Is there a reliable Harley?

[Mike Hunt]

Did a search, there's not much on this site except funny comments.

so:

Is there a model of H-D that is know for being more reliable (longer between breakdowns) than other model's?

Taken into account, the general opinion of Harley's on this site.
50 yr odls tech/suspension yada yada yada
Please keep it clean

[darkfibre]

Why do you assume harleys are unreliable?

[MrMike]

troll?

[Sprint]

There are plenty of Harley Davidsons out there that have done HUGE mileage.
The EVO would be my pick.

S.

[robwas]

V-Rod

[busa_bloke]

Evo and later should be ok I reckon, but that's an uninformed guess only..

[MrMike]

Is There a MikeyTikeyTicTocTukkaTime Non Retarded Thread?

[Aphex]

+1 on the V-Rod

[M|ke]

I'm not a fan of cruisers, but man I have to say. It looks pretty nice IMO. 292Kg dry weight though...

2011 V-Rod Muscle

[Brendonv]

You're on your R-E's and looking at Harley's?

[Moe]

Evo sportsters regularly do over 100,000 miles,according to the (U.S.A.) forum I belong to.don't know about the BT's.

[filbert]

harley davidson quality control has improved so much that all new 96ci harleys make the same power 83hp across my mates dyno, they're built to cruise and last, not to race.

[Joe E]

i know of some people who say the Harley is now too easy to ride, like a jap bike. So want old school Harley - what ever that means

[Evil Dwarf]

l had the last of the carb model Sportsters (2003),
Never had an issue with it,
Always started first pop & ran like a dream all the time,

[SBD]

The WLA.

[dennisw]

AMF Harleys had a bit of a bad rap.

[wd40]

Reliable Harley? They would have to be up there in the top percentile as being most reliable.

Most models are a simple design air cooled motor. Because they are a cruiser so the engine isn't being redlined often.......if ever!

Traditionally Harley's are designed for touring, high km travelling. They have massive heritage. For a cruiser, I can't see how you could go wrong.

And yeah, they are the shit when you rock up at Kwinanna motorplex with you JDs shirt on.

[amfrax]

some of the new vrods have a tendancy to burn oil and have had a few with top end noises. twin cam or evo motors are quite tough cause theres not alot to them, have seen a evo that has rolled over the clock 3 times and had 80,000k's so 380,000k's roughly, the the wheels were giving way before the engine, all depends on regular oil changes etc

[Tannhauser]

I'd be willing to bet more on a pushrod twin's reliability than a four cylinder screamer's.

[thro]

They killed off the rotax engined buell...

I'd be willing to bet more on a pushrod twin's reliability than a four cylinder screamer's.

I'm more willing to bet on japanese or german engineering ability than the best technology a bunch of hicks in 1950 had to offer, and then outsource manufacturing to china.

Horses for courses. Take any harley power/torque output and compare to a jap bike with equivalent power/torque curve in terms of recalls, reliability, etc and I'd bet that the jap bike will win.

You don't need a 4 cylinder screamer to compare with and although its like comparing apples to oranges (highly tuned screamer vs lazy tractor motor), I'd put money on the jap screamer being more reliable any way.

Jap manufacturing tolerances are just so much better - and more to the point, a 4 cylinder isn't constantly trying to shake itself to pieces.


There are plenty of twin cylinder GPX250s with similar to harley power output (from 1/5 the displacement, no less) that have gone around the clock 1-2 times without an engine rebuild...