Yamaha Roadliner up till now

[homegrown]

My experience with the Yamaha Roadliner up till now 6000 mi. The first time I washed it water leaked between the glass on the instrument panel making it unreadable. The transmission shift locks between first and second gear and continues to do so. The drive belt has a pulsating whine, when checked it goes tight and lose, so a pulley must be out of round or bent shaft. Every third or forth red light it would stall, although I think I have stopped that with a simple air adjustment. If you want to put decent exhaust on it you must leave the EXUP valve controller connected or you will get error codes, so for the duration you have a motor that makes nose but dose nothing. I guess it may run as well as they say at sea level but in Colorado you would expect more out of 113 inch with four valves. Top speed is closer to 90 than 100 so I expect to get passed by most cruisers now. As far as the low end torque, its there. The rear tire must be an uncommon size, very costly to replace. How ever the front tire is wearing faster.

[azkober]

Evoke the lemmon law and take that machine back to where you bought it.

[homegrown]

Well replacing a few bad parts dose not come close to meeting the requirements. Life should be so easy.

[azkober]

Sounds like more than a few bad parts to me. Additionally, if the bike tops out at 90MPH there is something seriously wrong even at your altitude.

[homegrown]

Kind of what I was thanking.

[Rickster]

Looks like you have your work cut out for you, that's a lot of crap to fix.
Isn't that bike fuel injected, I had always heard that FI bikes run stronger up in the higher altitudes.
90mph top speed sounds way bad, how is the mpg's, it might be running way rich. Even my little M50 (50 inch motor) will hit 110 mph on the GPS.

[intimid8er]

I'll give ya $3K Amurrican for the slice o' poop.....

[homegrown]

The dealer was very helpful about the instrument panel. Ordered the part but I swapped it out because they where two weeks out. when it came to the pulley noise that was a different story, first thing the shop manager said when he came back from his test ride was (I don’t hear any thing) the mechanic checked found the belt doing the tight lose thing, said the front drive pulley was out of round, ordered a new one and installed it two weeks later. I thought it helped at first but making the same noise. I get about 170 to 190 miles out of 4.5 gallons.

[homegrown]

Thanks thats helpful.

[azkober]

37mpg sounds about right to me.

If you don't think the dealer is helpful, call Mother Yamaha in California. They have some guys there that will be helpful.

[Rickster]

Originally Posted by homegrown

The dealer was very helpful about the instrument panel. Ordered the part but I swapped it out because they where two weeks out. when it came to the pulley nose that was a different story, first thing the shop manager said when he came back from his test ride was (I don’t hear any thing) the mechanic checked found the belt doing the tight lose thing, said the front drive pulley was out of round, ordered a new one and installed it two weeks later. I thought it helped at first but making the same nose. I get about 170 to 190 miles out of 4.5 gallons.

That's still better than I got from Triumph, When the instruments leaked on the Rocket 3 I had, they just squirted the housings full of silicone sealer. It worked, but what a way to do business.

[homegrown]

What I’ve found is all bikes have there ups and downs. But when someone is online researching Info. On a bike they like they need to hear more than just the hype. That’s the only reason I posted about my Roadliner. I could not find anything but paid adds. Or people that only had 100 miles on, or just a test ride.

[texrider]

You'd think manufacturers would fall all over themselves helping anyone brave enough to buy their expensive new model... And you don't suppose they knew there might be problems?

Most people will forgive defects, as long as they are treated fairly when seeking relief. I recently returned my 900 Vulcan to the selling dealer for front brake noise, that I informed them of the day I bought it. On their advice, I waited to get over a thousand miles on, but it was worsening. First thing the service "manager" says is it's because of brake dust, not the crappy rotor disc machine work I was directing his attention to.

After much discussion that included the store owner, everyone except me was sure there was nothing wrong with it. And if there was, I'd be paying them to sand down the front pads to fix it.

That was when they lost me as a customer. When you get every swingin' curly hair in the joint standing there telling lies to your face over such stupid little things.... Well, lets say I wouldn't trust them to flush after themselves.

[homegrown]

So what bike are you looking at now?

[texrider]

One poorly finished brake rotor and a staff of jerkoffs at Grapevine Kawasaki are not going to push me off of an otherwise fine bike...

My Vulcan 2000 had a minor seal leak, and some paint issues on the rear fender. I bought that bike at another local dealer. The guys at D&S Kawasaki took great care of those items for me. Even though I didn't buy the 900 from them, they have said they'll get it fixed for me. That's the attitude I can relate to. I didn't just dump it in their lap, I gave the selling dealer first shot at it.

