Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Will NEVER Be Built Right Again

Idk who hurt you to put you on the warpath against Harley, but I’m all for it 😂 💯

Losing manufacturing jobs to a robot, or overseas outsourcing is just unpatriotic.

Dealership Service Sucks Your Wallet Out Of Your Pants And Your Soul Out Of Your Ass!

I'll stick with my Evo. and Shovel.

Good info, but this guy's voice I can't listen to for more than a minute. Rather listen to the ex wife.

Designs a bike to last until warranty is done (2 years) but charges a small fortune to purchase one. 🖕🏻 Harley Davidson MoCo

Harley is engineering their engine to be just good enough. They'll make little tweaks here and there whenever issues arise like M8 sumping, but other than that, the aftermarket will always be there to make them better. It was even the same in the early days of the Twin Cam and the Evo. People will always expect more out of a Harley and will always be willing to lay their money down on performance upgrades and higher quality parts. That's something that's never going to change.

Yes. They "could" get back to doing it better, but then your basic bikes would have CVO price tags. And CVOs would be unattainable.

It's tough. I ride a Honda Shadow that has over 120,000 miles on it and the engine has never been opened. Eventually I'll replace it and would consider a new HD but it always comes back to longevity and reliability for me. If they made them bulletproof I would likely buy one.

100.000 miles on my 2009 twin cam touring bike no problems

food prices ...the customers have less money, and the company has more overhead.
is the "end world hunger campaign" the part where we all starve to death, with flies laying eggs in our offices, like a bunch of ?
and they say we had 4 feet of topsoil here once.

They could do engines the same way an Evo was done,,They don't want to,,,too expensive,,have to find experienced people,,
product will last too long.

They won’t go back to the old way, cooperate greed and paying the share holders is number one for them, the new bike are not worth the price they are asking for them, I will keep buying used Harley’s that where all taken care of and save the money and the hassle of the dealership,

The whole Evo is better than the new m8 argument is BS!! Yes the MOTOR may be bulletproof BUT if you buy a used evo, even low milage, and daily ride that thing, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BREAK before a new harleys shit breaks. Yes the old is better and and way cooler. But of you're an actual biker like myself and put thousands of miles a year on your bike you are way better off getting a new bike. By the time you replaced all the shit that broke down (and pay tow fees if you don't have a trailer) you will has amassed the price of a new bike. If you are an actual biker who rides everyday a 30 year old will not cut it. I don't believe the dipshits saying "my evo has 49,0000" on it. No it doesn't. But I have seen multiple milakwee eights with over 200k on them. How are they junk if they have 200k on them?? PLEASE ARGUE BELOW


Btw I own and ride a 21 softial, 01 sporty, 83 ironhead

The big twin Evo...do you mean the one known for having leaky base cyclinder gaskets?? That one?

End the unfair trade practices and allow Americans to build again.

Possible good question: How much did quality/reliability vary among examples of the same models during both the Twin Cam and M8 eras when bought new. I was told with Triumph, you either get a good one or bad one when new. Most are good but if you get a bad one...

Quantity over quality

Have three Harleys, my newest one is 27 years old, wouldn't even think of a new Harley. Of course the dealer close to me won't work on or inspect a bike older than ten years old. I bought a Jap bike to play around with last year, you know what I like it, lighter than the Harley, cheaper than the Harley, faster than the Harley. Maybe Harley should just stick with what they seem to do best now days, (making T-shirts).

That applies to everything today they can build anything these days like they use to nothing is built to last anymore.

This is kinda bullshit. There’s no engine builders working on the lines at Ford or GM. Engines today (and for a long time) are built to tight tolerances so that parts are interchangeable. That makes putting them together possible by anyone with the ability to follow instructions. That’s a good thing. You don’t actually want a machine that only works because a skilled craftsman massaged it together to get it right.

I maintain the M8 at this point is the best engine Harley has made. It’s quieter, faster, runs cooler, has far less vibration and can easily go 100k miles. The only downside - it doesn’t sound as good as the engines that came before it.

OMG! An American business operating like an American business! OMG!
Like....are they supposed to NOT operate like a greedy corporation? Why would they be any different than any other large corporation?

Hi Gix, Today I want to respectfully disagree with you to a point. All Harley motors have had there quirks and problems. But, some how we the bike community always found a way to make them bullet proof. Hence the rise of the aftermarket industry. It is easy to say that pressed cranks are junk. But, we are putting out way more power than you could get out of anything before the m8. A Twin Cam was and is capable of putting out way more than an evo. So the engineers are going to say can you show us data that compares a bolt together crank as compared to a pressed crank. Not to mention ease of manufacture. So This begs the question what would a hand made bike with todays accessories cost? I said to a point. Well, I bought a new ultra the last year you had to order the bike. I am glad of it. I still believe you got a better product. Did I have to de harley it to get the bugs out you can bet your ass I did. Harley wanted to be a boutique brand they could have done that by being hand made. The survivability probably wouldn't have been that good. It was a new age when they went to mass production.

My first Harley, a 2002 FXDX is an absolute blast with the tasteful upgrades. In fairness, I realize it's already old, but having to add oil periodically at 27k miles seems ridiculous, when it doesn't happen to be smoking or leaking? However, it's been a money pit with minor stuff hear and there.......If it were anything else, like a girlfriend I would dump it! A technician at a reputable shop that I go to says he NEVER sees 117's in for fixes! Therefore I pose the argument whether the newer is worse?

