All,
My brother was heading to work on his limited yesterday and noticed the clutch was getting "grabby". He called the HD dealer to report the issue, which the service tech mentioned it was probably an air bubble in the line. He made an appointment for Monday to have it looked at and have the recall service done. While going home, he noticed the clutch was getting worse but driveable. As he entered his driveway and open the garage door......NO CLUTCH!
Once in the garage, he slammed on the brakes (anti-lock) doesn't lock up the tires, hit the kill switch but too late. The bike slammed into the other side of the garage, taking out his work bench, lower cabinets and totaling the front fender of the bike. No telling any front fork damage.
My question: How does a person handle this with HD? Has anyone had a similar situation and dealt with HD? Just looking for a notion of what to expect as he is getting this issue resolved
Thanks,

 

Take lots of pictures and call Your insurance company.They know the best way to proceed.If You know a lawyer,it would'nt hurt to get their opinion based on the fact that the clutch has been recalled once.I have not been in this type of situation,but I think this is a logical approach.Good Luck!Glad Your Brother wasn't injured!

 

Sue sue sue.. everyone wants to sue everyone else. Guess what.. he noticed that the clutch was getting grabby. It's nobody's fault but his own that he decided to ride the bike that way. The dealer does have some responsibility too through. When mine called me on the clutch recall, they offered to come pick my bike up if I didn't feel comfortable riding it. Not sure if that was offered to your brother or not, or if they suggested he not ride it. We don't have that piece of information. What we do know is that he knew there was a problem, and he decided to ride it anyway. Sorry, but in my book, that's his fault.

 

First and foremost I'm glad he wasn't injured. Just curious, the clutch recall service was never completed?

 

If he never took it in for the clutch recall, he has absolutely no recourse with HD. They put out a DO NOT RIDE warning, and we all got phone calls and letters.
Hopefully his insurance will cover.
And you never said, but I hope he is OK.

 

I'm glad your brother is OK. That said, after he managed to get the bike to work safely, he chose to ride it home. Once he got it home, instead of pushing it around to park it, he chose to ride it into the garage. I don't see any recourse here with HD; I trust his insurance will cover the damage if he chooses to use it.

 

clutch recall work should have been done months ago.

 

The clutch recall was models before his bike was purchased, So this ser.# was not affected in that recall situation. The recall for this bike was for the hydraulic line pinching under the tank. I agree that he should of stopped, but the issue was minor before he left for home.

 

Yep, definitely had no business riding it especially if he knew something wasn't right. The dealer really should have sent out a truck. Hopefully he has the name of the person he spoke to at the dealership.

 

On the positive side this happened at pretty low speed (im assuming) and he wasn't in a situation such as coming up on stopped traffic.

Im thinking what the HD folks at your local dealer find as the "cause" of the failure will be a key factor.

Was it air bubble or something else? Defective part or improper maintenance?

Just my opinion but it seems that insurance will be your bro's resolving issue here.

No one was seriously injured and property damage was pretty minor im thinking.

I don't think HD will do anything unless they find the clutch was manufactured in a defective manner.

Please update...