Harley-Davidson closing Kansas plant

[Ulvetanna_imp]

All manufacturers have a certain number of machines that end up with defects. Hence the reason they give you a warranty. Lets say they have a 5% defect rate (number I pulled out of air btw... Although BMW once claimed their final drive failure rate was 5% so maybe that's where that number stuck in my head from) To me that means when you buy one you have a 5% chance of buying one that will end up with some kind of issue... Or a 95% chance that you won't. Considering these are machines, made up of literally thousands of parts, that's pretty good.

Although Harley is statistally rated lower than some other mfgs, we don't have hard numbers telling us what the % is, or if most of the defects end up being one piece from a certain outside supplier for one specific model dragging the rest of the numbers down. I certainly don't view HD as making unreliable motorcycles. There is certainly anectdotal evidence that many Harleys get ridden lots of miles with no or few mechanical issues. I tour a lot, and see a lot of Harleys out on the highway. Rolling, not sitting on the side of the highway.

Now back in the mid 70s (under AMF rule) they were truly bad motorcycles. It seemed there were 25 Goldwings on the Highway for every HD I saw. Today, it is just the opposite. I see 25 HDs for every Goldwing on the highway. Harley has made a miraculous come back and they would never have been able to do that if they were still producing AMF quality machines.

There are 4 or 5 manufacturers I would avoid before avoiding Harley .... almost exclusively European. But that's just me.

As complicated as motorcycles are nowadays, (everyone's motorcycles) I'm actually amazed they are as reliable as they are. That goes for cars too.

Lacing up my ice skates.

If Hades ain't froze up, the Yukon River sure is.

I feel the same way, but the BMW in my garage makes me a hypocrite. Among other things, that is.