Harley Quality

[baylensman]

So i get to work early this morning (5:15 a.m.) As i pull I up I see the Bosses bike parked in the first slot. (boss is also my little brother).

I thumb in and head into the accountants office and grab my morning load of papers. Say hello to all and as im heading ou,t bump into little bro, ask him about latest trip and so on.

He follows me out the door ( i work in another building and drive over to it) we start talking bikes for a few minutes.

He's showing off his new handle bars ( new harley can take up to 14" without changing cables) After market drive off center stand ( I wish i had one) His new driving lamps ( hi intensity LED) everything bought and installed at daytona last week. As we walk around the bike I see he has no hi way pegs! well it seems that his new dealer installed peg fell the f$@k off!! so he took the other off so as to match. He found the missing peg in his saddle bag! the newly made front vent on the saddle bag allowed easy entry. The new vent closes covertly with fiber reinforced packing tape!

 

This began a rather long recital of other bits and pieces that have come loose or needed adjustment on the bike he got in october of 2017! Now I can't really say much as I lost a 6 mm bolt in my shifter in the past 10 years, so I can't claim that Im that much more reliable.

[bongobobny]

What, a Harley that shook a part off at idle?? Unheard of...

[Marcarl]

Maybe lil bro is older than you think and he's shaking some.

[CaseyJ955]

The quality of HD has improved but they still trail way behind the Euro and Japanese manufactures. I've seen later HDs that seem to have adequate build quality but the technology found in an HD is always at least a dogs life behind the same year Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki/Kawasaki/BMW/Triumph/BETA/KTM etc etc. They are what they are, I sure hope he isn't just finding out about that!

[mraf]

We have some friends that stopped over a few years back in their new car and asked us to ride to the tasty-freeze with them so we do. On the way there he tells us that he has to go back home to put a tire on his daughters car when he gets back. He tells us that she was following a large group of Harleys down the interstate when she got the flat tire. There was a bolt stuck in the center of it. Needless to say his thoughts on Harleys was none to good. Well we get to the tasty-freeze and a Harley rolls up about the same time as us. The guy shuts it off and goes to get off and I kid you not the turn signal lens falls off on the pavement. Needless to say we all lost it laughing. The guy reached down picked it up and just set it back on the turn signal, no screw fix at all! From then on I always have it in the back of my mind when coming up on a bunch of Harley riders riding in a group I pass them as fast as I can.

[leroy]

I don't like to knock another man's ride and I like to support "made in the use" but... After 10 years and putting 133,000 on my Honda VTX 1300, and still riding it, plus 20,000 on my 2.5 year old RSV, I have had practically no issues with either. Then I compare those miles to a buddy with 40K on his HD and a brother in law with almost no miles on his HD. The things that have gone wrong with their MCs blows me away. Some of the repairs were very expensive. Both bought them new. Both of them take good care of their HDs. So it is not a lack of maintenance.

 

Both of them know they ride a 20% made in the USA Harley and accept the short comings of HD.

 

I love my 80% made in Marysville, Ohio Honda. I like the RSV also. Two very good motorcycles. Even my buddy with two BMWs has had more trouble in much less miles than I have had.

[BlueSky]

A peculiar fact is that when I was a kid, "Made in Japan" was synonimus with junk and it was some Americans who went to Japan to help them with their quality control according to what I remember reading. So, after a while the Japanese products were much better than American products. American car manufacturers concentrated on advertising and not quality to sell their cars until the Japanese kicked their butts into realizing they had to build higher quality vehicles. BMWs are highly engineered products that will last a long time but you can find lots of horror stories about how much it cost to repair them.

[BigLenny]

I always get a hearty laugh when listening to guys who argue about their "American Made" trucks, and how they are sooooo much better than other trucks.

Take a gander at the percentages of the top 10 most American made pickup trucks:

 

1. 2017 Ford F-150 85% TDC (Total Domestic Content)

2. 2017 Honda Ridgeline 78.5%

3. 2017 Toyota Tundra 73.5%

4. 2017 Chevy Colorado 73%

5. 2017 Ram 1500 72%

6. 2017 Nissan Titan 59%

7. 2017 Ram Rebel 58%

8. 2017 Chevy Silverado 55%

9. 2017 GMC Sierra 55%

10. 2017 Toyota Tacoma 55%

 

The truth is; in todays world, with the global economy all connected, you gotta be careful about bragging about being loyal to American Made, because you never really know where all of the components come from.

[BlueSky]

Quality products are a result of management philosophy. If management doesn't require quality, it won't be there. It doesn't really matter where the product comes from.

 

The last new Ford Ranger I saw, the engine and the transmission was made in the EU in different countries, France and I can't remember the other.

[BigLenny]

Quality products are a result of management philosophy. If management doesn't require quality, it won't be there. It doesn't really matter where the product comes from.

 

The last new Ford Ranger I saw, the engine and the transmission was made in the EU in different countries, France and I can't remember the other.

 

I agree with you, BlueSky.

