H-D M8; Bloom Is Off The Rose ................

[MikeyTX]

I will edit when I get home. Cannot reply fast enough on my cell phone

Now I don't even remember what I was going to say ............

[Gone2Three]

Now I don't even remember what I was going to say ............

Old age bites huh Mike! happens all the time with me as well...

[consitter]

Now I don't even remember what I was going to say ............

Musta been a lie...

[rhino 2]

If you tell it with a Clipboard in-hand its not a lie....

[Capt.Bob]

It is kind of fun to resurrect this thread with an event that seemingly flies in the face of the thought that the Harley M8 Tri Glide's rep has been tarnished such that most of us would not consider buying one. Ahem, I bought one this past week and picked it up yesterday while doing some work on my mother-in-law's home in Port Charlotte.

It had just a few miles on it (15) when the o-ring build issue showed up from those July early motors. The owner reportedly being a very experienced Harley owner shut it down and called for a tow. The original purchaser decided not to keep the trike and reportedly got a FW. Not sure if they got the M8-engined FW or went with a 103-engined 2016? The dealership is quite discreet with personal customer information due to confidentiality issues but let me know enough to be very pleased with the deal without violating a customer's trust or specific info.

The bike was repaired at the dealership and when I walked in last week, it had 98 miles on it. I had been thinking about taking a test hop on an M8 powered Tri Glide and the sales manager told my salesman that they were willing to blow the bike out the day I walked in. What timing. So, I went on a very diverse 20 mile ride and was immediately taken by what a different machine this was with the M8 engine, the change in front fork action, etc. In a nutshell, its performance was significantly better than my pristine 2016 that had about 15k miles on it.

The salesman was very low-key but experienced and the sales manager at Bert's Black Widow Harley was a hoot to work with. They are in the business of selling fun and everything about the dealership throughout the entire staff appeared geared to help customers have fun. They even serve three different kinds of beer on tap every hour that the dealership is open and have Saturday and Sunday concerts. They also have what appeared to be a very healthy beginner motorcycle course offered by HD dealers.

Long story shortened, they gave me a terrific price for my 2016 and sold the used 2017 at a very favorable price. Essentially, I couldn't pass up the deal because I had been thinking that it would be nice if the motor was really that good that I would eventually upgrade to what will be Harley's flagship motor for the foreseeable future.

I trailered my 2016 to the dealership in Port Charlotte, Florida and showed up first thing Monday morning with my 2016 and the service department ready to swap out various parts like HD adjustable backrest that I had added to the trike for an agreed amount (extremely reasonable). What has been told to me is that Bert took over an 11-year dealership in August of this year and reportedly BWH has sold more used Harleys than anybody in the country for the time that it has been under new ownership. They are both fun and aggressive in meeting the needs of the customer while maintaining what I think will be terrific viability moving forward.

It seemed like just about every person working there is well versed in customer relations and is eager to help solve whatever problems or concerns the customer has. It was a really delightful buying experience and now I am looking forward to exploring the new facets of this very nice piece of machinery in the M8 TGU. So, win, lose or draw, the bloom is certainly not off the rose for me. I did purchase a 5-year ESP to insure piece of mind whatever comes my way with the trike.

It seems to me like Harley has been working very hard to keep their customers happy and I am not worried in the least that they will not do whatever it takes to keep this trike humming. p.s. I was going to stay an extra day and ride around the interior countryside of South Florida but the day I picked up the trike (December 19), the thermometer was pegging at 90 degrees in the afternoon and I didn't feel like riding in such hot weather on a new trike.

So, I brought it home to North Florida and it will be back in the mid to upper 70's in a couple of days and that will give me a chance to wash/wax the trike before I continue the break-in process. I do plan to change the oil and filter after 500 miles are on the clock just for piece of mind.

[Capt.Bob]

Pic of the 2017 TGU.

[consitter]

Pic of the 2017 TGU.

Nice!! Congrats on the new ride!!

[MikeyTX]

Congrats ............. You did good ! Believe me, I would jump on a deal like that too. However, my s/o would severely disable me more so than I already am.

[DK Custom Products]

Congrats on your new ride!

Kevin

[Fearless]

I will not show bride that Blue tri. she has been asking if they make them in blue and I say I don't remember seeing one in blue. Hope she doesn't ask again anytime soon. Congratulations very nice ride, wishing you many happy and trouble free miles. ride safely and often fearless

[MikeyTX]

Did BWH change the oil when they did the repairs ? If so, I'm betting you would be good till 1K. Iirc, it seems the M8 engines that had the oil pump failure issues were the ones folks tried to go the full 1k before the first service r&r for the fluids/filter. Those that did fluid change at 500 mi never had any pump problems.

[Capt.Bob]

Mike, I suspect that they did but if there were any little pieces of o-ring that might be floating around, I would feel better about dumping the oil at 500 miles to be overly conservative in preserving that motor. As we know, oil filters can only handle so much debris and I don't want to chance having the oil pump seize up and then have to go through the drill of a complete motor tear-down or full replacement which would likely take weeks/months. I kept the engine under 3500 rpm on the test ride but was really amazed at the increase in torque and overall throttle response.

