I absolutely love Harley Davidson motorcycles. I have bought two new ones , an ultra and a limited. I really think, as an experienced biker, that Harley gets it right in many many ways.

I have been an engineer for 25 years and have worked on many highly complex military and aerospace projects and I can tell you I know a thing or two about quality. Now that the 2014's are out I continue to hear people complaint about the ridiculous quality issues that they are experiencing (like coolant leaks, or stereos that do not work) and I realize that there is absolutely no excuse for the poor reliability HD offers in their products. It does not have to be more expensive to be more dependable.

If you think I am exaggerating, just look at how you lose time on your radio's digital clock. Easiest thing in the world to design correctly. It is ridiculous that they have not fixed that. So are they stupid or do they not really care? I have no clue.

The choice I make these days is to accept the bikes as they are because there is a lot to love about them and have learned to live with the quality issues that I experience once in a while.... just the same way I love my wife but with the difference that she thinks that I think that she is perfect

 

Harley did not design the radio, Harmon Kardon did...
No vehicle manufacturer that I am aware of directly builds their own radios. (Some of the Asian conglomerates are huge and have diverse subs, so who knows about them....)
My radio keeps perfect time, actually now that you mention it I have never heard one of my friends bitch about their radios, so I assume they keep perfect time too! I really don't think it is a major issue.
I have bought 2 Harleys new for a total of about 30,000 miles so far. I have never had a single break down, never been left stranded. My 2009 Heritage came with a scratch on the gas tank, it was replaced under warranty, hassle free.
The term that you appear to be looking for is "warranty cost per vehicle"(WCV). Of the big 3 Chryslers's is by far the worst (sorry Chrysler / Dodge fans, but it is the truth. Look it up.) Based on my experiences HD's WCV as percentage of vehicle sales would be relatively low.
Now if you wanted to complain about the fuel gage or the air temp gage....

 

If you think Harleys are bad, check out the poor quality and design of BMW.
Plagued with problems. Rear end failure, Electronics, Blown main seals.

 

Q: When you go to a party, how do you tell who the engineers are?

A: You don't need too, they will always introduce themselves as "I'm an engineer".

 

Nuh uh! Ok you're right. I'm an Engineer.

Too funny and true lol

lp

 

so true!

 

Not an engineer but always worked closing with or for them and have grown to respect what they do very much.

Much of the growth of that respect was associated with a side trip we did quite a few years ago during Myrtle Beach Bike Week. We rode up to Wilmington, NC to do a tour of the battleship North Carolina. What an amazing feat of engineering. All the systems seemed to be right there in the open for you to see and judge. Hats off to them even though they can be pains in the azzes. lol

 

actually that's so you can find the problem and fix it faster . that and the Navy budget didn't include specifications for pretty covers for all the mechanical bits

 

I've owned quite a few bikes mostly Japanese and my current Harley. Harley has great paint and fit and finish but reliability has been very slightly lower than my Jap bikes. As a point of comparison my previous Kawasaki bikes have had cheap paint, rough, exposed welds in the frame, unfinished aluminum parts and a few rattles from the fairing but they have been 100% reliable not requiring any maintenance other than what is in the scheduled section of the manual. Honda has been the same although their level of fit and finish is much higher than Kawasaki and Suzuki and on the same level as Harley although they use way more plastic. My Harley still looks great, except some small rust spots on the frame and exhaust, something any bike gets in this climate, but has required non scheduled repairs more than once not all of which was covered by the warranty. Over all I would say HD quality is good, just not any better than any other brand, and not at the level you would expect from a premium priced product. Then again premium priced bikes like Ducati have their own set of reliability issues. It is hard to beat the Japanese manufacturer's bikes and cars for rock solid reliability IMHO especially when you factor in purchase price.

 

I would say they've been fighting quality issues way before 2014 but what manufacturer hasn't. Design decisions are not just the engineer's decision: finance I am sure plays into that as well. Why would Harley change the wheel bearing design from a beefy wheel bearing to one that fails repeatedly during the life of the bike? That tells me the bearing was probably not the correct application, maybe they got it cheaper and "it will work" so they went with it. Too many other things to list: TBW, IPB, crappy IDS bearings, poor design on the TC88 cam chain tensioners. A lot of good design improvements as well, like little things I notice while doing maintenance: notch in the lower part of the clutch cover opening to put a funnel, wheel alignment adjustment cams, etc.

Harley's are and have always been my absolute favorite bike to ride and wrench on, good and bad designs.