Bought my first Harley

Bought myself an 06 Heritage Softail from the Harley dealer here in Tampa! Wife is pissed off but slowly getting over it. Its got Harley Saddlebags, I think its stage 2 Screamin Eagle whatever that means, and its got the Harley Bluetooth speakers on it. I had the dealership put highway bars on it and it has just over 9,000 miles. Damned thing is immaculate! Was all super excited about it and everything. Had it for a week and... the rear brake died. Harley ain't doing shite about it... got to bleed the brakes now and go from there. Hopefully I'll be able to work on that this morning. I'll post pics when I get it in the driveway.

OMG! Way to go kid! Welcome to the darkside.

Like HRK said Get on Facebook with that,Spread the word. That's horrible especially dealing with breaks.

Yeah, they'll look at it for sure. But they want me to pay for it as well. Not only that the dealer I bought it from is 45 minutes away. The HD dealer 5 miles down the road isn't any better. All this after the sales manager almost didn't get my money in the first place cause he insulted my intelligence to my face and I've been being dicked around with by three of the HD dealerships in the near by municipalities since this last December... sorry, didn't mean to rant... I get that I bought it as-is, but for a brake bleed and at most a couple of rubber o-rings on the master cylinder plunger I'd would have expected them to just eat it since I've only put 12o miles on the bike since I bought it A WEEK AGO.

I'm getting a really bad taste in my mouth for the company and at least a small part of me thinks I should have gone with an Indian, Triumph, or Victory. But I have to admit I REALLY LOVE the bike. Its a nice smooth ride and doesn't screw with my carpal tunnel or my back issues to bad. That said, I can do most anything I need to it myself. So between my hands and tools and aftermarket parts...if Harley never gets another cent from me I can live with it. But with the state of the motorcycle industry as a whole, I really don't want to do anything that might keep a new rider from riding. Harley can dig their own grave and push more new riders onto other bikes if they want to, but I'm not going to help it happen.

Who needs rear brakes? They just wear out the rear tire faster.
But seriously, H-D dealerships are independently owned and operated. Ya shouldn't paint all dealerships or the company by a few shops. That said, because they are owned that way, they are stingier than corporate owned businesses.
On the rear brake, parts are plentiful out there. I suspect it is original, as most after-market stuff goes on front brakes first - they are at least 70% of your real braking power, and largely hidden by hard bags. Anyway, the bleed and o-ring replace (if needed) can be done by ANY motorcycle shop, and many car garages can handle it, too - just a matter of will. Don't blame ya for not DIYing the job, but I am confident you could with some YouTube guidance. Any sign of leakage?

70Front 30 rear.

No sign of leakage. I went ahead and bled the brakes myself and that did it. Some air had gotten in the line somehow, but its working fine now.

Its only got 9,400 miles on it, from what I can see the pads are practically new still.

So far I rarely use the front brake, unless I'm just trying to keep it from moving in a parking lot or on a hill. I mostly combine rear braking with engine breaking when riding. The front brake is more of an 'oh shit' handle to me.

If you don't start using your brakes properly you're gonna have that "oh Shirt" situations get you in the hospital. Learn grasshopper.

On dirt - use rear brake far more, but on the street you better darn well start using that front brake. Dirt riding and street riding ARE NOT THE SAME!!!! What you're doing is akin to using the parking brake on a car instead of the regular foot brakes. Yeah, you can do it that way, but it is just a ridiculously bad idea.

It amazes me just how many riders still rely on only the rear brake. I've seen them on group rides locking the rear tire and in a few situations almost high siding. In fact a couple years ago a few buddies and I were returning from Americade and one guy locked the rear up, high sided and wound up in the hospital with 4 broken ribs, a removed spleen and broken ankle not to mention some nasty road rash. I for one in most riding use the front brake almost exclusely but do practice emergency braking with both. Even the practice of steering right to go left and left to go right isn't believed by many.
Kbar, do yourself a HUGE favor and start using your front brake. Weight transfer gives your front tire tremendous traction in braking over the rear.

I figure the dual front brake on my ultra indicates to me to use them predominately and which i do.

Yeah 1 rotor up front but with the correct aftermarket pads and rotor I can stop very very well.

Another good reason to use your front brake is your rear tire, as the drive tire, will wear out that much faster if it is your braking tire.

I believe that many riders that rely on their rear brakes grew up on dirt bikes, or maybe just loved to leave skid-marks on driveways with their Stingrays a little too much. On dirt, using the front brake is asking for trouble, but the opposite is true on asphalt. If ya doubt me, test it out - but maybe with just a bicycle! Pedal bikes don't weigh 600lbs or go 100mph, nor cost thousands.

Proper breaking technique is a must, or it is really just a matter of time before a bad thing happens. Can't call it an accident if you intend on putting yourself in that situation.

Don't get me wrong guys, I don't completely ignore the front brake's existence. Anytime I'm slowing down or see something up ahead my hand is on that lever. Brake lights flash on them cars ahead of me and I'm ready to pull it. I still regularly use both brakes simultaneously as well. My comment about it being an oh shit handle, I was more talking about under normal circumstances because I start engine breaking really early on and then transition to the rear brake, but the whole time I'm ready to cram down on that front brake lever, and I do hold it down while stopped or waiting for a light.