[dkaile]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Interesting, but how is their quality of workmanship? Would they have the necessary stuff to keep the bike on a lift/jack till they fix it? Probably they use wooden stumps to balance the bike?

Workmanship? Man, it's just a puncture in a normal tyre. Normal flat bed pump type car jack is used here. Anything which can lift my Fortuner can surely lift a Harley.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by dkaile

Workmanship? Man, it's just a puncture in a normal tyre. Normal flat bed pump type car jack is used here. Anything which can lift my Fortuner can surely lift a Harley.

Sir,
Have you checked for the strength of those huge tires around those rims? Unless you have those machinery you will have to hammer them out which will be like

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Have you checked for the strength of those huge tires around those rims? Unless you have those machinery you will have to hammer them out which will be like

Sir, have you checked out the size of a Fortuner's tyre? If we can open them up easily in Meerut, I don't see what the fuss is opening up a Harley's tyre. The spoked wheels which needed opening up were on relatively skinnier tyres. And the tubeless ones on the alloys don't need touching any tyre hardware anyways. It's like making a mountain out of a molehill...

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by dkaile

the tubeless ones on the alloys don't need touching any tyre hardware anyways. It's like making a mountain out of a molehill...

Suppose it is the HD Owners or dealers making a mountain out of a molehill then

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Suppose it is the HD Owners or dealers making a mountain out of a molehill then

Where there is smoke there has to be a fire. We need to get to the bottom of the issue as to what caused this uproar. Whether its an over reacting owner or a indifferent dealer. And without getting the feedback from the exact aggrieved party, we are all just shooting in the dark and making unwarranted presumptions, from which I think we should all abstain as responsible forum members.

[pratap.pratu]

Issues by dealerships like these black mark the brand our market and discourages the CKD routes and factory setups in our country. No wonder many big brands either refrain from completely bringing in their products through CKD route. Not only that it takes away the confidence of the brand from setting up a fully fledged setup in our country but also they will disassociate in the near future to safe guard their brand

[HammerHead]

Slightly OT
In relation to HD's parts availability, I remembered this Hyosung Aguilaa advertise

Pic : Google search

[alphadog]

I feel bad for the HD owners who have been fobbed off. But it is good to see them taking action and taking it to the dealership. Shame on Spice coast HD!. Just when I was looking up HD India website and considering saving up to get one.
HD is sure to loose a lot of potential customers if they continue in this vein.
So much for luxury premium brands!!- some do have an attitude problem when dealing in India. When you are out to make profits, you better be ready to provide good service.
Keep the fight going owners and I hope you get your justice.

[cosmopolitan]

Because of the H.O.G majority of the customers know each other and they will share their issues too. So small thinks become big.

Dealer is the in charge for the HOG chapter and it is his decision to decide office bearers. Dealer was not willing to appoint those people, who desperately wanted to be office bearers because of some personal issues. Problems started cropping up from that point. And finally lead to this.

If it was genuine, they would have filed a case against the HDI and SPICE-COAST HD but they didn't do it. Instead they published it in FB and newspapers. So agenda is very clear here

From a neutral point of view I can say that this is just an exaggerated response from some people. As any other dealership Spice Coast Harley also had about 10-15 costumers who had one or other service issues which constitute less than 10% of the total Harley owners.

Regarding the dealer yes there were some issues from their side too. They could have handled these issues in better way at right time.

Now this strike is called off

I am not any employee or official in HDI or SPICECOAST .

[prasadee]

Why am I not surprised to see this thread? A Harley is not known for reliability or quality, it is only known for being a Harley. They may fix the crazy repair costs, but they will never be able to fix the need for repairs. Unless they buy a Honda Shadow, and badge it as a Harley The joke was that they should give a pan or a katori free with every purchase as there is always an oil drop or two on the first day of purchase. Everytime I go on group rides it is a Harley, BMW, or a Ducati that has some issue or the other that needs a deviation to the mechanic, or make mechanics out of riders.

It is not by chance that my Honda VFR has been trouble free for 12 years. Reminds me of the old Hero Honda ad - "Fill it, shut it, forget it" that is exactly what I have been doing. Harleys and Euros really need to learn a thing or two from the japs.

[Britishbangers]

Hello Folks,

In a lighter vein and in addition to what prasadee wrote, I am reminded of this little poem that was around since WWII...

"You cannot wear out the Indian Chief,

nor its little brother the Indian Scout.

They are built like rocks,

to take the knocks.

It's the Harley that causes the grief!"

Hopefully, the HD stealerships & HD owners will get their act together.

This churning up, though distasteful, would have helped stir things up a bit and eventually/hopefully better sense will prevail after the dust settles down.

When people are falling over themselves in a craze to buy some certain brands, it is a trite discomforting when you realize that there is an evident slip between the cup and the lip.

While the motorcycling sector in India is definitely changing fast, certain notions about customer service needs a serious and hard look from the dealers point of view.

Also, the potential buyers, owners and enthusiasts need to do their homework before plonking their dosh on certain brands and realizing that it is not a super-bike/ reliable/ speedster/ handler/ ground clearance etc..

This maturity will save a lot of breast beating, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Regards,

BB

[mints21]

I am sure that all the owners must have exhausted all the options before taking such an extreme step. I am confident that the company must have done due diligence when they decided to enter Indian market. I wonder why they do not realize that the only way they can grow and survive in Indian market is by providing best in class customer services that too when they are selling premium bikes.

[Haroon]

Regarding the HOG-Dealer connection, as far as what I was told by the Saudi dealer a long while back, the HD dealer only facilitates things that the HOG require vis-a-vis the Motor Company and a few other support stuff. Besides that the dealer can not have any involvement/say on the HOG officers to avoid conflict of interest. For example- If the dealer has a big say in HOG activities, they will make sure group rides of 300-400kms or whatever are organized every week-end, so the bikes start doing higher mileage and will come in sooner for the routine service...or if there is a breakdown even more revenue for the dealer. Maybe the rules are different in India

For all those complaining high service costs at HD service centers, unlike the European bikes, Harleys are relatively simple to work on and like gthang said earlier, a good shop manual and parts can be bought off the internet, while a good local mechanic is more than adequate for the job. And unless you want to play around with engine, gearbox upgrades (all that stage 2 stage 3 crap etc!) the bikes are reasonably reliable now.

[Shubz]

I just got back from a shop in Bangalore that retails/services high end bikes and their parts

I was appalled to hear a few things (though I don't believe in the below points)

1) They claimed All HD's come with belt drive excessively tightened. Which they said they have means to fix.
2) All Iron 883 belt drives touch the tires and could snap anytime. They have a solution for this too.
3) All Iron 883 front shocks internals are rusted even on brand new one's. Same - They have a solution.

But not willing to tell what the solution is.

And I think its just a myth! Any Iron or Harley owners can confirm/corroborate/deny?

[ku69rd]

Haha that's a good joke you have been witness to. Anyways you will get to hear lot of such myths which you will unravel over the days. Keep a deaf ear for them