Harley-Davidson recalling over 54,000 bikes

[nitpicker]

Source: autoblog.com

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/04/24/harley-davidson-recalling-over-54000-bikes/

Harley-Davidson recalling over 54,000 bikes
Chris Bruce

Harley-Davidson is announcing two, separate campaigns that affect over 54,000 examples of the company's recent motorcycles.

In the larger recall, the company is repairing 45,901 examples of 2014 CVO Road King, the 2014-2015 Electra Glide Ultra Classic, Ultra Classic - Twin Cooled, Ultra Limited, Police Electra Glide, Street Glide, Street Glide Special, and CVO Street Glide; as well as the 2015 model year units of the Electra Glide Ultra Classic Low, Ultra Limited Low, Ultra Classic Low - Twin Cooled, Road Glide Special, and Road Glide. For these bikes, the clutch master cylinder may lose the ability to fully work, especially after long periods of being parked. According to documents submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (as a PDF, here), this is because "a chemical reaction inside of the sealed clutch system creates gas bubbles which may cause loss of clutch lift."

If this occurs, the bikes can move unexpectedly when the rider puts the transmission in gear. According to the NHTSA report, this problem is responsible for 313 warranty claims, 31 customer complaints, 27 incidents or crashes, and 4 minor injuries possibly linked to the issue. To fix things, Harley-Davidson dealers will flush the system and rebuild the master cylinder.

In a second, smaller campaign, Harley is also recalling 8,904 examples of the 2015 XG500 and XG750. Some of these motorcycles might not be manufactured with a rear reflector assembly, and therefore they don't meet federal guidelines. Dealers will install the part for affected owners.
(snip)

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Read more: http://www.autoblog.com/2015/04/24/harley-davidson-recalling-over-54000-bikes/

[barbtries]

1. thank you for sharing.

one of my best friends took up riding when she retired from teaching a few years ago. she's on her second harley.

i love her but i do not love motorcycles. shudder.

[marble falls]

2. I understand your concern. But have you ever been on one? I sold mine years ago....

because of all the twits on the road. At the same time I see a bike on the road and I want another one.

[barbtries]

3. i understand the attraction

and yes i have been on a motorcycle. no desire to do it again.

[littlewolf]

4. I love riding .. gave the bike up when I got married wife doesn't like them.

However I think she might be rethinking this position. she keeps wiping my mouth
when I see a bike (drooling ) told her I would get a trike or a can am ....
and she can ride with me. (her sense of balance isn't very good)
we will see ....

[Beauregard]

5. I prefer a horse.

Not as much speed, but there's the companionship.

[JudyM]

14. Ha! Cute. Welcome to DU, Beauregard. nt

[PasadenaTrudy]

11. Get a dirt bike..

safer and more fun

[awoke_in_2003]

12. If you are used to riding motorcycles...

I predict you will hate the Can Am. They are underpowered and steer like a pig.

[JohnnyRingo]

6. This is especially bad timing

Last week HD released very poor results for the quarter and have been forced to revise future production downward by almost 40k units a year.

While Sport Bikes and Cruiser sales suffered badly, the real hit came in their custom production order bikes. That's been a real cash cow for Harley for several years and is facing extinction. The custom orders are where a weekend warrior goes into the showroom, leaves his/her checkbook, ATM password, and a couple pints of blood for the privilege to check the boxes on a form and order the bike of their dreams, or what I call another factory motorcycle. On a related note, Eric Buel Racing, the new bike company that was founded when HD sold off their Buel brand, went bankrupt last week.

Harley has been hit very hard in recent years because of the renewed interest in custom built Cafe Racers built around Euro and Japanese bikes. It's becoming apparent that Millennials don't want the same bike their grandpa rode. This is just another devastating hit for the company that found itself ill prepared for the boom of the '80s and '90s when there was a two year waiting list for a 'Glide. Now that production has been ramped up to meet demand, people have moved on to the next big thing. Good thing Willie G is nearing retirement age.

I still have the '76 Sportster I bought brand new in pieces in the basement. If it would be worth more than the cost of resurrection, I'd consider the project, but it sits there. I know my kids, and the day I die the eBay link will be in my obit so they can make a down payment on a Ducatti. Every now and then I go down there and stub my toe on it, so it still hurts me. hahaha

[IDemo]

7. I've got to think Victory and now Indian are taking some of their customers as well

If I were in any way able to pay the bucks for a new bike (and still wanted another cruiser), either of these would get my money over HD.

[Earth_First]

13. A lot of Triumph's in that demographic mentioned above as well... nt

[JohnnyRingo]

16. I'll say.

The local Yamaha shop adopted a Triumph dealership a couple years ago. At first, the Triumphs occupied a mere third of the showroom, but by the end of the second year the Brit bikes took over the huge majority of floor space. Yamaha of Warren is now one of the biggest Triumph dealers in Ohio.

I'm happy to see a deserved resurrection of the marque. I learned to ride on a BSA Lightning back in the '60s.

[FLPanhandle]

8. One of the few remaining companies with US manufacturing

I'd like to see them do well.

[freebrew]

9. Not much manufacturing anymore...

just assembly. They don't make the engine parts, front end parts or electrical here anymore.

They just put them together.

If you want a real motorcycle: build your own.

[lancer78]

10. HD is over-priced

Back in 2002 I bought a nice, brand new Honda Shadow 750 A.C.E for $6500 when HD was peddling their $20,000 bikes.

[jmowreader]

15. The feds REALLY need to look hard at this recall

This "sealed clutch system" is like a brake system, except the actuating cylinder moves the clutch fork rather than the brake shoes - and it uses the same fluid, DOT 4 brake fluid. If the clutch actuating system is going bad because of a chemical reaction in the sealed system, what's to prevent the brake systems from doing the same thing?

Next question: how in hell did nine thousand motorcycles make it out of their factory missing reflectors?

[JohnnyRingo]

17. Kill switch.

My old '76 Sportster had a Lectron injector that iced open during high condensation at wide open throttle. Knowing the kill switch was at my left thumb was essential. The same reflex action would prevent injury in the case of this clutch that doesn't fully disengage.

Interesting that you would mention DOT4 as I didn't know the new HDs used this grade of hydraulic fluid. I now drive a classic '70s British sports car that uses the same DOT4 in the brakes and clutch because DOT3 dissolves the natural rubber seals that those MGs and Triumphs employed. I wonder why the Harleys require it.

[jmowreader]

18. Probably for the same reason Saab required it in their cars

DOT 4 has a higher boiling point than DOT 3. It's pretty common in European cars for this reason.