Rust 2007 1200C

[Dodzi]

Mmmm - paint on edge of rear fender peeling off - being replaced. Then noticed front mudguard bubbling under paint!

The bikes only just over a year old! Going to make sure that there's 2 years on the replacement parts I think!

[45Brit]

have to say, if I had the money laying around for a new H-D ( which I don't ), H-D wouldn't even be under consideration from some of the things I've seen on here

[Tony Cross]

Originally Posted by 45Brit

a mate of mine has a Drifter with the plastic mudguards and they are all very well, but it DOES make it awkward to hang panniers etc on the back. It also suffers from "Vincent-itis" in that the seat sticks up forlornly at the back because the mudguard doesn't support it at all.

Any bike with plastic mudguards needs a properly engineered support frame to carry any items around the back.

I was thinking along the lines of the 60/5 and 90/S I had in the 1970's which were of very high quality. Many of those bikes are ridden today and still have the original guards on.

[scooter333]

07 883 Low 1200 conversion which has rust under the paint in same place, Im chopping the rear fender and adding a side mount number plate and repainting it. Also got paint flaking on belt guard, my bike is tret better than the Mrs so def quality issues. Still strip it back and make it better than they did eh.

[RitchieJ]

My sporty 1200 R had rust on the rear fender - exactly as you describe. No issues - main dealer replaced the fender under warranty. In my experience main dealer will replace any parts on a 2 year old or younger bike which are suffering from peeling paint. If your chrome is tarnished or pitted though it's a much more difficult battle which won't always be won!!
Rich

[Squiz]

Originally Posted by Tony Cross

No but I would think it is serious grounds for complaint. Can't understand why they have metal mudguards anyway.

I'm glad you said that. It always amazes me that Harley seem to be very proud of the fact they use so many metal parts. Plastic etc is definitely preferable for such things in my view or even Carbon fibre if they want to rattle on about quality materials, but metal?? Fook off will you Mr Harley. Ain't we buying enough accesories without having to replace such everyday bits FFS! They also seem to brag about how heavy they are, lol, is this some sort of reverse psychology they're using on us when all other manufaturers are looking to save uneccessary weight increases?

[Chris L]

Originally Posted by girlyglide

As a point in fact my 1997 Glide has had a particulary hard life and apart from a few dinks in the paint there is no sign of any rust coming from under the paint anywhere.

Personally I wouldn't buy a new model for exactly these sorts of problems.

Originally Posted by Brigg

and yet my 02 is rock solid, the wheels fell to pieces mind you.

I reckon they have 'value engineered' down to the most basic spec...

I was going to buy the 10' Wide Glide bit Im not going to invest in something that I will worry about especially £10,500.00 worth.

...and I keep looking at new Heritages (and a new Fatboy last weekend) and I have to say I am tempted .....but..at £15000 plus with all these stories of modern H-D chrome (the 2010 Fatboys have fully chromed wheels) and 'twisted cranks' ect..I keep coming back to thinking,f**k it Il just hang on to my 97 WG, no rust issues,no chrome problems...they dont make em like they used to.

[Squiz]

Originally Posted by 45Brit

have to say, if I had the money laying around for a new H-D ( which I don't ), H-D wouldn't even be under consideration from some of the things I've seen on here

Please remind me (and others) why you're on this forum, I'm baffled!

[banquo]

Seems straightforward enough....

Anyone can choose to stick with an older and known model, rather than suffer the problems of a new one? It's not compulsory to lust after a brand new Harley to be on here...

I'm definitely no expert, but reading a bit about Harley history suggests that there's never been a single model launched that didn't suffer initially from fairly serious design flaws, that were ironed out only after the suffering of the first couple of years of customer misery. That 'heritage' of using the customer as the test bed seems to have continued, and you don't hear people complaining about cam drive bearings or tensioners on the latest models, just as anyone will tell you that a late Evo is far better than an early, and a post-war knuckle has far fewer problems to address than a pre-war.

That said, there's a tendency to overplay a lot of these things.
Sure, there are some problems, but there always have been.
Reading about the problems can give the impression that problems are guaranteed with certain models, but not everyone has a twisted crank, not everyone has a rust problem, and not everyone has split wheel rims.
It's the nature of things that people who have a problem will post about it, and people who have no problems at all, won't. If I'd spent a few years reading this forum (and others) I'd probably never have bought the bike...

However, there does seem to be sufficient reporting of design and quality control issues to demonstrate that Harley could do better. A lot better.

[Urrell]

Originally Posted by girlyglide

We see a lot of this problem on late models. If you look closely you'll see that there is no sign of primer or anything else under the base coat and lacquer.

In my opinion you should not see this sort of problem on a two year old vehicle and definitely not on what is supposed to be a quality vehicle like the MoCo would have us believe.

Originally Posted by Dave_Scott

I've a 07 Dyna the paint started to come off the front mudguard after a year, I too noticed there was no etch or primer on the steel.

Think this may not be an isolated quality control problem but a cost cutter by using no or inadequate paint preparation, Doesn't matter how shiny the finish is, If the prep is shoddy it won't last.
This is the sort of thing that has brought the end to a lot of car firms.

Notice how the colour choice for 2010 models has been drastically reduced? Could it be that a paint quality improvement is under way?