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V-Rod

  • Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. telah memulakan satu Kempen Panggilan Semula Keselamatan bagi menggantikan bendalir brek yang lama bagi sesetengah model.
  • Model-model yang terlibat adalah model Touring, CVO Touring dan V-Rod dengan ABS dari tahun 2008 hingga 2011.
  • Kedai pengedar rasmi Harley-Davidson terbaru di Malaysia, Harley-Davidson Petaling Jaya, akan mengendalikan kempen ini di tanah air kita.

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  • Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. has initiated a Safety Recall Campaign to replace the old brake fluid of certain models.

  • The models involved are 2008 TO 2011 TOURING, CVO TOURING AND V-ROD MODELS WITH ABS.

  • The new Malaysian Harley-Davidson dealership, Harley-Davidson of Petaling Jaya will carry out the campaign.

The Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. is conducting a Safety Recall Campaign for its motorcycles worldwide.

In an earlier article of ours, we mentioned that the motorcycle’s brake fluid needs to be replaced every 2 years, regardless of mileage and appearance.

This is because brake fluid is hygroscopic (a description for something that loves moisture) and will absorb moisture right out of the air. It is even more critical in our country where the climate is hot and humid. Moisture in the fluid will lower the latter’s boiling point, causing brake fade.

Old vs new brake fluid

As for this Safety Recall Campaign, the models involved are 2008 TO 2011 TOURING, CVO TOURING AND V-ROD MODELS WITH ABS.

The Motor Company notes that the brake fluid should be flushed and replaced with fresh fluid every two years, as per the H-D Owner’s Manual and Service Manual. Prolonged usage of the old fluid may cause it to gel and leave deposits on the brake components. Should these deposits continue to form over a prolonged period on the apply valve of the ABS Hydraulic Control unit, the valve may stick and cause a loss of braking function.

The new Harley-Davidson dealership in Malaysia, Harley-Davidson of Petaling Jaya (HDPJ), will carry out the campaign for all the affected motorcycles, regardless if they were purchased through the official channel or grey importers. And there is also good news for owners of grey import Harley-Davidson’s, as the new dealer no longer charges an exorbitant “activation fee” for the technician to simply work on your bike. All Harley-Davidson’s are now welcome at HDPJ regardless of where you bought your bike.

Harley-Davidson of Petaling Jaya is located at The Gasket Alley

As such, the Motor Company will communicate the affected VIN (vehicle identification number) to HDPJ. However, as HDPJ is still new and there are many grey import Harleys in Malaysia, owners of 2008 TO 2011 TOURING, CVO TOURING AND V-ROD MODELS WITH ABS are advised to contact HDPJ and provide their VIN for verification. HDPJ will immediately confirm if the motorcycle if affected.

The new Harley-Davidson Platinum Label DOT 4 brake fluid will be available for ordering from mid-March 2018, thus HDPJ will schedule appointments for the affected units.

Only the replacement of brake fluid is covered and no further parts will be replaced under the campaign. Replacement of the brake fluid will be carried out using the Digital Tech II apparatus, as the bikes are equipped with ABS. Please be advised that the machine will instruct the ABS hydraulic control unit to fully flush the brake fluid and residue, hence replacement of brake fluid without the Digital Tech II machine is erroneous and potentially dangerous.

The task will take 1.5 hours and is free-of-charge.

Please get in touch with Harley-Davidson of Petaling Jaya at +603-79559399. You may also call Service Advisors Lingesh at +6018-9861229, or Naqid at +6018-9891229. HDPJ are open from 9.30am to 7.00pm Mondays to Saturdays and, closed on Sundays and Public Holidays. Please click here to visit the Harley-Davidson of Petaling Jaya’s FB page.

Also, as a side note to parallel importers who import Harley-Davidson’s, the official dealer at Harley-Davidson Petaling Jaya will also conduct software updates and bike resetting to prepare the motorcycle for local sale. While importers had to previously fork out money to previous H-D technicians to conduct “localization” and resetting, the official dealer can and will reprogram the bike for you with all the right tools and machines needed to service the bike. This is great news for grey importers as they can now have their machines better prepared for sale, while buyer’s can now rest easy knowing that their machines have been worked on by official Harley-Davidson technicians.

According to Juan Chow Wee, who is the General Manager of Didi Resources Sdn Bhd, the importer and distributor of Harley-Davidson in Malaysia, the new Harley-Davidson of Petaling Jaya is opening its doors to all owners of Harley-Davidson regardless of whether it was bought through the official channel or through the grey market.

