Since its my first Harley I was disappointed with my SGS recall. Other than that I am happy with Harley in that they aggressively went for this recall.
The water cooling problem on the ultra's have no excuse. Water cooling heads on a bike is relatively simple. Solid testing should have minimized issues.
Hope my Harley experience continues to get better if not its back to Honda/Yamaha.

BTW I am impressed with my SGS and am really enjoying it. Really best bike for my needs at this point.

 

This is what happens when "suits" take over a company. You think they give a sh*t about riders? Here's a quote from Keith Wandell, CEO of Harley-Davidson Inc.

Did you ride motorcycles before taking this job?

When I was younger.

As CEO, do you feel pressure to walk the walk — or ride the bike — so to speak?

At first I did, sort of. About three months after I was with the company, my wife said to me, “Did they hire you to ride motorcycles or run the company?”

Apparently the wife gets it. Why don't we? It's not a "family" of bikers. It's a corporation set up to make a profit for stockholders by manufacturing and selling a product. Profit is the driver, quality be damned. How many other American companies have gone down this road to be replaced by overseas companies who still hold quality and integrity in high esteem?

 

My point was, regardless of how much testing and planning goes into the bike, there will still be a first year, and someone will need to buy them.

 

Ok, that makes sense. There will still be a first production year though.

 

Yeah, there'll always be a 'first year' - and there will always be gremlins lurking in that new product (bike, car, truck, TV, whatever...)

The point is - good design, thorough testing, and effective quality control will minimize - not eliminate, but minimize - these problems. I think the MoCo kinda dropped the ball on one or more of these things. I can understand a few problems with a few bikes, but I don't think anyone can dispute the fact that there'a a problem with the water cooled heads and the hydraulic clutches. This ain't new technology, people - it's new to Harley, but still, there's precedent here. These things should just work.

I briefly considered trading my '13 for a '14 but thought better of it, for several reasons, and frankly, I'm glad I did. I'll probably end up keeping this bike for quite a few years...

PS - I know my '13 SG wasn't a first year model, but before this, I had a '97 (first year) Honda CR-V that had NO issues. And an '02 (first year) Honda 919 with NO issues. And an '03 (first year) Honda Pilot with - you guessed, it - NO issues. Even an '05 (first year) fifth-gen Mustang. No problems, either. The point is, there's no excuse for America's premier motorcycle manufacturer to release a new model line with issues like this. Just my opinion...

 

The twin-cooling was tested, refined, etc for 3 years in Arizona. No amount of testing, designing, engineering, etc will account for all possible issues once product is put into mass production. for 3 years, they tested bikes assembled by hand with parts built especially for the test - once in mass production, then quality control must kick in. they start receiving thousands of radiator caps from supplier, pull a % of them to test and call them all good. They receive clutch assemblies and master cylinders and pull % and test and call the whole lot good…. happens in every industry - big difference going from pre-production models to full on production.

 

This.



But you're never going to make the nay-sayers happy.

There are a lot of folks out there that would rather claim that Harley is using us as their guinnea pigs.

I am in the oilfield. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 MILLION dollars worth of high tech, high pressure, high rate equipment that we take to location to do a job for our customers.

Our equipment is tested, rigorously, before each an devery job.

**** breaks on every job.

Man built it. Man can break it.



Personally, I LOVE my 2014 Limited.

 

It's a horror story to end them all but other than demanding a new bike...and getting one...there's not a lot you can do, unless you know a lawyer who's sue happy. And free.

 

Well said.

 

Hmm, that has bad written all over it. i hope you have documentation and pictures.That is an extreme for poor service.
For those who think "we" are whiners and crybabies, I too am not affectionate with my local dealers. I bought ( and traded) for a 13 road king classic. Love the bike and traded a first year 1999 model( that ran fine with mm efi and early cam chain tensioners,LOL). But my dealer experience has been pathetic and unimpressive so far. Once they have made the sale, they relegate you to the low line of importance for sure. They have not lived up to their promises and not one phone call returned(as they promised!) Too bad as they have already cost themselves in performance upgrades and referals for anything BUT a new bike from me. A 20,000 dollar motorcycle is a luxury that is dificult to justify and afford for many of us. if you want me to come back into the store, you need to attempt to improve customer service (take some lessons from those gals selling the t shirts, they are all over it...)and then the bike is ready, make damn sure it IS ready...