For nearly 60,000 miles my Harley Super Glide has been rock-solid reliable, so much so that I recently bragged about how trouble-free the bike has been since purchasing it new in 2009.
So, of course, I jinxed it.
Leaving Roanoke Saturday afternoon after lunch with an old friend I hadn’t seen since 1970, I saw the dreaded “check engine” light appear on the speedometer of the bike, along with a warning light that indicated trouble with the battery.
Uh-oh. I turned around and headed for Roanoke Valley Harley-Davidson on Peters Creek Road, arriving just before the battery gave out.
They checked the problem — a burned out stator — the part of the alternator that is crucial to keeping the bike running and the battery charged during operation.
Several motorcycle-riding friends have lost stators this year — something to do with the heat.
The dealer didn’t have one in stock and it would take two weeks to get home from the factory. That would have a serious crimp in my riding plans, including participation in Saturday’s Floyd County Volunteer Fire Department benefit poker run. Fortunately, Rhett McNeace in the parts department located one at the Lynchburg H-D dealership and they put it on hold so I could pick it up Sunday afternoon.
Thanks to Stacye Eller, the motorclothes associate at Roanoke Valley H-D, for giving me a ride home Saturday afternoon.
With luck, I will be back on the road sometime Monday. This time I will keep my big mouth shut about the Harley’s reliability.
FOLLOWUP: Picked up the Harley Monday afterno0n. New stator in place, replaced under extended warranty. No problems on the ride home.
1 thought on “See you later, ala-stator”
Too bad, but could have been more serious Doug. My brother rides a 2000 Super that at 10,000 miles the same thing occurred while we were out riding years ago, no troubles since. I told him at the time he should have bought a Yamaha 1100 Classic. I’ve got near a 100,000 on my bike with only a need to replace brake shoes and spark plugs. 😉
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