They need to build far less bikes and do all the work by hand, And they need to do it with the EVO engine either built like a S&S engine or just have S&S built it for them. That bottom part of the engine needs to be made of high quality high strength materials in order to make a 100 hp motor. Another words better than the original EVO engine. They need to bring back the Sportster for sure. If I was running it I would only make a different model every year just like they did with cars same motor different style or model. You do not have to make street glides every year or low riders just make them every other year or so rotate your models and paint options. That way when your bike goes down the road someone will say hey that's a 2025 model or a 2026 just like they did when people see a 1957 Chevy the year dictates the styling.

I agree that Evolution is the best engine they should have just put bigger cc in them! 😊❤

Bike riders want an American bike that goes as long as Japanese bike!

S&S engines are best! Nobody is going to want these new bikes!

They lost their trust!

This all tells me that we should be able to buy our Harleys for about 40 to 50% less than what they market them for

Well said.

It always starts at the top!! If, say, someone would buy out HD that would try to build a better bike, It would turn the company around from the woke company that it has become. Concentrating on building the best product and not pronouns!!!

I agree 100 percent

I'm surprised the CEO didn't turn it into a running shoe factory 😅

of the 3 harley engines i've ridden, i really like the big twin 103b. what is funny i feel my 1200 sporty was a lot quicker 0-100mph, and more nimble than my fatboy.
i have not disassembled any of my harleys. 1200 evo, 96cid twin, and the 103. if i wanted to move up to a se110, or larger, i'd buy a crate engine, and put the 103 on the shelf.

My Harley’s have always been very reliable. But I leave them alone too. Stage 1 and that’s it. Why are metrics so reliable? Nobody opens them up and messes with them. If you leave harley engine alone they are reliable too.

A big air cooled v twin engine is an antique engine design. It’s not made to make lots of HP and have the piss revved out of it. You can do it…but you loose the reliability. Harley makes them reliable at the factory. If you want it to stay reliable then do some pipes and a breather and leave it alone.

Is there anything left now that isn't just synthetic crap?.... fml

Foo you are the Yoda of HD knowledge ! I one hundred percent agree on the two finest motors Harley ever produced.. !

until the board is gone the enshitification will continue...

What do you mean "engines"? At some point, AI robots won't even build engines anymore. All Harley's will be battery powered with the option of the battery case looking like a v-twin. The exhaust will simply be a big speaker in the shape of a 2 into 1 pipe and you just pick from a few exhaust sound options on the ODO console...

Whenever any new design is introduced it's natural that critical elements will be over-engineered. During the life-cycle of that design, value engineering will slowly introduce cost saving in the design as statistical analysis reveals areas of opportunities. I recall reading in Donny Peterson's book about the twin-cam, that the premise of that engine was to reduce mechanical noise. The idea of the cam chains was because they were quieter than gears. The cam bearings were isolated from the outside of the case, making those quieter as well. The emphasis on reducing mechanical noise allowed for more sound from the exhaust, as the sound level meters don't discriminate between the two. Donny also stated that the evo engine can be rebuilt over and over again but the twin-cam bearings can only be pressed in and out so many times before the case is unusable.

Everything we own, whether it's washing machines, cars, or electronic equipment, is impacted by value engineering. This is why we see less things screwed together and more things that clip together with tabs. If you ever look at the parts catalog of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, it's absolutely daunting how many individual parts make up our motorcycles. If anything, the twin-cam was arguably a more expensive engine to manufacture than a big-twin evo, although I agree that the crank and Timkin bearing setup are exceptions. The twin-cam had Timkin bearings only through 2002.

O5' Road King and a 12' CVO Electraglide, both tanks. People complain about new cost, don't have the brains to buy a great used one, or they are just haters to begin with.

The question is not " Could they" its will they ever , and the answer is No . Harley has fallen into the the political / EPA trap, and i suspect they they will soon swerve into many different areas of unfunded liabilities, namely paying retired people to do nothing for as long as they live. If that happens without enough profit to sustain it, they will go under.

To me the Evo is the best motor they ever built I have two of them I'm going to Softail and I've got a Dyna wide glide Softail is a 1988 and the Dyna wide lives in 1998 they both have low miles I'm the second owner and they just run I've got an EV23 cams in them s&s super e carburetors I let them warm up so that the base gaskets won't leak and I take it easy on them until they're up to temperature and they run really well Love evils Love shovels too but I've got three of those but they're not as reliable with their fun to ride sound good

It’s sad the way things are being built from cars to boats to houses hold appliances . Most repair tech ( part pullers ) will tell you up to 10 years and you doing good . My house AC unit went down the tech came out and plugged the laptop into the unit and one two three told him the problem . 😢😢😢😢

Totally agree! my first Harley was a 85` FXR, I was 19, had no mechanical skills at that time, didn't take care much, was just riding! Issues with that bike? None! Now, nearly 25 years later, I own a 09` FXSTC, at about 15k mi, had to replace the Compensator, now, 19k on the clock, had to check the crankshaft runout, 0,007!

Should I change my oil pump on the 2019 Ultra Classic Limited that I just purchased? Has 5600 miles on it. 114 engine.

Do think Harley-Davidson would ever reverse course and start building engines right again?