Harley Davidson and Reliability. Time for a change.

Was planning on a road glide for a while. Moved to the black hills where I’m around masses of HD’s on a regular basis. Not just the normal amount. And recently after seeing insane amounts of serious issues even on 2 year old CVO’s ….. I thought about it …. I’ve had only Hondas and KTM street bikes for the last 22 years. I have not even replaced a light bulb in 22 years. Not a single thing but oil changes and tires. Do I really need to deal with issues ? I think the terrible reliability of the HD’s is forcing me to get a gold wing.

They always tell you it's ok so they can push you past warranty. Just saying.

A quart every 1,500 miles?? Lol. Thats not normal. Well at least for other brands of bike.

Before I bought my 2019 HD RG (47K) I had a number of friends/family warning me about reliability issues after researching that issue I found a preponderance of HD riders had motor work performed. Many of the riders I would run into on road trips especially old folks were riding stock bike with well over 100k.

I ALWAYS ROCK FULL SYNTHETIC

I've had many brands as well and I have had a great experience with Harleys. Unfortunately with the very expensive brands (Aprilia,Ducati) things have gone wrong before 10 k miles, that's unacceptable. I never modify the engine or ride the motorcycles hard.

I own a 2021 HD RGS. But please stop with all the “every brand has lemons, too”. Of course they do. But let’s not pretend like HD isn’t WAY down on the reliability list compared to other manufacturers.

I have 51.000 miles on mines. What about you??

I am new to the Harley world. I really enjoy your content sir

Whats your thoughts on HD bike alarm system? i had one fitted to my '05 Fatboy, and it crapped out... it would arm but wouldnt turn off. they fixed it a couple of times but in the end it was just too unreliable to dare use. thoughts? are they better now?

75,000kms on my 2018 FLTRU, has had all services done at or before service intervals. stage 2 with power cam at the 12k mark. I have never had to add any oil between changes, it's never been down less than 1/2 a litre.. I ride it to, it's seen the 6400rpm redline here and there. I use syn3 in all holes, after 1600km change. Would never use anything but.

I bought 2 brand new Harley's and they both sucked!!!! BOTH liked to go to the shop and stay in the shop, I was a dumbass for trying my luck on the second one. My 2nd. one even the speedo would fog up and rain inside of it so much for a 115 year anniversary model!

Thanks for your input “ I’ve come to realize that all HD’ dealership’s are not created equal, but the reliability of the product are. Only one America” thanks for proudly displaying Her’

HD has ranked number 5 in the consumer index for reliability for a long time. Top 4 are metrics

With all due respect, oil consumption is why I sold my 2018 ultra limited and will never own another HD product. Oil consumption with modern manufacturing capabilities is unacceptable and absolute BS when Harley says it’s normal. Go buy a Honda Goldwing and beat that crap out of it, it will not consume oil. I own an Indian and a Yamaha, neither consume oil. My two cents…..

What go pro mount do you have on your bars on the left!! Got the same bike in blue. Safe travels!!

Did synthetic oil help your oil burning issue?

Vented dipstick and Amsoil solved my oil consumption problem.

I'm planning on a ride to Coffee Corner Santee and see Clint. SBT by Fri AM 10/14

Nice Video Big Guy... I Own A 2022 H.RGS And It's A Wonderful Experience To Ride... 🏍💨

I bought a new 2019 street glide special in October 2018. I followed the break in guidelines and I get it serviced by Harley and I don't (for the most part) run it hard. In a couple of weeks, it's going in for its 60k service. It will have about 61k by the time I bring it in. I run syn 3 and haven't had any problems.

I would never take a long trip after a Harley dealership inspected my bike!! Wow!! The only person that inspects my bike is me!!

You are spot on with the MDB. He runs them hard.

The Million Dollar Bogan (MDB) has been one of the BEST ambassadors for Harley-Davidson’s motorcycles. It’s unfortunate that HD doesn’t acknowledge the MDB by at least giving him a T-shirt. MDB makes me want to buy more HDMCs.

Definitely not knocking Harley; I've had three. The last was a 2020 E Glide Standard. Nary a problem for the year I had it. Only thing that got me was maintenance. Three different oils? Just got ridiculous. Tires were expensive and dealer charge was insane. Plus, I felt I was limited in my riding. What's down that dirt road? Who knows. I ain't taking the 800 lb. beast down there.
Traded it for a Suzuki V-Strom 1050XT Adventure.
I'm happy.

On my third Harley in 30 years. All three have been very reliable.

