| Author | Message | ||
     Twodogs |
Put some new tires on the ol' girl this weekend and with 24k on the odometer, feeling a little guilty, checked the wheel bearings for good preventative maintenance. Didn't feel good about the way they were "crunchin" so i decided to replace all since I was looking at them. Upon removal, I discovered all the bearings were made in Turkey!WTF? I bought this P.O.S. because it was made in America by Americans. Didn't Turkey refuse to let us land planes and equipment during our little skirmish? So H-D goes cheap on wheel bearings and passes the savings on to.....Harley? $800 for a rear PM and $700 for a front not to mention the possibility of scratchin' up a good helmet should one or more fail. Thanks to the guy that posted the bearing info and numbers a while ago...I owe you a beer and a steak. DOG | ||
| Spiderman |
Dog, That is for the older bearings since then they have been updated to China made bearings like NSK bearings.  "> edited by spiderman on July 22, 2003 | ||
| Twodogs |
Spidey, just to be safe, I got bearings from U.S.A., China, and Korea. Figured they had to be better than what was in it. Harley shop didn't have any so I had to go to Tractor Supply to the ag sprayer department......they had a wall full of them.  oh yeah, my buddy just wadded his Beemer up at Mid-Ohio so there's another opening for Deal's Gap.. | ||
| Darthane |
Dog, you're kidding yourself if you think anything other than design engineering on the vast majority of 'Made in America' items are actually done IN America. Labor's too expensive here. | ||
| Spiderman |
Then lets all buy Jap bikes then  | ||
| Mikej |
Labor's been getting too expensive there as well. Even Taiwan has been getting underbid lately. | ||
| Darthane |
Hey, I'm just telling it like it is. You're still supporting American white and blue collar workers by buying a Buell. Just not as many as you might like to think if you just accept the "American Motorcycles" moniker at face value and assume that 100% of that motorcycle was designed, produced, and assembled here in the good old USofA. | ||
| Twodogs |
I understand how it all works,thanks. The point I'm making is of all the places to save a "few" pennies, why the wheel bearings? Where did this "savings" go to? Are U.S. bearings better than stuff made in the Turd world? Yeah, I'll put Taiwan made grips on or other non-specific crap (usually cause the Harley shops carry NOTHING I need)I'd like to know when I crash and die it won't be because my manufacturer skrimped on essential components. Maybe Turkey is a great up and coming industrial nation. No thanks Harley, test your cheap parts on someone else. If I'm wrong, it wont be the first time. So Darthane, you'd be OK if H-D farmed-out components to Mexico? I am happy to report that Mercmarine in FonDuLac Wisc. U.S.A. makes a LOT of the heads and other castings for Harley. Yes, you're riding an amphibian. Peace  this is where I live........ | ||
| Darthane |
Twodogs, I'd be extremely surprised to learn that HD/Buells do NOT have at least one component made in Mexico, or Taiwan, or the Phillippines, etc. Am I OK with this? Of course - if they built the entire thing here with home-grown engineered and produced parts my XB9R would have cost me $15,000 or more. (edit - I take that back, it wouldn't have cost me $15,000 or more, it would have cost some other schmuck $15,000 or more, because I wouldn't have bought one for that kind of money, and I doubt any more than a handful of people who did buy one for list, like me, would disagree with me) It's just a fact of life. From what I understand, the motor manufacturing for all Harleys (and therefore Buells) is indeed done right here in the US, but we all know there is a lot more to a bike than just the engine. The other thing you need to consider is that just because something is manufactured in what you might consider a 'sub-par' manufacturing country does not in any sense MAKE it sub-par. In most cases those plants were paid for by the parent company (often times American), with imported manufacturing machinery (may or may not be American) that is a standard no matter where on the globe you go (often not American). They are there because the land is cheaper and the labor is cheaper. Why pay John Smith $23 an hour to press a button just because he's an American unionized 'skilled laborer' when you can pay Juan Sanchez $3 an hour to push the button? It makes no sense, therefore you don't, no matter what your feelings on farming out labor are. I've gotten the chance to work with a lot of people from all over the world over the past couple years, and frankly, most of them impressed me with their skill and intelligence far more than the majority of my American brethren. Bryan edited by darthane on July 24, 2003 | ||
| Twodogs |
Darthane, living where you do you should especially appreciate what foreign competition can do to an industry. Maybe the Michigan industrial crash happened when you were still in elementary school.Damn, I got old racing trophies a LOT older than you!!!!  At least you're not on some Jap 600 out doin wheelies!! | ||
| Aaron |
Go with ceramic wheel bearings. They're actually cheaper when you consider how long they last, plus you save yourself a lot of time and trouble as well as wear and tear on your wheels from R&R'ing bearings every 10K miles. | ||
| Darthane |
Well, I'm happy to know that your advanced age makes you so much wiser than me.  The vaunted Michigan industrial crash was brought upon themselves by all involved. They had been complacent for too long and when the Japs and everyone else showed up they got called on it. You're right, I'm not on some Jap 600 out doing wheelies. I own a Buell XB9R Firebolt. I bought it cause I like almost everything about it, and Buell is an American company. I also realize that that doesn't in any sense mean that 100% of that bike was designed and built here, and I can live with that. It's not only living where I do, it's working for whom I do. I've spent the last three and a half years of my life working in the auto industry. Do I appreciate what foreign competition does? Yes - it forces the American companies to wake up and improve their business practices and quality to pace the horrible, evil, foreign devils. Ford, GM, Chrysler - none of these companies use components produced exclusively in the US...nor does Honda, Toyota, etc. use things produced only in Japan. In fact, both of those companies have body manufacturing plants here in the states, which means that they have just as much American labor and engineering in them as the Big Three do. I have to go back to work now. Tomorrow I start at Delphi - another American company with manufacturing assets spread about the globe, including Mexico. In fact, I know the plant manager, too - he's a good guy. Bryan | ||
| Twodogs |
Bryan, great reply....I appreciate you're intelligence and your business standpoint.Hope you NEVER lose your means of making a living as a result of this kind of crap.My son, (1980) will be graduating from Baylor with a business mgmt degree next spring. Maybe he'll straighten out the whole thing..........  | ||
| Twodogs |
I never claimed to be "wiser" than anyone,slapnuts.Relax, be sure to brush-up on the espaniol........Thank you Aaron, I will be going ceramic the next time I have the wheels off.Drake | ||
| Darthane |
Ha...me too, but you know what? I'm not above working for a Japanese automaker, and even if I were the US automakers have, as a direct result of the foreign competition (just as Buell has), stepped up their quality and lowered their costs. Thus, there is less chance of a 'new' competitor resulting in massive job losses from the American quarter. However, the basic ups and downs of the economy tend to hit the auto industry hard - I have been lucky enough so far to have been too useful (apparently) to lay off. I plan on getting my management degree myself after I polish off my BAS. Note the tongue, I wasn't being serious, just sarcastic...and I actually used to be able to speak Spanish well enough to get along, but those days ended when I finished high school and spent a year without having any need for it. Ahh, well. Bryan -=happily riding his globally-sourced but American built motorcycle on this gorgeous summer Michigan day=- |
