Not something I'm proud of but wow they do their best to spread disinformation and especially concerning Harley Davidson motorcycles in general. I get it that there are lots of people who WANT to work on their own bikes but for the most part 75% of those people should have someone else do it because wow, what a bunch of tards!

I was compelled to go to some threads and correctly identify some sollutions that weren't even touched on and then all the sudden everyone else was just repeating what I said and then I would call them on it and say "Wow, you come up with that nugget all by your lonesome?" Well some people get a little irritated when they look stupid I suppose.

Now I know I am NOT the end all be all of Harley Davidson motorcycle mechanics there are way more that far more talented than myself and have been doing it since before I was born but most of this was coming from some SQIDS who probably should do their home work before they start posting... sheesh!

But of course I was met with resistance and some people just can't take some, what I thought, was friendly advice. If I get out of line, please feel free to flame on me and tell I'm full of it and I'd be more than happy to discuss it and maybe even learn a thing or two myself do to my own ignorance.. 

Ain't it fun to get flamed!!!??? I use to get it on some of those jerkwad forums and mostly from a**holes who decide they're going to "read between the lines" of my post and come up with some off the wall sheite. I don't write "between the lines". I say exactly what I mean. You don't have to infer. As for "SQUIDS", honestly in all my years I've never heard that expression in the biker context. I imagine it is NOT an acronym like RUB's but a metaphor of some kind; yet I get the drift just the same.

I'm a member of the HD forum but I seldom go there; haven't really for over a year. Ya know, until the WWW and forums; I didn't believe so many people could be so freakin' mean n' nasty. But hell, it's always been easy to call someone out when you don't have to look 'em in the eye.

Peace

stupid is as stupid does.....can't tell some people nothing...don't get irritated over it though...it's their bikes..if they want to "f" it up by not listening to those that have the knowledge and are willing to share..then they apparently have more money than sense.....

Holy crap Big John no kidding on the boutique reference! It's like HD took their own sub culture and tried to pasteurize it and make it more 'acceptable' to the general public!?!? To my way of thinking we already have 3 strikes against us from the get go: 1) We're bikers 2) we have a bad reputaion and C) civilians are predestined to be intimidated by us in general.

Harley Davidson wants us to be nice to the public so it increases their bottom line and that's all well and good but man there are some jokers out there that just don't need to be on two wheels and I for one am not into promoting that EVERYONE should ride. I dig the bike lifestyle, I live it daily and if someone wants to walk by me and not look me in the eye... good, safer for them that way!:-)

Yep some people like me trying to learn how to do things on a bike and get the run around because we get shitty info because of morons like that. and with a bike like mine it makes it harder because they are not very common.

That's kind of funny Black 'cause from what I have seen of you here when you see someone has posted mis-information you simply state that it may be incorrect and give additional info - never putting anyone down. I have also seen you thank other people for information on many occasions. Guess that's the difference here is that we get to know each other and realize everyone is trying to help to the best of their knowledge and when they make a mistake they accept the knowledge of others.

Like you said, no one knows everything, but a good way to learn more is to sometimes stop talking and listen.

Just a note to make sure that everyone realizes HDForums is not associated in anyway with the Harley-Davidson Company. It was a privately owned forum started by a biker that was bought out a few years back by an internet company that publishes hundreds of forums on just about every niche topic.

Bikers are a rare breed, Harley riders are a dime a dozen !

The way I see it,

 Here there are BIKERS. They don't care if you ride a Harley or a Metric. It has two or three wheels and makes you feel good when you ride it down the rode. Over There is Big Bussiness and it's all about brand.   Here, we live and share it,  There, they pull it off the shelf and sell it.
 
Don't get me wrong, If I could afford a Harley I would have bought one and I will some day. But right now  ,I'm just glad to be riding again.
 
I'll get my info and help from ya'll.
Medic

Good Outlook, Bikermedic,,,,, I get a kick out of the folks that think you have to have a Harley, dress a certain way, and hang out with certain people to be a Biker,,,, They overlook the part about the ride.
I rode to Lake George, NY during Americade from Syracuse last year on a Thursday night and was coming back on Friday. 
My friends all said " You rode all the way up here for one night"?   My reply was " Yes, it was all about the ride,,,, not the destination."

