Harley-Davidson® 2007
Road King®, Electra Glide®, Road Glide®, Street Glide®, Ultra Classic®
Dyna Super Glide®, Dyna Wide Glide®, Dyna Low Rider, Dyna Street Bob®
Softail Standard®, Softail Deuce®, Softail Fatboy®, Softail Deluxe®, Softail Heritage®
OUR SAGA CONTINUES...
Tuesday September 5, 2006. The better half now has over 2,000 miles on the Road King. The last 1,000 have been trouble free enjoyable riding except for minor surging issues in third and fourth gears. The dealer seems to have been very honest after the sale, I would have rather known what I know before she dropped 20K, but at least they are telling us what we need to know now.
In order to pass E.P.A. regulations Harley has had to lean out the new 96" motors so much that all are running hotter than the previous models. Some of them are running super hot. So much so that they are not even fun to ride. Some folks notice it and others don't. If I owned a MoCo dealership I would tell my clients up front that there is a conflict with the bikes running their best and the G-mens stupid emissions laws. I would add a grand to the price of each bike and tell the customer as soon as the papers are signed we will roll the bike into the service area and fix it.
I think with some end users Harley is just taking a free ride off of inexperienced purchasers. A lot of folks that are buying putts these days are newbies and don't know how a putt is supposed to act and may not even know that their bike shouldn't be so hot. We have met a several people that have traded their previous bikes in on the new ones with no notice of problems. One of these guys traded his 2004 Fatboy in and is thrilled. Of course he only had 1,400 miles on the old bike. Can this guy really know how a bike is supposed to act? Someone that averages less than 500 miles per year on their putt is bound to be happy with the 2007's. If you are riding less than 500 miles per year it don't matter if you have to put pedals on it for propulsion. If you are just wanting a bike to pose on then go ahead and buy a new one and don't worry about the mapping issue. It won't get hot enough between the house and your favorite hangout to notice.
If you plan on riding off into the sunset and piling on the miles then make sure you have the remap cost worked out with the dealer before you hand over your cash. Eventually a simple reprogram of the computer should fix the problem without having to fork over big dough but at present there is not a factory/E.P.A. approved remap. Be blunt with your dealer and get some questions answered. If I were buying a 2007 today I would not give them the check until they had remapped the bike at their expense.
While the electrical shorts are supposed to be somewhat common with this years model, this is not really a big deal. The bike blows a fuse then your dealer chases down the culprit wire. Once fixed you shouldn't have to worry about it again. Compared to the late 90's Ford Explorers that have over 50 factory recall issues at this date this is almost insignificant. Of course if I owned an Explorer I would have sent it to the crusher by now. Since a Harley only has two wheels, no doors, roof or air-conditioning it should function at the 17,000+ M.S.R.P.
Our salesperson has called the better half a couple of times to ask how she and the bike are doing and has been super helpful. He has a job to do and I can't say anything bad about his work. For all I know nobody told him about the mapping issues until after we bought ours. I am not going to assume what he may or may not have known. The service manager called me personally today just to ask how things were going. I told him that 1,400 hundred bucks later and two trips back to the dealership and all seems fine. What the heck, its only money and the wife is really enjoying the putt now.
Friday September 8, 2007. A few folks are accusing me of being ignorant. That I am. Anything I have with an OBD plug goes to a professional to be worked on. I don't know enough about EFI to weigh in on the proper fix from personal knowledge. What I do know is that we did exactly what the wrench at the dealer said was the only real fix at the moment. He is a patch wearing brother that has spent his entire life working on hogs. I have never had a real died in the wool scooter trash brother lie to me in my life. What he did to our bike was the same thing they did to the owners of the dealership 2007. Good stinking enough for me. We told him to do to the bike what he would do if it were his ol lady riding it and he did. Within five minutes of leaving the dealership the better half was ecstatic.
Talked to a service representative at Atlanta Harley-Davidson about the heat issue. The service guy said he was unfamiliar with my problems but admits that his new bike runs much hotter than his 88" bike did. Ours was 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the Shovel and in the Georgia hot sun that made for miserable riding. He told me about an official H-D possible fix that our dealer recommended against. Harley is offering a onetime free download for all owners of 2007 96" engines. What it does is this... When you are in stop and go traffic it shuts down one of the cylinders whenever you engage the clutch or at a full stop. What a fix. If their best fix is to turn half the engine off then why even build a 96" motor. What is the point of putting around on a 43" 2007 model when you could be riding a 2006 at 88" without the excessive heat. May as well be riding a moped. Harley allows the dealer to install and uninstall this program once under warranty. Apparently lots of folks are having this feature neutered after they try it.
If you have something to add, good or bad, email me at biners@crowderinc.com. I'll keep you anonymous or hang your name out in the breeze for all to see, just make sure and tell me how to treat your correspondence. I am not trying to trash Harley-Davidson just trying to inform the buyer. Scooters are just to darn expensive these days to not know what you are getting in to.
p.s. I would rather be sitting on the side of the road twisting wrenches on a broken Harley than riding a "metric" bike into the wind.
Page 1 (Houston, We have a problem!) Page 2 (Our story continues)
Page 3 (I hear from others with the same problem)
Page 4 (Our exact fix) Page 5 (Other potential fixes)
Page 6 (What's up with the noisy gear box??)
Page 7 (Potential buyers are starting to freeze up)
Page 8 (Some folks are quite happy with their '07 H-D's)
Page 9 (Other problems I am hearing about) Page 10 (other resources)
PAGE 11 (THE MOST INFORMATIVE EMAIL I HAVE RECEIVED)
page 12 (an attempt to gather my thoughts)
PAGE 13 (THE MOCO ISSUES A RECALL)
PAGE 14 (FIRE IS INSPIRATIONAL....)
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