I have the chance to buy a 2005 Harley Davidson Low Rider with 29,000 miles for $5200. My questions are, how reliable is the motor with this many miles, and is this a good price. Thank you for any help.

I have a 2005 FLSTF with 66700 on the odometer. It's a Softail so the engine is slightly different. I had to have the cam chest gone through at about 30000. This was because of the well known (now) cam chain tensioner issue. This would be something to check on this bike. Mine has a carb that I recently had to rebuild and intake manifold gaskets.

It's been a great bike for me.

I’ll be interested to see the responses. I recently purchased my first HD powered moto, a 2001 Buell X1 Lightning with 22,000 miles. It has the 1203 Sportster engine but modded by Erik Buell to make more than twice the power of a sporty.

I personally would not consider 29k miles to be a deal breaker if the bike was maintained properly. Even at 22k miles my Buell launches and accelerates harder than many of my Japanese sport bikes. My Buell is earning a spot as one of my favorite motorcycles in my small collection.

Only issue I have had is a few electrical gremlins that seem to be more of a problem with Buell motos than Harley Davidson motorcycles.

2005 Lowrider is a good bike, but most folks want the 2006 and up with a 6 speed, 29k is about the time for an inspection of the tensioners, they can be wore out, still good for another 10-15k miles or may have already been replaced. That bike is overpriced and $4000 is where it should be.

quote:

Originally posted by Calif Phil:
2005 Lowrider is a good bike, but most folks want the 2006 and up with a 6 speed, 29k is about the time for an inspection of the tensioners, they can be wore out, still good for another 10-15k miles or may have already been replaced. That bike is overpriced and $4000 is where it should be.

Have no input or research on that specific bike but I would point out that it is currently a buyers market for motorcycles. I'd do some serious checking on the price. I've also heard some stories of dealers not wanting to work on bikes with that much age on them, so you might need to fine an independent for maintenance you don't do yourself.

I had an '82 Sturgis (first dual belt drive), bough new and put nearly 70,000 miles on it in 3 years. (80 inch Shovelhead/4 speed) Had a valve "stick" about 3 months in, tiny peice of carbon stuck between the valve guide and stem (a fluke).

My best friend was the mechanic at the dealership, the owner was my oldest daughter's Godfather (yes, Sicilian New York and all that jazz). Let me pull bring the bike in and I pulled the heads, fixed the one and drove it without another problem until I traded it.)

I also did all my onw serving there.

Traded for an '86 Softail Custom (80 inch Evolution/5 speed)
I don't recall the mileage, but I really missed that '82.

They were night and day different.

quote:

Originally posted by Killer:
I have the chance to buy a 2005 Harley Davidson Low Rider with 29,000 miles for $5200. My questions are, how reliable is the motor with this many miles, and is this a good price. Thank you for any help.

The price seems maybe ok IF the 05 valve stem problem has been addressed and the cam chain tensioner system has been upgraded. I'd want documentation that both were done.

Based on what I’ve seen recently on FB marketplace that’s a little high on price.

IF the cam chain tensioners have been replaced and upgraded with one of the kits that changes them from spring to hydraulic tensioners then continue but I’d try to get the price down further. If the tensioners have either been replaced with the stock ones (cheapest alternative) or never replaced I’d walk away. Tacking 15-1800 dollars onto that price is way over market IMO, you could get a later model Dyna instead. (I always liked the Dyna series much more that the Softail, to each his own.)

It’s not a case IF the tensioners would fail/wear out but when. Saw some take a dump at 1k, saw some at 50k that were still serviceable. Mire initially were replaced at 15k and five years, lost a outer cam bearing and took the bottom end out. When we changed mine to hydraulic they still had a long time to go but I wanted to upgrade it.
Harley under the Screamin Eagle name makes the kit to change them to hydraulic together with a revised oil pump, more volume and a higher rate of scavenging, like 27% higher than stock IIRC. That and together you replace the inner camshaft bearings either with Screamin Eagle’s or others but again not the stock ones. The stock ones were labeled INA and were a needle bearing, a plastic spacer, a needle bearing, you get the idea. The replacements were Torrington, no plastic spacers.

That conversion pre Covid times was about 14-1500 dollars, I had the conversion done on my’02 FHLTPI a few years ago. At that time 35k it was on its second set of mechanical tensioners already. Those kits are also made and sold by Fueling and S&S, definitely upgrade your motor.

Most dealers will shy away from working on anything older than ten years old. I worked in H-D dealerships part time from 99-2022, under the old ownership we would work on most older bikes dependent on condition. We were bought out, the new corporate blanket policy is nothing in the shop over ten years old.

I saw both sides of the coin. Part of the reason, the Twin Cam motor is outdated, replaced by the Milwaukee 8. H-D doesn’t train new people on the older bikes and us old guys are retiring or dropping off. Some of the techs came to me with questions on Shovelheads that were used from 66-84, I was taught those from some of my old co-workers who have since passed, one guy in particular, true 1%er. I had some credibility when I hired in and he found I had a 76 Ironhead XLCH and a 82 FLH (still have it today) and he taught me a lot about those.

So, find yourself an independent with a good reputation if not for work but also for advice. There are still a lot of places that parts are around at but from MoCo dealers it’s going to get harder and harder.

Thank you all for the help.

So did you get the bike?

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Originally posted by sandman76:
So did you get the bike?

No, I passed.