The Top 5 most reliable motorcycle brands

Sierra1

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No surprises with that list. I would have expected the Japanese brands to be identical with each other. I assume the list is at least a couple of years old though; being that Victory is shown and not Indian.
 

GearheadGrrrl

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Looks like the data from the Consumer Reports survey. That was a good study that really exposed BMW's problems, but it's darn near 5 years old now and rather dated...
 

RCinNC

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Yeah, I think this study, if it's the Consumer Reports one, is at least a year old...it inspired several pretty spirited discussions over on the Stromtroopers forum some time ago. BMW lovers and haters can inspire as much vitriol as the Harley fans and foes.

My experience with Harley didn't mirror the survey. I had a very pleasant decade of ownership of an '04 Road King, with the only hiccup in that decade being the replacement of their spring actuated cam chain tensioner with a semi hydraulic one. This was in a Twin Cam 88, and HD eventually replaced all the cam chain units in their later 88's with the semi hydraulic one. In 50,000 miles it never let me down. I've been really fortunate with bikes; I've never owned one that made me reflect back and say "I wish I'd never bought that piece of crap".
 

HeliMark

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Yeah, I think this study, if it's the Consumer Reports one, is at least a year old...it inspired several pretty spirited discussions over on the Stromtroopers forum some time ago. BMW lovers and haters can inspire as much vitriol as the Harley fans and foes.

My experience with Harley didn't mirror the survey. I had a very pleasant decade of ownership of an '04 Road King, with the only hiccup in that decade being the replacement of their spring actuated cam chain tensioner with a semi hydraulic one. This was in a Twin Cam 88, and HD eventually replaced all the cam chain units in their later 88's with the semi hydraulic one. In 50,000 miles it never let me down. I've been really fortunate with bikes; I've never owned one that made me reflect back and say "I wish I'd never bought that piece of crap".
Not sure how Harley is now, but my '05 Superglide, and '06 Ultra were rock solid. Although I did change the cam chain tensioner in both (10 min job). My ex had several Sportsters with no issue's. Actually one year had a voltage regulator recall, hers was not in the VIN range of bad ones, but Harley sent a letter saying that if we wanted to, they would replace it anyway under warranty (we did).

My Harley didn't leak oil, but my BMW did. :oops:
 

WJBertrand

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Looks like the data from the Consumer Reports survey. That was a good study that really exposed BMW's problems, but it's darn near 5 years old now and rather dated...
Yes Consumer Reports, I pulled that chart right off their website. This is owner survey information so it's based on actual owner experience. Even for Can-Am, the majority of owners, by a slim margin, didn't report any issues. Just because one owner has or doesn't have issues does not necessarily reflect how well that brand is doing in reliability overall. You have to look at it as a potential/gamble for possible trouble when you are making a purchase decision.
 
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