I see a lot of replys on the Performance Machine Rear Brakes and I purchased th Stage 1 kit for my 2010 Tri Glide because I too am concerned about the weak rear OEM STOPPING ability. I am going on a 5000 mile trip this July to Nova Scotia, Cape Briton, PEI and New Brunswick Canada and will be pulling a Bush Tech trailer.
WHEN THE SHOP MECHANIC INSTALLED THE STAGE 1, he finds out that the Performance Machine master cylinder is defective and will not hold pressure.
The Shop rep calls Performance Machine and is told to return the defective part and they will repair it and return it, this is going to take 7 - 10 days that my bike is tied up in the shop waiting on the reapir of the part.
I feel that if Performance Machine had any regard for its customer they would overnight a working part so not to inconvenience me because of their poor quality control.
Now I have lost confidence in their product and have a good mind to tell the shop to return the Performance Machine system and reinstall my OEM system.
I need to know if others have had good experience with this product, this could be a life threatening situation if these brakes would fail, especially in hilly terrain which I expect to be riding in Canada.
Please anyone with experience let me know.

 

I bought the same rear brake package about a year age and had problems with the bloody product and PM's services. The rear master cylinder they show in their add is not the one I received. The master cylinder I got sat to close to (3/16" from) the header an ended up overheating the fluid, which cause me to have little to no rear brakes. They did finely asked me to send it in for repairs and when I got the master cylinder back the master didn't look like they even touched it. Right now I'm using their rear brake calipers with my old master cylinder. As for rear brakes, they still feel the same as before I tried to improve them.
Butch

 

SO my on going saga, my trike has been in the shop for two weeks again, waiting on support from Performance Machine. If I had read in advance a story like mine I would avoid this company totally. The second master cylinder was no good so the service manager orders another replacement and Performance Machine sends a rebuild kit. Mind you the system has never worked from the day of installation and instead of backing their parts they send rebuild parts. I should have had the HD shop return the system when we first encountered problems. Fortunately for me I am a good customer of this shop and they refused to rebuild the master cylinder and returned it and we are waiting on a replacement.
If I had to rate Performance Machine's customer support on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give them a minus 10,000. They couldnt care less once they sell their system your screwed if you think you can get back on the road in fewer than 3 - 4 months. They won't talk to the end user on the phone, I have called and was treated so rudely was shocked. I now have over $2500.00 and almost three months into this ordeal and it isnt over yet. I sent an email questioning their one year warranty on the parts. Does the one year begin when they finally get the system working or is it from the date of purchase? I received no answer. From the looks of it, I may run out of warranty time before the system ever gets working. If the system doesnt work this time, I am going to go back to my stock system, that will probably be another $2000.00 and demand a refund from my dealer. I would bet that would be the last PM system sold by Harley dealers in Tennessee because if that happend I will personally share my story with every Harley Shop in the US I happen to pass by on my road trips.
I am leaving on a trip in less than three weeks and it looks like I may be taking another bike than the one I had planned. I am about ready to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. If I had only had any idea that it would come to this I would have never had the stock rear brake kit removed. Someone posted here a few weeks ago asking if Performance machine had worked out their master cylinder problem out, apparently not if you use my experience as an example. I wish I had that information before I purchased the Kit I did. Now Im in so deep, Ill have to work extra jobs just to get back to zero loss.

 

IMHO, you should have complained to BBB long ago.
Just curious, is it possible to connect just the PM calipers to a stock rear system? (lines and master cylinder) Granted, you would be losing money but at least you'd have a rideable trike.
Good luck!

 

Does anyone know, is their a national BBB. Since this company does business on a national basis I am thinking that would be the proper venue to address my bad experience with this company.

 

A coworker of mine who is very MC savvy and an excellent mechanic in his own right, told me Performance Machine is a good company with a good reputation in the aftermarket business. So taking his advice I purchased a Stage One kit for my 2010 HD Trike and I have had nothing but problems with the product and with customer support. I am glad I made the purchase thru my dealer because at least I have them to back me up. But at the point I am at with this experience my suggestion to anyone considering a purchase from this company is ' Buyer Beware' . Not only is it difficult getting bad parts exchanged, they are nasty people to have to deal with.

 

The whole time I dealt with them concerning the same issues it was a complete disaster. Those people are clueless and can't seem to understand why their design sucks. I tried so many times to get it across during my many phone conversations, I wasted my breath their dens.

 

And I thought maybe it was me.
I learned earlier today that the problem may be that ownership has changed a few times in the past few years.
It's too bad, there is certainly a niche market for their product, it looks great. I saw some new high dollar custom HD's today and the wheels and brakes, calipers etc were PM and they are impressive. The problem of course is that besides looking good they need to work, especially when one's life depends on it.
They are slick though, when they sent the parts to rebuild my bad master cylinder to my HD shop, I'm guessing they thought they could put liability on someone else when their product might have failed. The service manager called and told them no way was he going to put his dealer at such a risk. With all the bad press they must be getting from others in my situation you would think they would do anything to fix their problems. Go figure. All I know is that at this point I don't know what the next week will bring but I am two weeks out from my long in the planing trip to the Atlantic Provence's of Canada and I don't know what to think. I do have another bike that could work just fine but I would prefer to ride my Tri Glide what with all the money I spent on it this year replacing all the lights with HD day makers and Bright *** tail lights and all the engine performance work I had done. Who needs this BS in their life, why can't people be true to their word and deliver what they advertise, and stand behind their product. it was expensive but I did my part, I purchased the brake kit, all I expect is a quality product that does what it is supposed to. Is that really asking too much?

 

Years ago our local dealers ran a 'close out sale' on all PM products and Rollin Sands products in stock and won't restock. Guess they don't like them either.

 

Put the originals back on and ride it!!!