilie here*
edit : perhaps i could be clearer ......... the harley design has been around for ages ... precisely why there are good reasons to stick with it ?
the latest and greatest isnt necessarily the best - just ask me how i know
i just edited my post
insert griinning smilie here
I still want a electra glide but want to know what i am getting into etc.
I dont understand why HD hasnt upgraded/updated the old air cooled motors/pushrod design like the VRod etc. IS it Cheap to build the motor using the old design or is it a matter of not broke so dont fix it ?Perhaps its the shaking and vibrating people like from a HD instead of a sterile ride from a euro or jap bike.
STILL WONDERING ABOUT SERVICING COSTS/MAINTAINENCE AFTER WARRANTY ???.
Still want to know the servicing costs from brand new to say 100,000 kilometres. It seems no one does any decent kilometres on a HD, like 25,000 per year. A daily rider which is used n used n used. Would still like to know if people have hassles with a HD after doing serious kilometres and if the service costs are huge or not. Dealer will tell you what u want to hear, but a HD owner might say otherwise.
Anyone with longer term experience got any answers ?
lets start with you describing exactly how you intend to ride this bike for 100,000k , what sort of fuel you will use , whether you intend regularly servicing the bike yourself , what oil and how often you swap it , the expected price of parts and labour , inflation rates , and perhaps we can prevail upon NASA to feed the info into their supercomputer for an answer.
this may be the answer in its simplest form.
Go to any bike forum , BMW , Kawasaki , Ducati , Honda and you will find posts where people are complaining about specific known failures of higher mileage bikes.
I am a regular on quite a number of bike forums due to the different bikes i have in my garage , or have an interest in.
I can say without a doubt , that the harley forum seems to have less posts about mechanical failures of the latest generation compared to others. Spending $35k does not guarantee you a bike that will be trouble free.
The only negative that i can truly say about harley is that there are more and more touring type bikes with 10,000+ service intervals whereas the harley is far less .. but if you learn to do simple maintenance , changing fluids and filters , ownership gets much cheaper.
lastly ignore Victory. You can always sell a Harley when you want to upgrade but apparently you cant give away a second hand Victory - check their forums to see that i am right .
cheers
so what does the average service cost from the average bike shop.?(roughly)
is it just oils n filters every 5,000 kilometres?? . Are there any major ticket items along the way to 100,000 klms ??. (ignore tyres)
after say 100,000 any major priced items need looking at ??
Your services are every 8500 after your initial 1500klm service. They cost around $300 per service depending on what type of oils etc. Done 18000klm in 9mths on my 2012 street glide and no major issues. You probly now need to stop trying to anaylise every single possible aspect of owning it and JUST BUY IT. And ride the wheels of the fucker
me thinks that the cost of servicing for these bikes is neglictible compared to cost of "bling" you put on them.
insert whatever smiley here
HDHighwayHauler i'm know expert when it comes to Harley's but I reckon you'd have to be bloody unlucky to get one that wouldn't easily do 100,000km's under normal riding conditions & regular servicing. I've spoken to plenty of guys out there that have huge km's on their bikes with many years of trouble free riding, they just don't seem to be members of this forum!
To give you an idea of servicing intervals i've refered to what's in my owners manual the first being at; 1600km, 8000km, 16000km, 24,000 km & so on, my servious's have cost me around $350 per service. Warranty is for 24 months unlimited km's as per manual.
The older guys i've spoken to & ride with recomend an oil & filter change every 4,000km's which i'm going to start doing myself now. I'm 100% confident i'm never going to need to utilise my bikes warranty so I see no point forking out the money for someone else to do a very easy task!
My bikes a FSXT that I bought in July 2011 & have since done 11,500km's with no problems.
You won't be disappointed with a Harley if you end up going down that road. I'm a first time Harley owner & will now always be! There's something about them that can't be reproduced, no matter how hard these other motorcyle manufacturers try!
On my fourth harley now. Currently have a 2012 Electra Glide Ultra Classic. Only ever had minor issues that were fixed under warranty. Engines went great, never used oil, never rattly. The only slightly irritating drama that was never resolved was squeaky rubbers on my 07 fatboys suspension ( i should have tried silicon spray).. I would say go for one and enjoy the whole Harley experience. It is very catchy once you get the bug.............and you WILL get the bug. Bling is a magical thing.
As for asking reliability and service costs over 100,000ks for a 103 cube, I don't think it has been done yet as the motors have only been out just over a year i think. Work on average of $350 for services untill you need a rebuild which you shouldn't think about now anyway. Hope this helps.
Ok, great, that was the figures and experiences i was looking for.
Also after reading up on wikipedia about all different things Harley Davidson, it seems that HD has made alot of changes in the past 3 years with alot of the touring range by changing frame design, motor mounting designs, some minor motor changes and by adding fuel injection and the engine management system etc. It seems that they have made a old proven design just that much better for the 2010 inclusive and the 2011 and 2012 touring range forward. Even small things like moving the battery etc, and quite a few other small things have happened behind the scenes, so they are still making positive design changes etc which is all good.
Yeh, riding a bike shouldnt be a very clinical/sterile feel and the HD bikes have attitude n personality built into them. If i wanted a sterile ride down the highway i would stick to my new car, but riding a big bike, a highway hauler should be about having alot of feedback from the bike n the road.
I just wanted to make sure everything was going to be mostly hassle free and have all the information boxes ticked. Thanks for the answers guys.
Im still looking around for a special deal on a 2012/2013 tourer Electra Glide, and am visiting 3 or 4 different HD shops to find the right colour combo and then lock in a great deal financially.
Yes Brett,I have had a problem with the compensator in my 103 Road King with only around 14000 km's on the clock so I took to a well known dealership here in Sydney and this is where it sits almost five weeks later,they keep telling me that the part has to come from the States, but fair dinkum this is unbelieveable,so I dont know where to go from here.
