Motorcycle reliability

[nolton]

Who makes the most reliable motorcycle?

ConsumerReports.org
Jeff BartlettApril 7, 2015

Who makes the most reliable motorcycle?

What began as a battle of the motorcycle brands to show who makes the most reliable motorcycle, has resulted in a nationalist showdown. Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, and Kawasaki are all among the more reliable brands, based on our survey of more than 11,000 Consumer Reports subscribers, followed closely by Suzuki, Honda, and Kawasaki. The predicted failure rates for four-year-old motorcycles ranged from 11 to 15 percent in this group.

The domestic brands Victory and Harley-Davidson fell in between the extremes, with 17 and 26 percent, respectively.

The remaining brands—Triumph, Ducati, BMW, and Can-Am—were among the more trouble-prone. In fact, BMW and Canada-based Can-Am are both estimated to have failure rates of around 40 percent by the fourth year of ownership.

Reliablity by brand
Brand Percent failed
Yamaha/Star 11%
Suzuki 12
Honda 12
Kawasaki 15
Victory 17
Harley-Davidson 26
Triumph 29
Ducati 33
BMW 40
Can-Am 42
With a larger sample size than in our previous motorcycle survey, now counting 12,300 motorcycles, we were able to add more brands and resolution this year.

Reliability is but one measure. We found that owner satisfaction creates a much different picture...

Visit our motorcycle buying guide to see our full motorcycle reliability and owner satisfaction ratings.

—Jeff Bartlett

 

[vanguard138]

I do not believe this. I doubt it was a scientific analysis.

 

[Steve8319]

Depends what you call failure, my HD FXDBi had rusting bolts, spokes, flaking crinkle paint, pitted fork legs, rusting rear springs, condensation on the inside of the instruments at 4 years old. My R3 Roadster does not at 5 years old. But, my '95 Evo Roadking didnt have any of those except the fork lacquer pitted. Not sure these surveys are that meaningful

 

[TOMCAT]

Sounds about right to me .. my Rockets has given me way more problems than any of the Harleys I've owned in the past. Only time in my life I've 'had' to own two bikes just to assure I've got transport. Partly to do with parts availability here in Australia but my Rockets been far from trouble-free. Sad but true.

 

[vanguard138]

Yea, but you are far from stock

 

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

Yamaha does make good stuff. I've owned many of them with virtually no trouble.

 

[RKTNMYPKT]

That's exactly why when it came time to buy my 2nd Rocket I paid the $1000.00 for the additional 5yrs to my warranty.
I figure the odds of my detent spring breaking are pretty **** good.

With that said, the only problem I had in 5 years with my 1st one was the detent spring...

 

[mexican]

That's exactly why when it came time to buy my 2nd Rocket I paid the $1000.00 for the additional 5yrs to my warranty.
I figure the odds of my detent spring breaking are pretty **** good.

With that said, the only problem I had in 5 years with my 1st one was the detent spring...

My bike is almost 11 years old, what is a detent spring??

 

[Sphinx]

Triumph obviously took a different approach with my R3. Concerned with the probability of the shims in my gearbox failing they decided it would just be safer not to put them in at all. Problem solved. You don't get them kind of smarts at university!

 

[Big Head]

So I pick up my Triumph Rocket Trike 2015 next week... Do you know if I can still get a five year warranty? Is that added on two the two year one that comes with it from dealer automatically?? If I can still get a five year do I pay the dealer and go through them or go through Triumph?