New sub ! Liked ✌️🙏😉👍

Have had 5 new Harleys never added oil to any of them between oil changes from 86 heritage to 21 roadglide all except roadglide had at least 50,000 miles now my shovels all used or leaked oil always kept a quart in the saddlebag’s

I GUESS YOU KNOW NOW THAT YOU CAN CANCEL THE RDS

You hope it’s been checked out. It’s not difficult, learn to do your own services. That way your not trusting your life to someone else. Your the typical rider the dealer loves. Bring us your bike and money. We’ll do the rest.

I really wanted to own a harley but&$#@?. The price compared to other bikes like the star venture from yamaha you compate it on any level with a harley and in the end its actually better as an air cooled v twin than the harley. The name is not worth 15000$. After 22000miles only replaced the key fob battery and the battery along with tires. No seat or any other upgrades but add ons like more deflectors for summer riding. My backing off from harley was price and reliability. Harley guys that told me to stay away because of that if I dont have a budget for repairs. I think thats why most harleys probably only do the vfw and poker runs.

If you are coming from Ducati well

Passed thru SD Harley last weekend, drove down from OC

How comfortable are you splitting lanes on the Road glide ? Looking to upgrade my road king .


I have that same Simpson mod bandit and agree it’s kind of Loud, mine gives me headaches after a few hours , need to work on the liner.

Harley Roadglides are reliable with a lot of maintenance or what I would call part retirement and replacement, not just oil changes. Honda Goldwings are reliable with standard maintenance and not a lot of parts changing. There is a lot brand loyalty and denial in the bike world for some reason. Both bikes need maintenance. A Harley needs rebuilt much sooner than most endurance models of just about any japanese brand therefore Harleys are not as reliable. I could call my car forever-reliable if I replaced the engine every 100k miles because it needs 'regular maintenance'. It's not hard to figure out why honda, yamaha and other bikes are much more prevalent around the world where they are people's only mode of transportation. They are more reliable.

Dude drank the Harley Kool Aid. Seems like a cool cat, but he doesn’t wrench so the HD techs can tell him anything.

I've got a 2020 Road Glide Limited. Bought used with 4k miles on it. I started using Red Line in all three holes. I was using a quart every 1k to 1500 miles. Switched to Amsoil and I haven't burnt a drop.

Great video brother. Thank you for sharing your info. Your audio sounds amazing.

Got to Sturgis on Monday afternoon after a 1047-mile ride. Thursday night was headed home in a uhaul pulling my bike on a trailer. So much for my 60th birthday 3-week vacation in a cabin at Sturgis. 2018 Fortune Silver Electra Glide Ultra Classic with 48074 miles on it. Was heading from Custer to Black Hills HD doing 45MPH when the rear cylinder ACR= automatic compression release blew out of the head. The bike is still under warranty, but they were only doing brakes/ tire changes and oil changes- no warranty work. So, I headed home and the good folks at Gold Rush HD in Elko NV. got my "Penny" running again. Just got back from Reno Fall Street Vibrations and Tomorrow it's off to Vegas Hogs n Heifer's bike shows. Sadly, the Vegas Bikefest isn't happening for the 3rd year now.

Dope video 👑🏍💨

Wind noise was intolerable!!!

Harley Davidson does not make oil .. Thicker oil will reduce engine noises..

Million Dollar Bogan has bought like 15 New Harley Davidsons.. If you want to look at HD's with a lot of miles on them Check out the two Bikes that Adam Sandoval rode to every HD Dealer in the Continental USA,
If you want to talk about high milage and reliabiliyt Look at the Honda Gold Wing or Indian Challenger..
In years past HD had really crappy wiring that failed a lot. Plus had always had Ignition problems .. Compensator Problems .. sumping Problems oil pump failures ect...
With I supposed any full face Helmet you need the chin skirt in place..

I think also worth noting. Service everywhere has degraded. Getting something fixed right has always been a roll of the dice. However the odds getting it fixed correctly have gone down. No matter what brand you have. I was at my local Honda dealership yesterday it looked like it was in disarray. It been there 50 yrs. They had 4 E-bikes, New African Twin and a used Harley on the showroom floor. Ive see better selections at yard sales.

You aint got the balls to make a change. Your a small man with tiny hands.

Quart of oil every 1500 miles is mind boggling.

Reliability doesn't affect sales much because (most) modern HD buyers are old and very well off so toy money is not a problem. If it breaks, throw more money at it and install a bigger engine since it's a toy not a tool. For used buyers HDs being so easy to work on and having the biggest aftermarket of any brand more than compensates for any issues. For example I'm still fixing Twin Cam timing chain shoe problems because so many owners never heard of them, but the work is easy to DIY (any real motorcyclist is also a mechanic) so that doesn't hurt used sales. Despite all those roached engines HD sold everything it could produce in that era.