 

Quality has to be the culture of an operation, or there will be no quality. It doesn't matter what nation it comes from, it's about the culture of the company. After all, most people will agree that Apple products are among some of the highest quality consumer electronics in the industry, but a boat load of them are manufactured in China, or other far away obsolete countries that aren't known for producing quality products. It's the specs that Apple demands that make the products high quality.

 

And, a large part of it is so subjective and straight out opinion based, with no real proof.

 

For example, I have a friend who is retired now, but was a long time engineer with Sony. So many people swear by the quality of Sony flat panel TV's, and Sony products in general, but he was telling me about a year ago that Sony, for a long time contracted with Samsung to make their flat panel screens, and also contracted with Hiscense for their smaller flat panel screens. So, It's crazy; people will buy a Sony, thinking that its gosh darnit the best tv in the industry, but not even realize they're watching a Samsung screen.

 

I was in a Tyson plant the about a month ago, and was on the plant floor talking to the safety director about some safety signage that we need to get for them. While we talked, their was a conveyer line beside us with chicken strips going down them and being fed into Tyson branded bags for grocery store/restaurants sales. Then, there was a horn sounded. They stopped the conveyer and changed out the bags to Walmart Great Value bags and continued filling them with the same chicken strips that were going into the Tyson branded bags. Same quality strips going into both bags, But, I said that to say this: People shopping in a grocery store will swear up and down that the Tyson branded strips are better quality because they are priced higher than the ol standard Great Value strips. Even though, I watched them be the exact same strips being bagged into 2 different bags.

 

Some people swear by Samsung products, regarding them as very high quality; and they usually are. But, a couple months ago, I was in a Best Buy, looking at refrigerators. They had all the brands, Samsung, LG, Frigidaire, etc. While I was standing there, I noticed an Asian couple who were also looking. They were looking at the LG products. I struck a conversation with them and asked them where they were from? They said they were born and raised in South Korea. So, I seized the moment, and asked them, since they are from South Korea, and both Samsung and LG are South Korean companies, which brand do the South Koreans actually consider to be better quality. They said without question, in South Korea, LG is considered a better quality brand than Samsung. they said Samsung is considered a good brand, but more of a staple. LG is considered a high end brand over there. That's weird, because here in America, we consider Samsung to better than LG.

 

It's all so subjective.

 

Here in America, we spend crazy stupid money to buy Mercedes Benz cars, but in Germany, they use them for taxis. LOL. Go figure.

 

Man, Im doing a lotta babbling.

 

Peace out,

 

BL

[Chaharly]

I always get a hearty laugh when listening to guys who argue about their "American Made" trucks, and how they are sooooo much better than other trucks.

Take a gander at the percentages of the top 10 most American made pickup trucks:

 

1. 2017 Ford F-150 85% TDC (Total Domestic Content)

2. 2017 Honda Ridgeline 78.5%

3. 2017 Toyota Tundra 73.5%

4. 2017 Chevy Colorado 73%

5. 2017 Ram 1500 72%

6. 2017 Nissan Titan 59%

7. 2017 Ram Rebel 58%

8. 2017 Chevy Silverado 55%

9. 2017 GMC Sierra 55%

10. 2017 Toyota Tacoma 55%

 

The truth is; in todays world, with the global economy all connected, you gotta be careful about bragging about being loyal to American Made, because you never really know where all of the components come from.

 

Hell I just like a truck I can work on!

[cowpuc]

I love Harleys,, always have, always will:biker:... I grew up as a ratty little grease covered kid in the early 60's that just drueled over the rich guy who lived "on the other side of the tracks" generator FL Panhead with the air horns, white pogo buddy seat and the chrome oil filter canister hanging on its side.. WOWZY WOW WOW WOW was it GORGEOUS. It looked, smelled, sounded, felt (he let me sit on it more than once), stared back at me called my name like no other motorcycle of my child hood and its what some of my dreams of the future were filled with as a kid (turned into more of custom knucklehead chop freak even as a kid but still LOVED those FL's).

The 70's found me CTFW cross country on more than one old HD - even had a brand new Low Rider in 78 - and following those early dreams taught me some things about all 45 degree, single crank pin, knife and fork rod configurated V-Twins whether they be a flat head, pan head, pan shovel, cone shovel, evo, twin cam or even this new "8" = ya better carry a tube of Loc Tite in your tool kit and use the stuff religiously.. Nature of the beast then,, nature of the beast today! Best way there is to keep your taters all in a row = simple as that.... (I always carried a small selection of electrical terminals and a set of crimps too but thats another story)..

[leo3wheel]

Awwww.... Yes! Those Harley images from my youth. HD's with white pogo buddy seats looked and sounded so cool!

[WildBill1]

Of all the Harley's I've owned I have never experienced clutch basket moun or rear wheel isolator growal taking off. Course I just started purchasing them in the early 70's. Most of the time I buy and flip them for a profit. Harley's I've found is the only bike that l'm able to do this. Granted ther not perfect but I've yet to find a perfect bike.