My brother has a 2007 883 Sportster which he uses mostly as garage art and a reason to go and wax something. He 'hardley' (sorry) ever rides it, and I think he bought it just to say he had a motorcycle. Anyway, I was visiting over the July 4th weekend, and I used it as transportation whilst there. I figured I'd at least wash the bike for him, so I did. 'Shortly' (sorry again) thereafter, I notice that the speedo starts acting strange and finally just quits altogether. I let my bro know about it, and we get the bike into the local shop to sort it out under warranty.
When he goes to pick up his bike, he asked what the cause of the problem was, and he's told that Sportsters have a 'design defect' and that they shouldn't be washed (!?!?!) or ridden in the rain (!?!?!?). Seems that the speedo is electronically driven, and the junction box is not sealed, so whenever water gets in there, it shorts out the speedometer. The technician also pointed out another area on the bike which is susceptable to water intrusion, and this shuts the EFI down if it gets wet.
The 'fix' is to open the junction box, dry everything out with a hair dryer, and then reassemble. According to the technician, this is a known problem, but HD has yet to issue a recall or service advisory, and there is nothing in the owner manual (not that anyone ever reads THOSE) to caution about not getting the bike wet. I was pretty surprised that HD hasn't issued a sealing kit for the junction box, but I guess the 883 Sportster is such an entry level bike that they aren't that concerned about it.
The problem was 'bandaid fixed' under warranty, so my brother isn't concerned too much about taking it any further up the chain. I just wanted to post this here to show that Triumph isn't the only manufacturer with occasional problems with electrics, and that the vaunted HD brand has its share of quality/design issues as well.