“We want to be accessible to all Harley-Davidson riders, and we will not practise two standards. The love for Harley-Davidson runs in everyone working for Harley-Davidson of Petaling Jaya and we are showing this by not charging any localisation fee for any Harley-Davidson bike. The price of bikes, parts, accessories and merchandise has also been adjusted to ensure competitiveness, and we are proud to continue the Harley-Davidson brotherhood which was recently put on display at the Grand Opening ride and party.”

Continuing on with our Most Interesting Biker (MIB) series, we caught up with Malaysia actor and entrepreneur, Jehan Miskin.

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There are lots of celebrity bikers in Malaysia, both male and female, and we hope to be able to write about them all as we go along, but Jehan is a dear friend to us so all it took was a Whatsapp message explaining the MIB series and a reply saying, “sure, want me to bring my bike?”

How could this guy not make this list?

When Jehan first got the bike
When Jehan first got the bike

It is also funny to think that someone who never learned to ride a bicycle would eventually end up riding Harley-Davidsons to places most people don’t ever visit, what more on a Harley-Davidson.

Jehan with his brother Sean on a Kawasaki Z750
Jehan with his brother Sean on a Kawasaki Z750

“I never learned to ride a bicycle as a kid,” he said over coffee in Empire Damansara.

“My brothers and sisters all learned but not me. I remember being 11 or 12 and crashing my brothers bicycle at the backroad of my terrace house in SS2. I fell in the drain and the bicycle looked like it had been crashed, but I learned to ride a bicycle on my own eventually.”

Testing the electric Harley-Davidson Livewire
Testing the electric Harley-Davidson Livewire

The big switch to motorcycles came at 14, an era Jehan describes as “zaman mat moto.” That was the period of the Kawasaki Victors, Yamaha TZMs, RX-Z and the Kawasaki KIPS. But his first bike was the tiny but fun 125cc, two-stroke Cagiva Mito. After that and for many years he didn’t have a bike as he focused on developing his video production business.

At the dam leading up to Betong
At the dam leading up to Betong

But the calling came eventually, just as it always does. Jehan was invited to attend a Harley-Davidson event which required some riding. Being more of a sports bike kind of person, he says he didn’t think much of the Harleys, until he saw a Nightrod.

Video: The ride to Shangri La in China

 

The bike belonged to a customer who agreed to let Jehan ride it to a movie premiere, up north and eventually sold the bike him.

“I have a lot to thank Awie* for in that decision to eventually buy the Nightrod. The owner had let me ride the bike to an event in Perak, so when I met Awie I told him about my experience and showed the bike to him. Awie told me to change the handle bars and gave me a piece of advise I didn’t forget, and so I went and bought the Nightrod,” says Jehan.

*Yes, that Awie

Krabi, Thailand
Krabi, Thailand

He rode it around town for a few years first, hung around with the Harley Owners Group, and never really went on long distance rides. Until the Asia Harley Days in Thailand came along, and that was it. The tour riding bug had hit, fast forward a few years and Jehan and some mates are conquering Chinese roads in search of the real Shangri-La, not the five star hotel.

Sean, Jehan, Chunk
Sean, Jehan, Chunk

He has taken the bike where no Harley-Davidson Nightrod owners would go, and there were places where the bike wasn’t even designed to go, like the twisting mountains of Laos, and the dirt roads of Thailand. Places a BMW GS or a Kawasaki Versys would feel more at home on, not a Nightrod.

With brother Sean
With brother Sean

“I have always been a superbike kind of guy, but I had a pact with my brother to never own or ride a superbike. They are really fast bikes, and our mother and sister were completely against the idea, so to keep things cool we decided to agree on a pact to ride, but not on a superbike.”

Jehan’s brother eventually got on a superbike but not before promising his younger brother all kinds of things.

Video: Road of 1000 corners in Mae Hong Son, Thailand

 

“And so I felt that the Harley Nightrod was one of the few bikes that could give me the performance of a superbike without being a superbike. I have always appreciated a Harley but never really wanted one, but the Nightrod is cool enough, dragster enough, powerful enough, a hybrid between a cruiser and a superbike.” – Jehan.

At a Sabah road trip for a local TV show
At a Sabah road trip for a local TV show

After our meet in Empire Damansara, Jehan went on another ride to northern Thailand for Songkran and to Bangkok to hook up with Harley owners over there. Spending over two weeks on the road, the Nightrod once again was the weapon of choice.

Harley V-Rods at Songkhla Beach, Thailand
Harley V-Rods at Songkhla Beach, Thailand

“Riding has evolved to be more than just speed for me. It is about friendship and it is about getting away. There is escapism in riding, adventure you can’t get anywhere else. When you ride long distance, you are in a new town everyday. It is about being on the road and not worrying about anything else but the road, that is why I ride,” concludes Jehan.

