Repair Tips for Sportster Owners

Own a Harley Davidson Softail and need to make a few repairs? Well there are a few tips you can follow that will help you to get the best parts, get the repair work done in a short period of time and more importantly save money.

If you aren't comfortable with doing the work yourself there is nothing wrong with that because you want everything done correctly, the first time. Mistakes and delays cost you time and money, not something you want to deal with when you are making repairs to your softail. So before you dive into making the changes and repairing parts you need to fix check out these tips for repairing your Harley Davidson softail.

Reasons Why Motorcycle Repairs Get Expensive

You have to do some repair work on your Harley and you notice that the price tag is already getting pretty high just after you talk to your mechanic and look at some parts you need. Why is it so expensive to repair your motorcycle? Whether it is just to replace a few parts or you need to do some major work you are always surprised at how high the price tag is. It would make more sense to just buy a new bike but as a Harley Davidson owner you don’t want to do that. Whether you own a softail, sportster, Dyna, Bagger, Wide Glide or something else you want to make sure that your bike is running as well as possible and that’s why you need to stay up on repair work.

Here are a few reasons your Harley repair bill might be high and some suggestions on how to fix that:

1.       Buying Individual Parts: If you need several parts then you want to avoid buying them one at a time. Often when this happens you are paying more for shipping as well as avoiding any chance of a discount. If you need handlebars, hand controls, brakes, mirrors, a front end or any combination of those to repair your Harley you want to look for kits as well as parts. It’s possible the company you are buying from will have some sort of kit that has multiple parts for less money because you are buying in bulk and you also will save on shipping costs as well.

2.       Where to buy from: This is what throws people off a lot when they are looking for Harley Davidson parts. Let’s say you need a pair of handlebars and you go to the local bike shop and find the perfect set of ape hangers for your softail. That’s great but they cost more than you were expecting. The reason is because that local bike shop has a lot of overhead costs to cover, they have minimal competition because they know you want the part now and they can pretty much charge what they want. But if you shop online you can find the same set of ape hangers for your softail, or an even better selection, for a much lower price.

3.       Don’t let the mechanic order: You have an awesome mechanic who is going to do the repair work the right way and charge you a fair price. That’s all you can really ask for but when it comes time to order parts do not let the mechanic do it. They do not have time to shop around for the best deals so they are going to order the parts they need, probably from the same local bike shop you were going to get the ape hanger handlebars from and on top of that they are going to charge you a markup of at least 10% which means you are paying more. Again you can go online and find a better selection as well as way better prices.

Repair work on any Harley Davidson motorcycle is not going to be cheap but that doesn’t mean you should waste money. This is your opportunity to save hundreds of dollars on your repair work that is needed, even if you need to hire a bike mechanic to do it. Be smart and you can save a lot.

5 Most Common Harley Davidson Parts to Replace Regularly

 

Wear and tear on a motorcycle happens and you can’t do much about it. Parts need to be replaced and repairs will have to be made no matter how often you ride. You will have to make repairs to your Harley even if it sits in the garage for weeks and months at a time. Motorcycles cost money to keep in good condition. Here are the 5 most common Harley Davidson parts that you have to replace or repair and why they are often the problem:

1.     Wheels: That’s right; wheels often get a lot of damage and need to be repaired or to be replaced. The main reason is because of potholes and while that seems odd because your Harley Davidson only has two wheels and your car has four, it often is the Harleys that need to repair wheels. One of the reasons is because Harley wheels might be lighter so if you hit a pot hole at high speeds it can do damage to the wheel. Remember in your car there is a big rubber tire around the wheel with lots of air in between the two. On a Harley Davidson motorcycle you do not have that same protection.

2.     Handlebars: It’s not that handlebars get damaged on a motorcycle or that they stop working. The problem is that as you make changes and repairs to your motorcycle, or simply get older, you may want to change things up and switch to ape hangers. Many riders who started out with basic T-bars eventually move to ape hangers because it allows for a more comfortable ride, especially when you are going on long road trips. It’s actually smart to switch up the handlebars every now and then because it also gives you the feeling of having a different ride while also making sure that you are keeping your parts in working condition. You may also have to change the hand controls which eventually may lead to a complete change in handlebars as well.

3.     Brake Rotors: This should be a no-brainer. On any vehicle the brakes get the most abuse because you are constantly slowing down, stopping and the natural wear and tear they experience. Don’t forget about all the debris they pick up while you are driving and it is easy to understand why brake rotors need to be replaced often. There are ways to keep the rotors clean or take better care of them so that they do not need to be replaced as often but when it comes to rotors you want to make sure you have them in top condition for safety purposes.

4.     Headlights: Aside from having a bulb burnout you would be amazed how many times riders need to repair or replace their headlights because of damage. What happens more times than not is that branches, debris and other things get in the way a bit when you are moving your bike or someone isn’t paying attention and their arm hits the bike when it is parked and the headlight often is the place that gets the brunt of the damage. It doesn’t seem to make sense but it does happen quite often.

5.     Mirrors: See if you can guess why this part needs to be replaced often? Yes mirrors are always getting knocked around, abused and hammered and that’s just when you are parked. It happens a bit because they stick out and when people walk by your bike they may be focused on something else and the mirror catches them.

Motorcycle parts break down, get worn down or just need to be replaced because you want something new. No matter the reason you should know how to not only replace Harley parts but also get the lowest prices. The common belief is that your local bike shop is the way to go because you can get what you need quickly and they know you by name. The reason they know you by name is because they only have a few customers who actually buy stuff each day so they want you coming back again. They also have to raise prices to cover all their overhead costs and the lack of sales they make so you are paying a lot more for those Harley parts than you should. If you go online and look for Harley Davidson handlebars you will notice two things; the first being that the selection is much larger than any local store has and the second is that the prices are a lot lower. Online stores sell more parts and have less overhead costs than storefronts do so they are able to offer a bigger selection at lower prices. They don’t have to worry about only carrying the most popular items because of shelf space so they can expand their selection. That’s why when you are trying to repair your motorcycle and you need Harley Davidson parts the best thing to do is to shop online.