The Vulcans are great, but it's frustrating dealing with ignorant people. I've had good and bad with the other metrics, as well. Not ready to go the Harley or Triumph route, though....

[intimid8er]

homegrown, I've heard a lot of good stuff about the bike. It's fit and finish are above par. Stick with it, and try another dealer.

[DrBob]

All new bikes have some defect, and all new models have some teething issues. The difference is in how you are treated, and many bike manufacturers miss the mark. Some dealers make it worse. Sounds like your dealer had let a few minor problems destroy your satisfaction with what should be a wonderful bike.

I will never buy another Suzuki, even though each new Suzuki I bought has been nearly free of defects. Between the gas tank recall (they had my best friend's bike for 6 months waiting for the new tanks to be manufactured), the constant unavailability of parts, and having two different dealers damage my bike, I am over it. The final straw was when a dealer damgged the rubber boot between the carb and the cylinder, rendering the bike non-operational, then they let the bike sit for three weeks while telling me the part had not yet been shipped. I finally took the bike back and got a rubber boot from a junkyard. Good thing too- it was 8 more weeks before they called be and told me the part was in. As it was entirely thier fault, I failed to see why they didn't take the boot off a bike in the showroom to get mine back on the road.
By contrast, my new Harley had several defects. But they were usually fixed quickly while I waited, with the exception of the recall on the motor. This took 2 days, and they gave me a loaner bike to use while mine was in the shop.

Quite a difference- weeks or even months of no bike, or two days tooling around on a brand-new bike that was nicer than the one I had in for service. After 23 years of metric bikes, I am begining to understand why customers are so loyal to Harley.

[texrider]

Come to think of it, I don't believe I have sat on a V Rod to check the fit...

[POE-BOY SAMICH]

Originally Posted by DrBob

After 23 years of metric bikes, I am begining to understand why customers
are so loyal to Harley.

Interesting post DrBob.

I have had no issues with my Suzuki (crossing my fingers) but have heard/read horror stories about warranty work and other dealer problems from metric owners.

The stereotype of the Harley product is one of shaky reliability. What is interesting to me, however, is how you're treated during the down-time your bike is in need of attention. For example, I could see where someone would have 2 or 3 minor problems with a new H-D and have the bike in the shop for a total of several days (spread out as the problems occurred). While my Suzuki could have ONE minor problem and be in the shop for a week to fix just that single problem.

I'm reminded of a time I was on a ride with a buddy of mine on a '07 H-D and we had to pull into an area H-D dealer cuz my buddy kept feeling/hearing a rattling sound with every bump on the road (the bike had less than 100 miles on it).

The service department pulled it in, gave it a once-over, and tightenned all of the frame bolts and engine mounts. About an hour later we were back on the road again and my buddy had no more problems. Meanwhile, I'm thinking, boy it must suck to have issues with a bike so new.

Until today, I hadn't thought about the other view I could have taken. I agree that ALL makes/models can have their minor issues, so what if it had been my C50 rattling that day. That would have been the end of my ride because NO local metric dealer would have taken a look at my bike without an appointment (whether I had 100 or 10,000 mile on the odometer).

I thank you for your post, because it provided a viewpoint I had not considered when thinking of H-D and their product. It's good to get this viewpoint from someone who's own both products.

You know, looking at the JD POWER results recently, VICTORY has to get some of our attention about these matters too. Seems they're also treating their customers pretty good.

[Rickster]

I took a long trip last June, A bit over 12,000 miles. I was riding my Suzuki V Strom, and didn't have a lick of trouble. My riding partner was on her 97 Softail Heritage, we had to stop twice for problems she had. The first time was in Amarillo Texas, where she had to get an intake gasket replaced, when the dealership found out we were from out of town, they put her bike right up on the rack, we were on the road in two hours.

The second time was in Coos Bay Oregon, where her starter went out. Again they put her bike at the head of the list, that's when they discovered that they didn't have a starter in stock that would fit her bike. At that point the service manager offered to take the almost new starter off his own bike, we accepted, and were on our way in just under 6 hours.

In contrast. I stopped at about a dozen different metric shops, in every single shop, the salesman would just walk away from me, as soon as he found out I was from out of town. Also, I know from experience that it's almost imposable to find a part I need in stock at my local Suzuki dealers. If I were to suffer a break down on the road with my Suzuki, I fear I would be stuck there for a while.

So now you know why I went right out and bought a new Road King when I got home from my trip. Any trips I take will be on an HD, simply because I feel that gives me the best chance of having any problems taken care of right away, and not ruining my trip.