Agree it was abused from the start. Sorry for your bad luck.

 

Thread winner^^^^^^^^^^..

I have an 06 with 14.000 miles everything original except for the mods I have done, rear tire replaced last year. So yeah if you took it in for a seat install they probably are thinking you don't know squat about bikes or how to wrench.

 

I agree, that smoked off tire would have sent me running. There are things to look for that should give one a hint of trouble. When I bought my used bike I looked this guys house and property over long before I met this guy or looked at his bike. Most might make fun of me but it's true. This guys house was immaculate and his lawn was perfectly done. I then knocked on his door and he told me to meet him at the garage door. When he opened it I looked around. This guys garage had a place for everything and you could eat off of his garage floor. After all I had seen I then started looking the bike over. This bike looked like it just came off of the show room floor. There was not one single spattered bug on this bike, not even dust. I then asked the guy if I could pull the plugs so I could take a peek, he had no problem with that other than he wanted to be the one to pull them and I didn't have a problem with that. After every thing I bought the bike and have not been sorry since. The bike had 4800 miles on it, tires were near mint even the rear. The only problem I have ever had was I just started throwing grease on the right rear side, I assume I need a set of bearings and I can't put that on the guy I bought it from. I hear these bearings are chit. I'm serious, it took me a year to find what I wanted and this bike was it. I had gone to others to look at bikes previous to buying this one. I had pulled away because of what their house or garage looked like before I even seen their bike. Is that silly? I don't know, is it? I know I got a real cream puff of a bike! I also hate to say this but I think my bike might come up missing or catch on fire, mysteriously of course if I had those kind's of issues. Trading it in and getting another bike is my 2nd choice. Good luck Dude and keep us posted.

 

I agree with what has already been said. The bike has had the crap beat out of it and who knows what kind of internal damage has been done to the engine and tranny. It may give you more trouble down the road.

I get around 10,000 miles out of a rear tire and 20,000 miles out of the front. I also ride mostly in heavy stop and go traffic.

 

As soon as I read that you had them install your new LePera seat I about choked. Your problem is you need to learn how to maintain your own ride. Buy a shop manual and some tools.

 

Bearings you just never know about. Tires are either your riding style or a cheap brand.

I've heard that down-shifting a lot, (while coming to a stop) will wear out your rear toot-sweet.

But, sounds like that bike was rode hard and put away wet.

 

I agree that this may be PART of the problem. I don't know ANYONE who pays to have a seat installed. It's as easy a job to do as changing shoes.

One thing on your list where I might suspect you are getting taken is in the cracked throttle cable. I say this because mine also cracked after only having my bike for a year (i bought it new) but what was cracked was the outer black casing. Inside of that there is a flexible metal casing and inside of that is your actual cable. So as long as the actual cable and metal housing are fine then you don't need to replace the cable. I rode with mine that way for four years before I replaced it when I happened to be changing bars. I even asked my dealership about mine when I first saw it and they said it was fine and the only reason to change it was for looks.

What is making it more expensive for you is letting Harley do all the things you stated. You have to understand that a lot of us don't spend a lot of money on our riding in large part because we do our own work. At least when it comes to things like tune up and break pad changes (and seat changes)! I understand that wrenching on one's own bike is not for everyone but if you are the kind that doesn't like to get your hands dirty and wants to ride it into a dealer to have a light bulb changed then you really don't have the right to be complaining over how much it costs to maintain the bike.

As for your engine problem? I have to wonder that if this was a repo, then the person that it was repoed from was probably not a very responsible individual which is why he/she lost the bike in the first place. There is no limit to what that might imply as to how the motorcycle was treated. Sure it only had 1200 miles or whatever you said it had. But it only takes a handful of miles to screw things up real bad! Unless you know the history of the motorcycle then it is really not a fair assessment on your part to state that it is bad because it is a Harley. You took a big risk buying a bank repo. That is something that as far as I know is only done by folks who know how to diagnose and fix issues and can negotiate a good price for a vehicle in order to put some time and money into it to get it to proper running order.

Your tire wear can mean a number of things. Lots of threads about that. But just for comparison's sake. I get over 12K out of my rear tire and over 25K out of my front.

 

2009's had a recall on tires for cupping, worth checking in to

 

Cut your losses and move on...













...to another Fat Boy.

 

I think the OP got hosed twice.. once by buying a beat on repo and then by the dealer..

I'm curious as to what the reason was for the return trip to the dealer in such a short tie and then them telling you it needed a cable, bearings and a tire.. they should have known that before on the previous trip.


a note to the OP about fatboy tires.. the 200 series tires will wear down extremely fast, 6000-8500 miles is about the norm. so if you see someone stating they got 15-20k out of their original tire you can pretty much bets its not a 200 series tire. a lot of us here have went to the michelin comanderII tire and the jury is still out on the mileage life. Michelin claims double the life of the factory tire(dunlop).. that should put most in the 12-15k range.. time will tell.

i would trade the bike away at another dealer other then the one that has done all the work.

oh.. get a service manual for the simple ****..