Originally Posted by
Chappy
Has anybody had a batwing fairing that need an adjustment?
Rhetorical question I know, because I have come to know that I'm not alone with this issue.
Some may know, but for those that don't know, I'll let ya know upfront. I'm am a newbie to the forum, however, I'm not a newbie to Harleys. I won't go beyond that point much but will add, in the recent passed I have had a challenge to do much of anything as far as working on my bikes, unlike the past. And the same issue has brought me to the point where I bought me a 2012 TriGlide so I could enjoy being in the wing since my love for long distance rides have pretty much ended on two wheels. My rides are more limited now and my riding loops are closer to home. Again, I'll leave it at that. But....
On my new trike I have noticed that my inner fairing is slightly tweaked to the right. I'm the kind of guy that has always bought a service manual for every new Harley I have owned before I added much of anything. And to my surprise not one word is mentioned in the service manual on adjustments for the fairing. Oh, yup I have owned and piled up miles and hours in the saddle and never have I seen an out of alignment fairing like I have now on my new trike. And I'll admit too that this is the kind of thing that will drive me nuts, especially when dealers just pass the buck and not fix a warranty issue.
I brought it to an official H-D Dealership for the 1000 service and waited for that appointment to bring up the problem to the Service Manager at that time. Oh, the trike rides and trails perfect, it's just the fairing is out of adjustment. The top dog Tech took my trike for a ride and agreed it was out of adjustment. I dropped off the trike thinking, "oh boy, it'll be adjusted when I pick it up" well, it wasn't adjusted and the tech said that he spent time on it but couldn't find enough play when the fastening points were loosened and then pulled and pushed the fairing as much as he could and retightened the fastening points. The final word was, "Bring it to the dealership where you bought it." Man, that's not what I wanted to hear. I figured warranty was warranty no matter what dealer I bought it to. So, here I am looking over again my new service manual and again nothing is mentioned, so, I start digging into the cobwebbed corners of my brain and remembered that on another Harley with a batwing that I have owned in the past had both cheap fairing brackets break and replaced them both, but really can not remember if there was any fairing adjustment points on that year and model ( '03 Ultra Classic ).
Any info or direction on this matter will be much appreciated.
I should mention that another person with the same exact problem was told, but a different dealer, that no bike is perfect. Well, not perfect, I understand, but looking at the sticker price of a brand new 2012 Harley TriGlide certainly should have a fairing lined up with the direction of travel and not have the appearance of a slight right hand turn on every mile ride. While going down the road, it does ride perfectly straight with no pull to one side or the other, but if I turn the handle bars to straighten and line up the gauges with the appearance that I have come to know so well, I actually will turn left. It bugs me to now end!
chappy