Front brake completely inoperable after starting engine. Backing down a driveway in reverse, had a frozen front brake lever. Could not control the motorcycle, and fell over causing damage to the bike and myself.
2010 Harley-Davidson Flhtk brakes complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 16 of 16, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Could not stop the bike. The front brake lever was frozen, took both hands to bring the lever in far enough to activate the front brake calipers. Then the brakes were so touchy that the lightest pressure applied the brakes full on. After pulling the lever in multiple times it softened up to the point of being able to ride it home. As soon as I turned into my driveway the brake lever was again frozen.
The rear brake on this motorcycle has shuddered and has had andto still has inadequate and under-engineered braking power for the weight and speeds it was designed for, since the day I took delivery of it as a brand new bike. Harley davidson will not acknowledge this poorly designed and inadequate braking system. They left their dealers and customers with this unsafe product. Motorcycles require the application of the both front and rear brakes to achieve maximum braking power. The rear brake cannot generate enough braking power to even activate the ABS system.
This motorcycle was driven approximately 20,650 miles without incident. I rode the motorcycle for approximately 950 miles without incident and everything worked properly. I rode approximately 145 miles then stopped for approximately 2 hours. When I resumed riding upon applying the rear brake at approximately 10 MPH the motorcycle rear brake caused the motorcycle to shudder violently. I maintained control of the bike and came to a complete stop utilizing the front brake only which presented no abnormal behavior. My passenger felt the motorcycle was unsafe and refused to ride and took a cab home. The motorcycle recieved a 20,000 miles serivice and the rear brake was also checked for proper operation. The rear brake while it does not shudder violently it does pulse and shudder and low or high speed when applying the rear brake.the dealership acknowledges they feel the pulsing or shudder but maintains it is normal and is safe. I disagreed and contacted harley-davidson and was told they could not help me that they were reliant upon their dealerships to identify problems and work on the motorcycles if they determined there was a problem that required attention. I disagreed and asked for a factory representative to evaluate my motorcycle. The factory representative rode my motorcycle for approximately 6 miles and also indicated there was nothing wrong with the motorcycle. I respectfully disagreed and left the dealership. Since harley-davidson claims this is a normal condition I placed the motorcycle for sale and sold it the next day. I do see this exact safety issue expressed on many of the motorcycle online forums and harley-davidson consistently denying it is a problem. This is a serious safety issue that needs to be taken seriously by harley-davidson.
It has been found that the wheel bearing wear out prematurely on touring models especially with the ABS system. This happened to me riding down the road, the wheel bearings caused the motorcycle to wobble and had I not been an experienced rider I very well would have gone down or hit another vehicle. I have heard of other riders that the bearings have worn out on their motorcycles also. The company should do a recall to remove all defective wheel bearings from service to prevent any loss of life.
I own a 2010 harley davidson flhtk with ABS. The rear brakes on this bike have been a problem since new. When stopping using the rear brake the bike displayed a very noticeable shudder right up until the motorcycle comes to a stop. This happens every time it does not matter if the bike is hot or cold. I have returned it to the dealership three times and have not received any satisfaction. After reading several harley davidson forums this appears to be a widespread problem. I believe this could possible cause a loss of control when stopping the vehicle and appears to be a serious defect.
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