Advice please?

Davel

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I've had a three Harleys in the past, a Nightrod Special, a Fatbob and a brand new Fatboy a few years ago and which kept breaking down with the same electrical problem. This rather put me off them.

I've just sold my GSA and quite fancy another Harley and would appreciate some advice please.

I try to tour in France and/or Spain twice a year with mates and I also like to commute to the office when the weather isn't too bad.

I generally leave the bike outside at nights, although I do put her away in snow and ice.

Now I suspect that I'll look for something with a dark engine, to reduce the polishing and the ability to take panniers for weekends and touring.

I'm lucky that I can buy this as a company bike and so will be looking new or ex-demo model

I am still a bit concerned about reliability - especially when abroad, as I know fuck all about engines and maintenance, other than fuel and oil etc.

So, and feel free to take the piss, would you tour on a Harley with my lack of skills?

I quite fancy a Road Glide or another Fatboy - or maybe another GSA...

Any comments, useful or piss taking welcome !
 
Go and ride a new Sportglide and whilst you are there have a go on the Heritage Softail.
The new engines are brilliant, so much more powerful than anything else they have done before.
Comfort is a personal thing, but both of those bikes have screens that can be removed and panniers the same....Go and have a look.

I have toured on Electraglide Ultra Classic, just a big fuck off horrible barge, I ended up with a Heritage Softail and did some properly long trips and was able to be in the saddle for 24hrs+ with no aches, pains etc.

As for reliability......How long is a piece of string? Anyway breakdown cover is no biggie, so bollocks to it......Just do it.
 
Cheers Att - will do just that !
 
See what you can borrow; preferably overnight, also find out about breakdown/recovery support for where you are touring.

Good luck with whatever model you select.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk
 
I had Harleys for over 7 years before coming back to BMW. I had a Heritage Softail first and then a CVO Road King. I did over 25k miles on both bikes and never had one issue with them breaking down. Lots of Europe trips. But quality wise, on my Road King which was a 29k bike over the first two years, 5 recalls and 7 warranty claims, paint peeling off, chrome coming off. But as I said they always worked :)
 
I still run a 2006 Electraglide - it's always been brilliant on Euro tours, comfy & never missed a beat. I accept it's a big old barge & not to everyone's taste, but it does the touring job well.

In my K1600GT period, it even had to act as a late sub, when the K16 gearbox failed a few days prior to the off. We had some long distance days & ambitious routes set up, all pre-booked - it coped perfectly. OK, we had some German GSers take the piss when we were taking things a bit carefully up the Manghen Pass, but they soon changed their tune at the top, when they realised we had ridden from the UK, rather than ship our bike to Italy. Indeed, in pushing one another up the pass, there had been a few hair raising moments apparently - probably the wet cow shit on the apex.

I haven't tried a Milwaukee 8 yet, but most who have seem to enjoy the new motor. A nicely specified ex-demo would probably fit the bill, but modal choice has to be down to the OP's needs. Decisions, decisions.
 
I've owned a few harleys, and ridden many more, including the new Street Glide M8 which was the best of the lot. My last one was a 1200 custom which put me off ever wanting anything to do with Harley again. From new, they scratched the tank and didn't replace it, ordered wrong parts and generally screwed things up every time they went near the bike. It broke down on me within the first two weeks of ownership but that turned out to be nothing more than a failed plug.

If I was touring on one, I'd buy one of two models: New M8 Street Glide (with panniers) or the Soft tail Heritage. The rest of the dedicated tourers are all way to big and lardy, more complex with more to go wrong. One thing to think about with the M8 engine as that most new ones are still effectively in Beta stage and its still too early to say much about reliability. They are a risk compared with other makes but no more so than BMW who also have their fair share of problems.

What put me off most of the older ones (and ALL of the sportsters) was the handling....it's hard to put it politely but the handling was appalling and the braking even worse. Not enough ground clearance and too crude a suspension set up. It was rectified to some extent with the ltd edition Dyna Low rider S (which I had briefly) but that was far too heavy for its own good and just not comfortable enough for any serious touring. The best handling of the lot imho was the new M8 Street Glide. Great at low speed as well as high speed, turns in well although ground clearance could be improved further. Engine is tuned for torque and performs great to about 90-100 after which it runs out of breath quite quickly. Up to three figures acceleration is brisk but not on a par with something like a GS which would show it a clean pair of heels. All day comfortable too. The softail delux is all day comfy, ground clearance isn't too bad but it's no alpine switch-back marauder ....fine as long as it's not pushed...consider it a "gentle tourer" and it'll be great for the job. The M8 handles better and pulls better BUT low speed fuelling needs sorting out. I think Harley have a way to go to make the fuelling less sensitive at low speed on the M8 and it caught me out a few times.

One major consideration if you are not into home maintenance is which dealership you choose. They vary a lot. I found my local Harley dealership quite appalling for customer service whilst the next nearest at Birmingham have a much better reputation. I think for me, buying a Harley would be as much about the dealership as the bike. Do your homework as these bikes are far from cheap to service and run and do go wrong (both of mine have) and you're reliant upon a good dealership.
 
Thank you all.

Chester HD is very close to me so would prefer to deal with them.
 
Hmmm......post 2009 touring had frame sorted out. No problem with handling, but it ain't no sports bike. Did coast-to-coast US last year, two-up and fully laden. No issues. Riden all over Europe. No issues.
My current Dyna (2016, pre-M8) handles just fine, once decent suspension fitted.
Brakes work just fine on all the more modern bikes, as long as you understand you DO need to use the rear brake.

Personally, not a big fan of the post 103" Harleys.
 
Road King Special if you want the blacked out look and not as lardy as the other Tourers.

Like att said the new M8 engines really are a step up from the old TCs. :thumb2

I've got nearly 10k on my 2018 Fatboy and its been completely trouble free. :thumb2
 
Go and ride a new Sportglide and whilst you are there have a go on the Heritage Softail.
The new engines are brilliant, so much more powerful than anything else they have done before.
Comfort is a personal thing, but both of those bikes have screens that can be removed and panniers the same....Go and have a look.

I have toured on Electraglide Ultra Classic, just a big fuck off horrible barge, I ended up with a Heritage Softail and did some properly long trips and was able to be in the saddle for 24hrs+ with no aches, pains etc.

As for reliability......How long is a piece of string? Anyway breakdown cover is no biggie, so bollocks to it......Just do it.

would the person posing as Att , please bring him back , the give-away is you are not hurling abuse . very poor attempt ...1/10
 
You tosspot......the "P" stands for Police...being as it is a Police bike.....

But it’s not really a proper Police bike is it? You know...like a Policeman would actually ride. :comfort

It’s just pretending to be one like one of those twats who wear a Polite Vest are trying to look like they are a Police Officer.
 
Errr it is actually a proper US spec police bike...
 
But quality wise, on my Road King which was a 29k bike over the first two years, 5 recalls and 7 warranty claims, paint peeling off, chrome coming off. But as I said they always worked :)

And you came back to BMW to avoid this ?

I had a 2012 heritage softail , superb all day comfort and very good weather protection. I sold it it and got a 114 fatboy with stage on. Incredible engine but no in same comfort league.
Your bike choice lies in how you will use it. Take time ,test ride a few but for some distance not just the odd hour .
 


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