2014 Harley-Davidson Street Glide SpecialHarley RecallsFor the second time this year, Harley-Davidson has issued a major recall on 2014 models from its Project Rushmore lineup.
The latest voluntary recall issued this week includes 126,978 of The Motor Company’s 2014 Touring, CVO Touring and CVO Softail motorcycles and Trikes due to hydraulic clutch system issues.The affected motorcycles include the following 2014 models: Street Glide, Road King, Electra Glide Ultra Limited, Electra Glide Ultra Classic, CVO Limited, CVO Road King, Police and Shrine editions, twin-cooled Electra Glide Ultra Classic, CVO Softail, Tri Glide, and Road King Classic (non-US market).Harley says the affected motorcycles – built in Milwaukee between May 22, 2013 and July 18, 2014, and outside the U.S. between March 25, 2013 and Aug. 20, 2014 – could develop a tear in the hydraulic clutch system. This may cause the clutch to disengage, potentially pushing the bike forward while stopped, causing a low-speed tip over.Harley had issued the recall after dealing with 19 separate crashes by both customers and during testing. During the crashes, no injuries were reported.Harley says it will rebuild the clutches free of charge, and all owners of the affected motorcycles should receive a recall letter.Harley also has recalled 1,384 of its 2015 XG500 and XG 750 Street models due to a possible fuel tank leak. Dealers will inspect the Street motorcycles, and if the tank is leaking, replace it free of charge.These recalls are one of three major ones this year. In July, Harley recalled 66,421 of its 2014 Touring and CVO Touring motorcycles due to the front-brake line issues. Harley also recalled over 9,000 of its Breakout and CVO Breakout motorcycles due to fuel-gauge issues.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to the Ultimate Motorcycling podcast—Motos and Friends. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Motos and Friends is brought to you by the Yamaha YZF-R7—Yamaha’s awesome supersport machine that is as capable on the racetrack as it is on the street. …and it’s comfortable too! Check it out at at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com.
In this week’s first segment, Senior Editor Nic de Sena rides the BMW K 1600 GT. This is the sporty bagger version of BMW’s K series of machines, those are the models with the awesome 6-cylinder engine. The GT has been given a little makeover for 2023, and Nic gives us his take.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my all time heroes—three-time World Champion racer ‘fast’ Freddie Spencer. I’ll do my best not to come off as too much of a fanboy here, but frankly it’ll be tough!
In my humble opinion, Spencer is a contender for the GOAT—greatest of all time. Sure, his career was a little shorter than some, and his number of championships falls behind the likes of Lawson, Doohan, Rossi, and of course Marquez. But at the time, Freddie literally changed the way motorcycles were ridden. 30 years before Marc Marquez, Freddie was able to push the front wheel into a slide, corner after corner, lap after lap in order to get the bike turned faster than anyone else. Freddie took completely different lines and was able to get on the throttle so early he could out accelerate anyone off a corner.
In the modern era, of course Freddie is the chairman of the FIM MotoGP Stewards panel. This is the panel of referees for all three classes of Grand prix racing. I talked to Freddie about his task there, and although for contractual reasons with Dorna and the FIM he cannot talk about specific riders, teams, or events, nevertheless his explanation of the job makes for interesting listening. It’s a tough job, and frankly I wouldn’t want to do it!
At any rate, Freddie’s new book ‘Feel’ is available on Amazon—I’d highly recommend you reading it whether you’re a fan of Freddie or not, even whether you’re into racing or not; every rider has something to learn from his mental approach.
Actually—Ultimate Motorcycling is giving away five copies of the book—signed by Freddie himself—to the first five listeners who contact us with the correct answer to the question: How many national AMA championships did Freddie win, and which years were they?
Please email your answers to producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we will contact the winners and send you a signed copy of Feel. Those five winners will be announced on a future episode. Unfortunately for legal reasons this offer is ONLY open to US residents.
So, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!