The transmission doesn't clunk and so I am not sure when I am shifting The front forks seem vastly improved over my 2016. Of course I only have 20 miles of riding on it so my first impressions are pretty sketchy. The only things that didn't come off my 2016 were the DK Customs Lift Kit and the Floor Board Extenders (sob). I can contact Kevin's folks and rectify this situation but want to ride the trike stock to see what differences I can feel. My first impression is that it rides considerably smoother than my 2016 and I am not sure what that is about?

I need to check the tire pressures as well as the shock pressure to see what they are currently set at. I am not sure about this but I think the 2017's Harley metal tank emblem is shorter than my 2016 as my knees do not seem to be rubbing on the emblem.
That would be a nice subtle improvement. I also noticed some other things about the engine that I am not fully versed on and need a service manual to understand all the nuance things that I am looking at.

[rhino 2]

Mike, I suspect that they did but if there were any little pieces of o-ring that might be floating around, I would feel better about dumping the oil at 500 miles to be overly conservative in preserving that motor.
.

Cant hurt changing the oil and filter at 500. And peace of mind is worth more than the cost of some oil and a filter...

[MikeyTX]

Yeah, much easier on the nerves to dump the fluids and filter at 500. I'm kind of curious to see if the moco listens to all the scream, whine and, holler about the resistance in the clutch pull vs the 1st gen Rushmore hydraulic clutch. I can pull the one on my '16 with just a few fingers. Not so the '17 M8's I've test ridden. I am truly hoping it is simply because they had so few miles on the clock. Please let us know if it does indeed loosen up some with milage.

[MikeyTX]

I will not show bride that Blue tri. she has been asking if they make them in blue and I say I don't remember seeing one in blue. Hope she doesn't ask again anytime soon. Congratulations very nice ride, wishing you many happy and trouble free miles. ride safely and often fearless

Well, there ya go Capt. Bob .............. Your first long ride of the new season. I'm sure Zook can provide the proper co-ords for a gps .............

[Gone2Three]

Pic of the 2017 TGU.

Beautiful ride you have there Capt, congratulations on making the great deal

[Capt.Bob]

I was so spoiled by my DK Custom Lift Kit and Floor Board Extenders that I ordered another set for my 2017 Tri Glide. I just hate worrying about scraping the tail pipes and the ride is just better with the lift kit. Same too for the floor board extenders. I went on a 160 mile break-in ride this afternoon and frankly felt really cramped on the boards.

The M8 pulls harder at freeway speeds by a fairly significant amount at 70 mph. It also makes a lot less intake racket than my stock 2016 TGU. I remember (not too fondly) running out of steam on some high mountain passes out West this past June on a 6k solo ride on my 103 TGU and so when I get some confidence in this new motor that had been gone into, and the weather warms up again out West, I will be headed out on some more long journeys. Only this time, I think that climbing high mountain passes will be much easier and I also think that the increased fuel mileage will be a nice bonus, especially in some deserted areas of Montana, Wyoming, etc. I was kind of jealous of Kevin and Mary having so much "steam" in their 103 engine with all of the DK mods and getter better gas mileage to boot than I was on my trip.

[MikeyTX]

So how come you didn't have them swap the fb extenders and the lift kit ? Does it figure out to be less expensive to buy new parts then have them installed ?

[Capt.Bob]

So how come you didn't have them swap the fb extenders and the lift kit ? Does it figure out to be less expensive to buy new parts then have them installed ?

Mike, There were too very calculated reasons. The first being that the Service Department would have charged me more than the nominal hour they offered to sweeten the deal by transferring my rear bumper, adjustable driver backrest, hand grips and heated clothing pigtail. Secondly, they did not have the installation instructions for my DK Custom Lift Kit and the R&R would have been more costly than simply buying a new set of lift brackets. I decided that I am going to do the install of this second set because I don't think it is a very difficult task. When I got my first set, I thought it might be more complicated and let a dealer do the install. This time, I will do both mods myself which should be no big deal. The dealer that I originally had gotten the install done by changed hands and they went to Legends lift brackets. I don't know anything about that product and can darn well bet the farm that they likely did not do the extensive testing that Kevin/Devin are capable of doing when they engineer a new part.

The two items costs only $180 plus shipping and sometimes DK Customs has deals on shipping. They really seem to want to support Triketalk participants as they are a sponsor and Kevin is an active member of this forum. p.s. I had called fairly late yesterday afternoon and they still got the parts in the mail before COB.
Their service as has been noted by lots of us is second to none.

[bronxbill]

Capt Bob, The install for the DK lift kit is no problem. Follow the directions in the order they are written and you will have no problems. Took me about an hour and a half to get it done; most of that was getting the trike jacked up and the jack stands placed