Just surfing around in the dyna section this morning.. hehehe Yeah I'm a closet Dyna fan today.

I say.. go Aftermarket! I can't bring myself to buy some H-D accessory crap anymore.

Harley barely is able to make the bikes themselves and they're having a hard enough time with that from year to year without screwing up by changing something.. They source out all the accessories.. Taiwan and China. The engineering is poorly spec'd, the design is rushed, the applications aren't well thought out with other parts in mind. Genuine H-D accessories.. genuine garbage for a lot of it.. some are ok, but by and large, it's cheap imported poorly chromed crap.

If I need something, I find the best small company in the US that's making the best part possible.... Hence my saddlebags (Ironbags).. Two person operation in Wisconsin.. Very small build-to-order company. Expensive saddlebags upon first glance, however they're the finest quality materials and construction and design I have ever ever layed eyes on. Will outlast the bike. My signal-to-license-plate relocation solution (that can help you Dyna guys too I believe).. Bubbasbrake.com.. talk to Ken.. They appear expensive but when you realize it's billet with medical quality chrome they're very reasonably priced.. Another small company I believe does us a great service by their designs.

By the way, I got all the parts I needed period with both those items.. Nothing missing.. well maybe a washer, big deal.

Parts guy at the dealer offered me a new free HD catalog when I was picking up a couple signal light pin-connectors.. I turned him down and told him nothing against him, but there isn't much crap in that catalog that I'd want on my bike.. "Thanks but no thanks, I've got a Drag, CCI and BC catalog".. If I need it and it exists, I'll find it.

My 2cents. Man these dyna's are cool.. hope ya don't mind if I surf some more over here. [8D]

 

I had the same thing happen to me on the relocation kit. I took in the bolt that came with the kit and the bolt that I needed that I remove elsewhere on the bike. They parts guy proceeded to ask me why it didn't come with it? I was like WHAT? He then asked me why I didn't the longer bolt would work and we went round and round. Finally I asked if he could order me 2 of the bolts that I showed him. He told me it would take about 2 weeks!! The manager came over and they pulled out a similar kit and sold me the $3 worth of bolts out of it. Very crazy. That took about 25 minutes for $3. At least I got the bike put together properly.

 

Unfortunately, if your dealer is like mine, the parts guys are fill-in's that are designed to sell boxed and wrapped packaged goodies off the wall.. ie. retail scrubs. They don't know any more about harley parts than the guy at Dillard's knows about shirts.. They're there to occupy space and get a paycheck for breathing. I know I sound harsh.. but that's what my dealer parts desk has been reduced to. It's unfortunate, but given the pay scale, I can see why.. Instead of one or two good folks, now the desk is manned completely to the hilt with about 5 or 6 retail-spooks that sneak up behind you to tell you how you good those pegs would look on your scoot and ring you up for the commission. The catalog is in turn designed to bring in revenue and get people into the dealership to see all the cool new mugs and shirts, and it provides just enough cool stuff to try to keep stoking the "customizing" business for bolt on stuff.

 

I agree on some points brought up.For the money you pay, you would expect a few more features(Tach on a Superglide for one)Just goes with the territiry I guess,but I still believe HD could up the quality just a bit to match the price.

 

I make it a point to ask a service tech instead of a parts salesman. They usually have hands-on experience. Anyone can look through the catalog and point.

 

John, that parts book is VERY helpful. I put a springer on my 06 Street Bob, so I have nearly $200 invested in a service manual and parts book for 2006 Dynas and a service manual for 1996 Softails and a 1996 parts book (all models). These saved me a lot of time and a good bit of money already.

I've had a few irritating experiences at the parts counter (similar to your accessory missing/incorrect hardware problem), but thisis an area I actually brag on Harley about. GENERALLY speaking, if there is a part on the bike, you can buy it without buying an "assembly" or a "kit". And I'm amazed at what my local dealers have in stock. I'm not referring to accessories, I'm talking about the stock parts.

I had a 2003 Sportster before and I did a fair bit of work on that bike as well. Between that bike and my current "Springer Bob", I've never once had to buy parts that I didn't need. They have always been able to give me exactly the part(s) I need at the time. I'm talking weird stuff too. The weirdest was probably one of those pins that fits inside the main ECM socket. I had to look at about 3 possibilities to determine for sure which one was correct (sometimes you gotta help those guys). But they sold me a single pin. These are the type of thing the manufacture sells in bulk.

When doing the springer project, I needed about 20 odd size fasteners and washers. None of these items were available locally at a hardware store. I measured and determined everything I needed and used the 1996 parts book to get HD part numbers for these fasteners. The first dealer had everything I needed except a very odd sized washer (I needed 6 of them). He looked up another local store and told me how many they had in stock. I drove the 15 miles there and got the last parts I needed to finish the job. Between these two dealers, I have only ever had to order and wait for a single part, a bulb mount for the mini tach.

Accessories are a different story and I've had a few headaches with the parts department in this area. But I have4 very close friends with metrics (2 Hondas and2 Yamaha) and the conversation always goes the same way about accessories. They say they'd love to have (insert favorite accessory). I ask them how much it costs. Answer #1 is that they DON'T MAKE ONE. Or answer #2 is always that it is stupidly expensive AND they have to order it, takes a few weeks.

The hardware is a problem simply because of the ridiculous combinations of parts and accessories and models that the MoCo has made available over the years. It's perhaps the single best thing about owning a Harley in the first place. It is an unfortunate side affect that this means that hardware won't always be exactly what you need. And yes, sometimes this IS avoidable and it is due to bad documentation and/or bad customer service. Best piece of advice I can give is to open any accessories at the counter and get a feel for where everything goes. It won't always help but it saved me a trip when swapping to fat bars. The riser package was missing some washers.

Geez, didn't mean to ramble on like that. The first time you scratch or break something, you'll *probably* be able to get it locally and NOW. That's not always true, but the HD dealer network is probably the best in the world. Especially when considering the HUGE array of parts and accessories they have to support. They ain't perfect, but I've been impressed.

Kevin

 

Speedwaxer:
I hear you. I came over from Kawasaki Vulcans,and I've run into some of the same things. When I ordered a rear turn signal relocation kit, I explained in detail what I needed. I was assured this kit was it. It came in, wouldn't work, another part had to be ordered. So as others have pointed out, research, and make sure the dolt at the counter orders the right parts. I've started looking at their computer screen to make sure they are getting everything I will need. I also have the parts manual.

BUT, when I was riding the Vulcan, nothing was more frustrating than to have to ORDER exhaust gaskets!!!! The metric delears NEVER had any repair parts on hand.

So HD does a MUCH better job in this area than the metric dealers.

 

yeah, I have to admit, my local dealer does have a nice bolt collection. I have a non stock triple tree and I stripped out one of the allen head bolts.... It wasn't a Harley part, but they sure had the bolts I needed. "sorry sir, we only have them in chrome" ... darn.
I went round and round aover a pair of dust covers on the steering head with them, they had the parts mixed up in a bin... but once I came in with a micrometer, we found the right one.

 

I am very lucky. My parts guy and saleman both own Street Bob's and are well on their way to customizing both apperance and performance. However the first parts guy I dealt with didn't know the catalog any better than I do. So I do sympathize. Harley is growing and their is a shortage of qualified personnel. Can you say job opprtunities..........?

 

.............

[IMG]local://upfiles/19303/EAF12FD3B4E4452EB59C3D23ED5CAD49.jpg[/IMG]