I do ride a Harley and have over 40 years road riding experience,,,, but any bike is a good bike

heh I don't subscribe at all all to the "Harley" fashion though most of my clothes have the bar 'n shield I still get the stink eye from a LOT of Harley owners at dealerships. I think it's the whole "I couldn't give a damn how I look" look that put them off! LOL

Lucky I am not the guy that wants to discourage people from wanting to do their own work my only advice is if they do make sure you research it because I have on several occasions seen people screw something up SO BAD that they end up bring in their project in pieces and losing some parts and it ends up costing them a lot more money than he should have when I could have shot them a fair price.
The Dealership in my area is headed for a shut down because it's NOT a boutique at all and the Factory is totally up their butts about it looking like a 'dump' according to the factory standard's version and vision of a dealership. When I am on the road I do stop by dealerships just to marvel at the shops and wonder how long it will be until they realize that their overwhelming success is costing not only the customer but the company.
Bikermedic, I love ALL motorcycles I just happen to be one of them hard heads that still loves Harley Davidson motorcycles the company not so much but for me all motorcycles work basically the same, lots of similar functions and I work on ALL models, mostly out of my own curiosity. I've worked on Ducatis, Suzukis, Hondas, Kawasakis, Beamers just to name a few... now if I could only get my hands on a Victory!

 Sick as hell today, leprosey or something . - Spent all day on line

You think your life sux, check out what happend to this guy on the Buell site.

bout a month ago I took my Ulysses to my HD dealer to have the tires, wheel bearings and fork oil changed. I had not bought the Scorpion Synch tires because I wanted longer life of them so I bought Dunlop Roadsmarts online for installation. 

So the dealer said that he would not install the tires for liability reasons (because I didn't buy them there). So I sought out another dealer to have them installed. My bad was posting my displeasure on Facebook, that I was tired of all the dealers rules for having my bike serviced. I had purchased the wheel bearings and fork oil at the dealer, just not the tires. 

Well there is the problem, you see I am the assistant director of our HOG chapter, and since I bad mouthed the dealer my position as AD and my membership had been revoked. 

Gee I have been crying ever since  now that I am not obligated to drum up business for this dealer among other HOG members. 

. . . 

It's amazing how so many people take any opportunity to start Harley bashing. This started as a post because Black9 got thrown off a site that has nothing to do with the HD company or any of its dealers.

Why is it in general that Harley bashing has become so popular. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see any difference between them and anyone else. I don't take my new Ford truck to a Ford dealer for simple service because they charge more than the independent shops and will only do what is permitted by the factory - and they have big fancy showrooms, but I don't see a lot of Ford dealership bashing.. I certainly don't call Sears when my Kenmore appliances break down and expect the same deal as I would get from Joe's appliance shop. Yeah going to the manufacturer is expensive and they can only do work as described by company rules - so what's the big deal.

Maybe it because they build motorcycles and we demand that the owners be bikers and show us brotherly love - BS, they're a company and they answer to shareholders.  I don't expect the guys that run Peterbilt (the trucks I worked on) to be truckers. 

And yes they do make mistakes occasionally, but really you can find a bunch of people that have had a problem at a Denney's restaurant but we don't turn Denney's bashing into a travelers past time.

I personally have taken my bike to Harley shops quite a few times and always came out fixed fine - sure I paid a little more but sometimes you do what you got to do. I also have friends who work at HD shops and are damn good mechanics. They work there for security of a paycheck because maybe they are not the type to run their own business. Hell I consider myself a top notch diesel mechanic, but I don't work for myself.

Just my 2 cents - ok maybe 15 cents.

Well put GoFur. Like you I just don't take my bike to the dealer if I am looking to save money or expect anything different then factory authorized work.

Of course I too have heard the stories of people getting bad service from Harley dealers, but I have personally had nothing but good luck and actually have had quite a few Harley dealers treat me real well and save my ass quite a few times in my travels.

