PING
Stupid. The bad publicity will cost Harley a lot more than fixing the guys clutch.
Hooligans??
Anyhow, I heard about this on Facebook earlier.
Seems to me that if the drag were bad enough, it would tip the cycle back on its rear wheels. I’d like to see some engineering figures. Where else was a flag mount supposed to GO?
First, if he really put “millions” of miles on that trike, then it’s almost certainly not a Harley factory trike. I’m pretty sure Harley only recently started offering trike conversions from the factory. The strain of turning all the extra metal to drive the rear axle, and push all that extra weight from the wheels and frame of the trike conversion, would have to be at least as much as those flags would cause. If they have no problem with the load caused by a trike conversion, or a sidecar or similar, then there should be zero issue with a couple of flags.
Second, Harleys are so agricultural, I have a hard time believing that something so trivial could cause a clutch to fail unless there was legitimately something wrong with the clutch in the first place.
This is almost to BMW-dealership levels of “f$%&-you” customer-blaming.
Then it would be logical to deny claims if you ride on a road with 1% positive slope. It would create even larger drag, thanks to gravity and the mass of the vehicle.
Actually, an uphill road would be worse than flags. Flags are within the slipstream, they aren't always exposed to the full speed of the vehicle.
Regardless of any of that, what a burned out clutch has to do with drag? Was it slipping when fully engaged? That would be ... unwelcome.
Correcting myself. I see that this is indeed a new factory trike. I misallocated his “millions of miles” to this one bike, instead of his past activities.
That makes it worse. There’s no way a new trike would somehow burn a clutch just because of those flags, especially given the added weight of the trike frame. And I’d be really interested to hear how “Harley” flag mounts would have made the situation better, particularly since both would result in the same final configuration.
Definitely gonna bite HD in the backside about this, its all over the biker community.
That’s Punky and a boo chit excuse.
The flags created undo and excess drag?
What would they say if bis girl was a heffer? But, he loves her, taking wherever their interests lie?
ThatZ Kuh Ray Zee.
They must honor their warranty.
These trikes and other Harley models can pull small trailers but a couple flags are too much?
Not to mention, have you seen some of the women these guys put on the back of their bikes? Talk about a strain on The drive train.
Harley pulled a similar stunt with me on a minor repair I needed on my 2009 Heritage. Needless to say, I don’t own a Harley anymore. BMW hasn’t been much better. I’m liking the new Indian models. Especially since I learned of EBR’s involvement in their rebirth.
Not saying the HD dealer is right, but the matter reminds me of Glock owners running hot hand-loads through their Tupperware and breaking something.
Then they are outraged when they find that Glock meant it when it said their warranty was voided by shooting hand-loads.
You build something and guarantee it as is.
A trike festooned with flags and other add-ons—it’s also something like a guy taking a chainsaw boxed, in pieces, to a saw dealer and asking for advice and some parts.
So he takes it home and assembles it, but it doesn’t work and returns unhappy and wants the dealer to fix it.
How is this the dealer’s fault?
Maybe the guy ought to have a Chinese flag instead of a US flaag.
if the flags can take out a clutch what does that say about Harley??
The engine is to powerful for the rest of the drive train?
It does not compute.
This makes no sense at all.
I attended Rolling Thunder nine years running, and hundreds of bikes were adorned in this manner. Many times, Willie. G. Davidson was a guest speaker and one would think that if the flags were bad for the bikes, he would have said something!
Of course, that was years ago, before you-know-who came into office, and by his very satanic presence, has poisoned everything that is decent in America.
You-know-what flows downhill.
And seeps into everything.
Harley Davidson should know by now that owning an H-D is considered a patriotic act among its riders, eschewing brands like Honda, Yamaha, etc.. which aren't considered "real bikes" because they're rice burners.
Telling this guy they won't honor his warranty because he flew a flag behind it (and didn't use HD mounts, btw --- that's in the story) has got to be one of the WORST customer service examples I've seen in a long time.
HD makes flag mounts for their bikes. Really? Saying he didn't use THEIRS and flew the flag behind his bike is reason to deny his claim? WOW.
BTW: anyone who suggests that HD riders will switch to Polaris because "it's still American made" really doesn't have a clue what they're talking about. Have you actually ridden a "Victory" motorcycle? STEAMING PILE OF CRAP. (Rode it -- HATED it.) No HD rider in their right mind will switch to a Victory motorcycle.
Drag from a flag fragged the transmission?
Harleys must have a hard time going up hills.
The driver should have bought the optional Harley “flag waver” transmission.
something is not right here.
Harley does not build a trike.
adding a separate trike kit and putting extra weight on the clutch probably did him in.
Given the number of flags on bikes, this does not pass the smell test.
The Company lost much more in pr than they saved in $ denying the service.