Ok let me start by saying i purchased a brand new 2012 HD softail deluxe. At around 800 miles i felt a wobble in handlebars going about 55-60mph. I made appointment with dealer to fix along with 1000 mile tune up. Ok this is wher it all starts. As for the wobble i had a few spokes loose on the rear wheel. Dealer said this is normal in softails and sportsters. After mechanic took bike out for test drive he found that the bike pulls to the left. They said further diag. was needed to fix the prob. So as of this moment we know there is an issue. Dealer checked front end, fallaway adjustment and axle alignment. BIKE STILL PULLING TO LEFT. Dealer speaks to HD tech services and they suggest to replace rear wheel to rectify issue. BIKE STILL PULLING TO LEFT. Upon further inspection mechanic found slight bend in front wheel and said that could be causing the pulling, so they went ahead and replaced the front wheel as well. Guess what guys BIKE STILL PULLING TO LEFT. Heres is where it gets good. Dealer is obviously exhausted most of there options so they state the the bike pulls when your hands are of the handlebars. (This is them trying to cover there ***) The problem is evident even with a loose grip having both hands on the handlebars. Next dealer speaks to motor comp again and said that it is because of the Samson True duel exhaust. So they went ahead and put stock exhaust back on only to find out the yes, BIKE IS STILL PULLING TO THE LEFT. I testroad the bike myself and felt the pull. Now they are stating that it is only felt when hands are off the handlebars so that is what i did. I also road the bike with hands on handlebars and still feel the pull. The dealer basically stated to me that they do not get paid to look into it any deeper they are only going by what the motor comp tells them. (as we know they dont get paid to think outside the box) The sad part it that the service manager , mechanic and everyone else at dealer knows that this is beyond normal but wont admit to it because they dont know whats wrong with it. So there conclusion was that the bike doesnt pull if you havr a tight trip on handlebars.
Now lets get realistic we have all driven a car that if off alignment and if we grip the steering wheel of a car that is off alignment we can make the car go straight down the road. Correct me if i wrong but this same concept goes for a motorcycle as well. Best part is that it pulls with both hands on handlebars unless you make it go straight.
so i pickup the bike after being in service for almost a month, later that evening i rode the bike for 50-60 miles and yep you guessed no difference.
The next day i returned the bike to dealer in which they refused to take bike in because they stated that they need to be instructed by the motor comp on what to do. That day i spoke to everyone in the dealer from service manager to sales manager to mechanic to customers that were just waiting for there bikes.
The mechanic clearly knows theres a problem along with the service manager which got fired and admit to it but there excuse is the motor comp doesnt pay them to look deeper into it.
So that tells me its all about who is getting paid. About a week later dealer called me to bring bike back because tech services wanted to try something else. (I did call the motor comp and notified them about this complaint but honestly there customer service was very helpful) So the bike goes back in and they adjusted the front wheel offset and the rear wheel offset. And again BIKE IS STILL PULLING TO LEFT. While the bike was in service this time the found that the neck bearing had notches in it. Now like a stated in the beginning this bike is brand new with 800 miles on A NECK BEARING, REALLY. So they replaced the neck bearing as well.
Now it seems to me that they all know there is a problem because there are trying to fix it but when something doesnt work to default back and say "only felt when hands are off handlebars".
Round 3, Bike comes home with me dealer said they again need to hear from the motor comp so dealer informs me that tech services decides they are going to fly up an engineer from corp to ride the bike. Well if you ask me there must be a problem with the bike. So again bike goes back into service, tech services is up in NY from corp to ride bike and take guess and what there answer is
Both hands need to be on handlebars.
Has anyone ever had this experience with the motor comp?
Please feel free to give me all your input on this.
Ask me questions?
My stomach is turned upside down over this. I purchased this bike for 25k with all upgrades all i am being treated like i just bought a Schwinn.

Please any feedback would be appreciated.....

 

wouldn't the bike not track correctly if the rear wheel is out of alignment?

 

They are stating the the bike is tracking fine. But as instructed by tech services they tried offsetting the rear wheel to fix the pull. My thing is this they are not thinking outside the box to fix problem.

 

sounds like they just want you to go away. i wish i could be of more help

 

I'm thinking neck is bent. Regardless of reason, they need to honor the warranty. Get the bike to an indie and have him give it a thorough going over before your next trip to the stealer!!

 

Brent my thing is this how is a neck bearing bad on a brand new bike with 800 miles.

 

Contact HD Customer Care yourself and explain your problem/frustration.
From what I read on the forum they do care and do follow up.
They will contact the dealer and ask hiim what he has done etc. In some cases they send and engineer over to check up on the problem.

They build 200,000+ bikes a year, occasionally one will have a problem.

The address is on the website.

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US...ontact-us.html

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Harley-Davidson Customer Care,
3700 W. Juneau Avenue,
Milwaukee, WI 53208

To speak with a Harley-Davidson customer care representative please call 1-800-258-2464 or (414) 343-4056.
Representatives are available Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST).

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Ggrecco, A bent neck would go a long way to screwing a bearing fast, from assembly forward. Especially the lower quality bearings in use these days..........

 

RAKTAI - As i said in my post they flew out a tech, from tech service to look at bike or engineer as you might call it and said bike is fine. I cant stress this enough if it came down to them flying out an engineer there is something obviously wrong with bike.

 

I'd have someone look at your wheels again also. They have been having so many problems with their new spoked wheels, everyone is having the loose spoke issue you had. If you just tighten the spokes and you don't true the wheel it can cause your wheel to go out of round and make it pull, bounce, vibrate more than usual, etc, depending on the severity of how out of whack it is. Also, have they checked your fork fluid? If you grap your front brake and compress your front suspension leaning on it, does it make any abnormal sounds when you let it up?