And I'm not quite sure either how Black9 getting thrown off a site owned by a forum company (Internet Brands) turned into a Harley bash ???

I've worked for Harley Davidson off and on and when they charge the customer $100 an hour labor rate and then turn around and give the mechanic $15 to $20 an hour you kinda understand where their priorities are. Not all dealers do this but more often than not these days because it is such a niche market a lot of owners have been getting the shaft. Shoot we had a dude doing 3 10K services in a row one day and a few days later he lined up to do about the same. He got lauded with a lot of praise and so forth even got an award but the master tech decided he was gonna keep his eye on this guy... as it turns out this guy wasn't doing the entire service on each bike, go figure... He was warned that if he continued this practice he would be gone... welp, that dude is still working there as far as I know and I've seen some newbie techs show up and think their shit doesn't stink and make a real mess and it dawned on me that HD is taking a lot of new guys and showing them the ropes but at the expense of firing what they believe are overpaid techs and thrusting some of these new guys into projects they have no business doing until they've had further training and so forth, but I digress...
Some dealerships are solid gold and I've been lucky enough to work for ONE... the rest made me decide its time to do my own thing and I can charge half the labor rate and still get more than twice what a dealer would pay me.

Sorry if I bashed the dealer, was not my intent.

ALSO there are two types of dealership owners: the first type is a fellow rider and appreciates what his employees do for dealership and rewards them, not with a lot money or whatever but going on rides or puts together bbq's and the there is the second type: the bean counters! They are THEE worst people to work for! I know they have a lot riding on the dealership but some of them don't really ride much to speak of and their bike is a show piece in their garage or game room... these guys have their sales staff on the phones through most of December when sales are down, hell they have service managers calling customers to check on services and so forth, that is the nature of the beast and I can understand that but good owners make for good dealerships, they understand who they hired and they take care of them, not threaten them with their job because sales slow down around Christmas.

My quarter's worth.

Never have "bashed" HD per se, but do love to jump on.

HD management or at least Wandell and the idea of marketing a "lifestyle" instead of selling motorcycles.

AND

The sensitivity of some HD riders


HD is an American icon, I am a "buy American" kind of guy. Dealerships are local businesses, I am a "shop local" kind of guy. -
Any criticism is intended to improve HD's revenue & the bottom line of any viable dealerships.
(Oddly enough Wandell has not yet contacted me.)

Good luck sir, but their PR department calls and their motor division will respond... when I bought my new Switchback I got a call from the motor division and was asked why I wasn't interested in their alarm system or the ABS breaks I told them "Well I've been riding bikes for years without all that stuff so why do I need to change now? Also the price tag changes dramatically because Harley Davidson boasts that they are selling the bike for $15,999 and when you factor in the two "systems" it changes the price dramatically and is really misleading when you floor dealerships with all that crap on em!" Answer "Fair enough are you planning on buying a new Harley Davidson motorcycle in the near future?" My answer "Uhhh I just bought a 2012 model in 2011! What do you think?"
The lifestyle thing is pretty asinine, it's like you sign up and then you're in a huge group of individuals? Dumb!

Sometime this winter will have to start a thread - "If I was CEO of HD"

If there are any shrinks on board they might start a thread on desensitizing HD owners - If somebody criticizes the HD corporate culture or some HD dealerships or even, God forbid, their machines we are not criticizing the owners AND we are not jealous of their manhood.

Right after I got the Buell HD was on me pretty good - Now that they have orphaned me, not so much - Probably, correctly, figured am not in a mood to get anything new from them

Back to the original thread.
All the forums have winners and losers and even some Darwin award recipient's.
No forum is immune and it does not matter which brand you go with, they all have some problems and the parent company is doing it all wrong. etc. It is their loss if they kick someone out for contributing.

I kinda choose who I will respond to. If someone posts something like, my bike won't start. It's been sitting for 5 years. What's wrong?.... I am not going to reply.
If someone has a problem and is thinking things through and has at least a basic understanding of mechanics and electricity. I will help him if I can.

Find a forum you like and you enjoy going to and just have fun. Life is too short.