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  #21  
Old 02-19-2012, 02:57 PM
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Take that ****ing colt and shoot that ****ing Harley! You'll feel better!
 
  #22  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:09 PM
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Originally Posted by James Riley
All my life I've wanted a .45 Colt Single Action Army and a Harley Davidson Motor Cycle. If finally got to a point in my life where I could afford them.

Several years ago I bought the Colt for about $1,300.00. I could have gotten several Uberti Clones for that price. I have several and they are good, solid weapons. But this was a real Colt.

It was a piece of **** with poor color case hardening, poor finish, scratches, bent front sight, shaved recoil shield, etc. I sent it back, TWICE, for repairs. Each time I got it back it had some new and different issue. I finally gave up, sitting on the gun to this day.

Last year I bought a 2011 Harley Davidson Fat Boy Lo, Denim Black. I followed all the directions, got the factory recommended dealer warranty service, took good care of it, under cover. Put 1,500 miles on it during the summer then put it in the garage last November (three months ago), on a Harley recommended trickle charger. Went out to start it this morning and all I get is one half-hearted attempt and then that clicking ****.

You know what? **** Colt. **** Harley Davidson. If we can't make a ****ing $18,000.00 dollar machine that starts like a cheap ****ing car that's been treated like **** all it's life, then it's a sad ****ing day in hell. What the hell is in a tiny little car that they can't fit on a ****ing bike to make it start when you turn the ****ing key? Huh? Is there some god damn chuck of heavy equipment hiding on that small care somewhere that just won't fit on a bike; a piece of equipment which actually makes the car start? But you have to give your ****ing bike a blow job, pray to it, rub it's tires and beg on your knees just to get the ****ing thing to do what you paid for? Like start?

**** this ****. I should always buy from people who are hungry and I should always stay hungry myself. I'm out of here.
Motorcycle batteries are light weight. They don't contain much lead plating and sulfate (die) easily if they run them down more than once unlike a more heavy duty car battery. Charge the battery and take it in to have it load tested. Replace the battery if necessary. Next time remove it if storing the bike or use a trickle charger if leaving the bike idle for more than a week.
 
  #23  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:26 PM
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Wow, going all manic depressive over a dead battery? It just ruined your whole outlook on life?

As someone already mentioned, a trickle charger is not the same as a battery tender. A tender monitors the voltage of the battery and charges when it needs to charge. A trickle charger constantly puts out a low amp charge. You only need to use a trickle charger for a few hours a week, leaving it on all the time can ruin a battery.
 
  #24  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:26 PM
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Weird, my Dyna starts every time and I've never had the tender hooked up to it. Last fall I saw an 06ish Heritage on a tender that hadn't been started in over a year crank right up. My Honda XR650L on the other hand takes a little stroking if she hasn't been fired up in a day or two. I have to keep it on a tender and it still takes several cranks to get her fired up. I had two Shadow 1100's that were the same way. Frustrates me to no end when you crank and crank and they won't turn over. I've been very happy with the Harley though for the ease of starting.
 
  #25  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:29 PM
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Originally Posted by James Riley
Last year I bought a 2011 Harley Davidson Fat Boy Lo, Denim Black.
Jeez, no wonder it won't start. The bikes probably pissed as hell that no bothered to put the last coat of clear on it. You know, the shiny one.
 
  #26  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:36 PM
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Originally Posted by James Riley
...sitting on the gun to this day.
Ouch! At least that explains the attitude.
 
  #27  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:48 PM
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The title of the thread is “Complaint.” If you don’t like it, don’t ****ing read it.

Regarding the Colt, it was factory NIB and had the following flaws, so explain to me how that is “user error.” Further, anyone who thinks these issues are de minimus doesn’t know **** about quality fit and finish on fine firearms, which Colt purports to be, compared to Uberti, U.S. Firearms, etc. and is probably sitting on Colt **** all happy with the money they wasted because they don’t know quality.

Look at the 1/8th short in the right recoil shield compared to the cylinder:

The finish on the original front site was fine, but the site was bent over. After repair, the finish sucked, as you can see:

See the pitting in the loading gate:

Look at the gap between the frame and the trigger guard, toward the rear (it was worse in reality than the photo shows and you could run a piece of paper in it):

Look at the wonderful fit between the grip and grip frame, upper right of photo:

This doesn’t include other flaws in the weapon and the color case hardening.

Regarding the Harley, as I already said, for the reading impaired, I did everything Harley said to do. What I may have referred to a trickle charger is a “Deltran Battery Tender Junior Automatic Batter Charger Model 021-0123, output 12VDC @ 750mA input 120VAC @ 60Hz 12W. I did not look at it much but I don’t ever recall seeing the Green Storage Light; it was always the Red Charging Light, as best I can remember.

The only reason I even got the battery tender was because I was told to by Harley when I bought it. Prior to taking it in for the 1,000 mile service the ABS light had been coming on and the battery had died and the starter was clicking like it is now. They did the service and “fixed” the problem, yet, 500 miles and three months later, here I am again.

Sorry about the attitude, but anyone who has not experienced the frustration I am experiencing now, even if with some other product, has lived a blessed life indeed. This is not a user problem. This is a Harley problem. Maybe I need to stock up on batteries. Who knew?

Thank you JohnC FXDX, Loc Tite, bigdaddy33, AnotherBlackSG, Markymannn, Brooklyn Devil Dog, 97HeritageSpringer, especially fat tony, and all the others with the effort.

At least I made a few folks laugh. **** the rest.
 
  #28  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:52 PM
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As long as your warranty covers it no big .
 
  #29  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:56 PM
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Ha 07 ultra sat for 5 months and was never started or even thought of. Went out to the garage and hit the starter fired up like it was straight out of the show room. I think it is user error
 
  #30  
Old 02-19-2012, 03:56 PM
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Maybe you should buy a new battery and try that out for a while before placing all the blame on Harley. Yeah, maybe they should have replaced it at the 1000 mile service, but they didn't and sometimes batteries go bad or just don't work well from the start. Get a new battery and I bet you can still find love for the Harley. That would be like you bagging on the Colt cause you got a bad batch of bullets and they didn't fire well. I do feel your pain on the pistol though, my old man bought a Colt Commander 1911 one time and never could get it settled down. He now has a Taurus 1911 and couldn't be happier.
 


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