We go back in time to marvel at the Harley Davidson V-Rod and how Porsche helped build a legend.

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Harley-Davidson V-Rod riders are a special bunch; they are passionate about their V-Rods and are always eager to ride as far as they can. If you own or fantasise about owning a Harley-Davidson V-Rod but feel that you cannot really take it very far, then this article is for you.

Malaysian celebrity and entrepreneur Jehan Miskin and the team at Bikes Republic were hanging out recently when Jehan told a story about how he and a group of friends beat all odds and rode their V-Rods up till Shangri-La in China.

El Diablo, Jehan's custom Nightrod Special
El Diablo, Jehan’s custom Nightrod Special

It was a triumphant ride for the bunch as everyone told them it couldn’t be done with the Harley-Davidson V-Rod. The story is exciting enough to create a short movie but since we didn’t have enough clips, Jehan wrote a short story on it to share with us, and the official magazine for the American chapter of the Harley-Davidson Owners Group (HOG). The following is what he sent us a few days ago:

— Written by Jehan Miskin —

Ever since I got my custom Harley-Davidson Nightrod Special in 2011, most riders I meet would say, “Hey, badass bike man. But you can’t go long distance on that bike for sure!”

Then I met a couple of other crazy V-Rodderz called Simon and Rambo and found out they were the first Malaysian V-Rod riders to ride from Kuala Lumpur to Vietnam and back.

(From L-R) Jehan, Simon, Rambo somewhere in the mountains of China
(From L-R) Jehan, Simon, Rambo somewhere in the mountains of China

We did a few rides in Thailand covering thousands of kilometres and still people would say ‘No way you guys can’t go further than that on a V-Rod”.

So last year, we decided to ride from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia all the way to Shangri-La in Tibet, China. A month long ride that would take us on unpredictable roads through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Tibet in China. Simon and Rambo rode from Kuala Lumpur up to Chiang Rai in Thailand, a seven day ride over 2,500kms.

Somewhere in Tibet
Somewhere in Tibet

Because of other commitments, I shipped my bike to Chiang Rai and we started our expedition there with some other bikers from Indonesia and Thailand.

We rode from Chiang Rai to Chiang Kong, then crossed into Laos, stopping briefly at the laid back town of Luang Namtha.

The morning sun hitting the mountains of Deqen.
The morning sun hitting the mountains of Deqen.

Next we crossed the border into China, stopping in a different town every night. Mengla, Xisuangbanna, Linchang, Dali, Shangri-La and finally the peak at 15,000 feet, Deqen. The weather got colder and the air thinner the further north we rode.

We rode through countless mountain roads, crossed rivers and lakes, rode off-road and on-road, in high altitude, even in the rain in sub zero temperature. Every chance we got we took the scenic route and skipped the highways. We lived in the moment and adapted to whatever the road or weather would throw our way. And after we reached the peak, we rode back again from Shangri-La, stopping by the ancient city of Lijiang, then back to Dali, Xisuangbanna, Mengla, Boten, crossing over to Laos and back to Chiang Rai.

A Nightrod ridden the way Harley-Davidson would have imagined it.
A Nightrod ridden the way Harley-Davidson would have imagined it.

Here the trip ended for the other riders but we were not done. We wanted to conquer the Road of a Thousand Corners, a legendary road to bikers in this part of the world otherwise known as Mae Hong Son. So we continued our journey from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai, stayed over in scenic Pai, to Mae Hong Son where we got our official 1000 corners certificate (it actually acknowledges 1862 corners!), then down south to Mae Sariang and back to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai to complete the trip. In all, we covered a total of 8,500kms in 30 days, on V-Rods.

Rambo, Simon, Jehan riding up to the snow mountain.
Rambo, Simon, Jehan riding up to the snow mountain.

This ride was an unforgettable experience and has inspired me to seek out even longer rides on my Rod. Every moment spent riding was a joy, even in the most challenging times like riding for two days in nonstop rain and in sub zero temperatures. Thank you awesome people at Harley-Davidson for making such a fun bike for us to go on our adventures with.

Peak of the glacier.
Peak of the glacier.

I have since had a realisation. When people say “You can’t ride that far on a Rod,” they’re not actually talking about the limitations of the bike, but it is more a reflection of their own limitations as a rider. The V-Rod can be ridden far and long and hard, probably even around the world. So the question is not whether the bike can make the journey, but whether we are the right riders to dare to take the Rod on that ride.

Simon, Jehan, Rambo in Laos.
Simon, Jehan, Rambo in Laos.
Getting the 1000 corners certificate.
Getting the 1000 corners certificate.

An epic Sunday ride out with the ever-growing Harley-Davidson V-Rod Owners Group of Malaysia.

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