Slaughters.com

This is a post I made to a the Harley Sportster maillist. I'm putting it here for reference and possibly to help others who are about to make the same mistake I did in purchasing a Harley Davidson. This post does not constitute the full extent of the trouble I've had since being talked into buying a Harley Davidson back in 2000. 3 of the 5 dealers I've dealt with were incompetent. You can make that 4 of 5 if I determine that recent service resulted in my blown bottom end.

In any case, most folks will want to ignore this post. But if you are considering buying a Harley for the first time, please read on...intro to this post:

Summer 2000, I'm looking to get back in to motorcycling. Many of my friends at the time were Harley owners. They convinced me that Harleys were now reliable, quality motorcycles. One afternoon, with a strong desire to ride again, and an abundance of dot-com loot, I went into the dealer and placed an order for a new 2000 XL1200C. Of course, I would have to wait about 6 months for my new bike as Harley Davidson is a master at creating artificial gluts in supply, helping perpetuate the silly mystique that surrounds these cheap, union-made motorcycles.

There's no feeling like pulling off the dealer lot on or in a brand new vehicle. That utter joy of owning a new quality motor vehicle. However, my situation wasn't quite like this: I was riding away on a Harley Davidson.

I'm not really impressed with the Harley Davidson name alone. I assumed that there must be a reason that folks were so fanatical about these bikes. I presumed that my new bike would be all that I hoped for and then some. But as I rode away, I quickly noted that my bike didn't sound anything like a Harley. It also didn't feel anywhere near as powerful as most Harleys "appear" to be. Well, this is not entirely Harley Davidsons fault. All new Harleys require the paying of a "Harley tax". The Harley tax is the difference between the bike Harley designed and the laws that make a bike legal in any given state, particularly California. In order to get a Harley to run properly, you need to let the motor "breathe". This means replacing the exhaust, the air intake, and re-jetting the carbs so that the motor can recieve the proper fuel/air mixture. Fair enough. I don't spite Harley for that, and it's not very expensive to perform this operation. The bike was notably more responsive after I had this "stage I" upgrade performed. However, the bike was still dog slow. I simply didn't feel safe on the freeway with this bike. I could not pull myself out of a pack of crazed rush-hour drivers, let alone lose the maniac asian kid in the acura. So I looked for more from my bike. I wanted a bike with a teeny bit of balls. And this is when I had the doomed upgrade performed. And my post to the Sportster mailing list outlines that experience in its dreadful entirety.

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posted to [email protected] 09/10/2003
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I bought this thing new in 2000. After the stage II and completion of break in, I was quite disappointed in the lack of power this bike had. So I took it to a reputable Harley mechanic who replaced/installed the following:

- crane cams and associated items
- SE ignition module
- 44mm SE carb
- thunderslide
- buell cylinders
- buell heads
- buell pistons
- hooker 2 into 1 header/exhaust
- hi-flow air cleaner
- misc. related items

total bill = $6200 ($3600 in parts + labor + tax)

ok, so i get the bike back and break it in. definitely has a reasonable amount of power now. can pretty much outdrag any hog on the street and have a fun time doing so (though i don't generally ride the bike that hard). i set rev limiter to 7000 just to be safe, and a happy duck i am.

about a month or two after this rebuild, head1 blows a gasket. i take bike to a different mechanic, as i had moved, and i have gasket replaced with the same crap the original mechanic used (a james teflon thing <-- AVOID). about a week later head2 blows a gasket. new mechanic decides to replace both head gaskets with traditional paper gaskets. and bike runs great for about 1500 miles. not a drop of oil out of either head.

... a few fun months pass

last night on the freeway, the thing blew all to hell. i hit throttle to pass a car and kerklunk.. rattle.. bang bang... klunk.... grind grind

i quickly pull clutch and safely coast to the side of the freeway where the motor bleeds to death.

no metal in plugs, so i imagine pistons are intact, but something blew and put a 1/2 inch hole in the crankcase just behind the rear cylinder.

my guess is that the original mechanic should have redone the bottom end at least in part, to be able to handle the newer high rev, high power top end. i'm thinking a rod broke or something, maybe a piston skirt. gonna have it torn apart to see exactly what happened. but what to do after that, i'm not sure.

i'm fairly confident i'm done with all harley products for the rest of my life. i'm not impressed with their bikes or their parts. in addtion to the motor trouble i'm having, i'm also constantly replacing cheap harley parts that break over and over. kickstand, tach mount, belt guard, etc...

i know there are people out there who enjoy these bikes for whatever reason. i guess maybe if i were more into spending a lot of time wrenching rather than riding, i might like mine too. but i like to ride, not sit on the side of the freeway, so i'm looking to get outta this bike, losing as little $$ as possible.

i'm into the bike for about $20K with the original cost, the rebuild and various accessories.

as i see it my options are:

- sell as is for a few grand (if that)
- replace motor (probably reusing the original parts that i still have) and sell as a working sportster.
- part it out and sell all this high end stuff for a fair amount (which i can't imagine netting more than selling a running bike :)
- take the thing to the nearest canyon and roll it on in. not very cost effective, but then, you can't really put a price on the satisfaction i'd get from that.

i *truly* love this style of bike (sportster with hopped up motor), semi-sporty, semi-cruise, torquey v-twin. if harley made a reliable bikes and parts, i wouldn't be looking to get rid of this thing at all. but i'm convinced the cause is pointless and that i either have to go back to a standard powerless stock sportster or continue with these types of issues. not sure what i'm going to go with next. jap big twins are too sporty (suzuki t1?), fake jap harley's are too ugly and too fake :) indians are junk. there's the new viper, but that's unproven. maybe some of you have some ideas of a harley-like bike without the harley trouble.

most importantly, i'd like ideas on what to do with this thing. how to most painlessly get rid of it without losing the rest of my shirt. i had some fun rides on that bike. while the new motor worked, it was a lot of fun. super torque at low speeds (accidental wheelies ;), very nice pull at high speeds that you'd never see outta stock sporty. but i was expecting an apple to be an orange, and that's not gonna happen :)

i appreciate all input, flames, rants, suggestions, hate mail, sympathy cards and such...