FTR sudden deads collection

[Deleted member 429]

Well that's good news...
10 degrees C here and stopped 3 times during warm up....
Once I've got it away from the neighbours houses If I hold the throttle at around 1500 to 2000 revs it doesn't ....
No cutting out just the rough running and a lots of torque and fun.

 

[Ab.riyami]

I feel your pain. I am the unfortunate owner of a brand new base model that has shut off three times in traffic. Once with almost disastrous consequences.

Now it's at the shop since Thursday with no end in sight.

I must not be living right.

I've faced it once, engine suddenly cut off when downshifting. thankfully I was on a straight line. I've got my bike since Feb and ridden nearly 4000 Kms till date.

I've raised an official complaint after that incident requesting an official response from Polaris/Indian on why this is an issue, its obviously not an isolated issue, as I know a guy who faced it a couple of times here in Oman. I've also read about the same issue in this forum from a person in the UK and another in Greece.

I'm thankful that it only occurred once (and hoping it never happens again) but I need to receive an official response to know how to avoid this ever happening again. Riding is dangerous, but its not comfortable when you've got this feeling that it could happen at any moment -God forbid-.

I'd rather keep my bike stock but if i have to get a PV3 and tune it to avoid this I will.

Weeks pass, no response from the regional supplier (in Dubai), Called Polaris USA and raised a complaint a few weeks back. Today I get an email telling me my issue has been resolved by the dealer and they are going to close the complaint! Obviously I responded back to that email. Its been 7 weeks since I sent the official complaint.

Quite bad customer service, not happy at all, if anyone from Indian/Polaris reads this you may message me for the details.

P.s: Mine is a 2019 S model, recall for circuit breaker was done, battery was acting up earlier with low voltage but got that replaced under warranty 2 days back.

 

[Snakum]

Polaris Customer Service makes HD look responsive. The absolute worst company I've ever dealt with. About anything. And my local service department (Baker) is also about as worthless as nipples on a boar hog.

 

[JDP]

yeah we use a trickle charger between the FTR and the Harley, they both draw a lot in electronics so want to make sure we can ride them at any time.
our charger also has a 'full charge' option so we can keep both bikes charged up.

the Honda doesn't need anything that bike starts after sitting around for 2 months lol

That’s Honda I haven’t started my Honda in 3 years and it started with a jump and still running but that’s honda

 

[JDP]

The Indian dealership where I bought my FTR told me to keep a tender on the battery all the time and that’s what I do it’s a habit now and I never had any issues, it’s a 2019

 

[mark.lb]

I own four registered and insured street bikes. (3 Indians and 1 Yamaha) Each bike has it’s own tender. If the bike is not in use it is always parked plugged into the tender.

 

[Zilonis]

I have ~650 miles now and I've lost power to the engine randomly a few times, after the engine is HOT and had been ridden a while. This happened again to me last night. I drove about 20 miles from a friends house and as I turn on my street, gently shifting from 1st into 2nd the motor died. I'm glad nobody was behind me since I had to hit the ignition 3 times before she fired up again, which wasn't before I came to a complete stop. WTF! I immediately took note of the outside temp, 50deg F, the bike was fully warmed up (~170deg F)

The dealer put a new battery in the bike a couple weeks ago when I bought it and the circuit breaker recall was done before they handed me the keys. For all the money we pay for these bikes this shouldn't happen.

My bike has the updated Firmware from Indian, how the hell did they not address the cold start and random stall issues?

I knew going into this purchase that the bike could have such issues however I didn't know until experiencing it myself how dangerous this could potentially be.

 

[cheekykevUK]

I have ~650 miles now and I've lost power to the engine randomly a few times, after the engine is HOT and had been ridden a while. This happened again to me last night. I drove about 20 miles from a friends house and as I turn on my street, gently shifting from 1st into 2nd the motor died. I'm glad nobody was behind me since I had to hit the ignition 3 times before she fired up again, which wasn't before I came to a complete stop. WTF! I immediately took note of the outside temp, 50deg F, the bike was fully warmed up (~170deg F)

The dealer put a new battery in the bike a couple weeks ago when I bought it and the circuit breaker recall was done before they handed me the keys. For all the money we pay for these bikes this shouldn't happen.

My bike has the updated Firmware from Indian, how the hell did they not address the cold start and random stall issues?

I knew going into this purchase that the bike could have such issues however I didn't know until experiencing it myself how dangerous this could potentially be.

I'm one of the unfortunate ones in the UK that had serious problem with the bike cutting out, the dealer, and Indian were a joke, not interested, the bike I had would not have even passed an MOT, a bike has to at least to run to pass, mine caught me out many times on the approach to bends, mini rounabouts, an don the approach to traffic lights, very scary moments some of them.
Don't have the same problem now, I got rid of it, and I must say, I wasn't sorry to see it go.
A few on here might say, you should do this, and you should do that.
NO, rubbish, if you buy a brand new bike you shouldn't have to do anything to it to at all to make it work properly, Indian should be made liable for putting something on the market that is not fit for purpose, and on top of that, can't even be bothered to correct it.
It should work properly when you buy it new, what ever you decide to do to it afterwards is up to you, and your choice, anyone that thinks different that should wake up.

 

[K9F]

.......Don't have the same problem now, I got rid of it, and I must say, I wasn't sorry to see it go.
A few on here might say, you should do this, and you should do that.
NO, rubbish, if you buy a brand new bike you shouldn't have to do anything to it to at all to make it work properly, Indian should be made liable for putting something on the market that is not fit for purpose, and on top of that, can't even be bothered to correct it.

But Kev you are in a minority.

The FTR is undoubtedly the best bike I have ever owned for thrashing about the UK countryside, the ergonomics of it suits me perfectly. 'Point of Principle' has denied you the potential enjoyment it could have yielded IF you had taken the advice offered.

There were similar issues when Harley-Davidson first bought out the M8 engine with 'oil sumping' and the Mothership denial. It is not restricted to Polaris. Out of interest what bike have you moved onto now and having had the FTR for over a year did you get a full refund on the FTR or what loss did you incur?

 

[cheekykevUK]

Hi K9F, I appreciate what you're getting at here, but in the end I just fell out with the bike, and we all know that once that happens it never comes back, I had some very near misses when mine decided to just stall for no reason, floating round mini roundabouts with the clutch pulled is not a nice experience, stalling in the middle of a roundabout with cars flying at you at all angles is not what you want, I just lost all confidence in it.
I had also lost all confidence with Indian as a company, and with the dealer, all of which were a waste of space in helping me with my problem.
I'm truly, really, glad that some of you are having a much better experience than I did.
Answers to your questions, I ended up trading it in, I lost a lot of money on it, but to be honest, I just felt it was time to just cut my losses.
Glad it's the best bike you've had, but for me, I'm afraid it's the opposite, I've been a motorcyclist for 45 years, owned all sorts in that time, Tripples, V Twins, Parallel Twins, In Line 4s, Flat Twins, and sadly that was the worst bike I've ever owned.
As for what I have now, well a bit of time as lapsed since the FTR, unfortunately a few age related aches pains, and the after effect of some injuries from years ago, has led me to change the way I ride, and what I ride.
12 months ago I had a Colin Edwards Laguna Seca SP2, a BMW R80 Cafe Racer which I re-built myself as pictured to the left (my Aitar) two Honda VTR FireStorms, and the Indian FTR.
Sadly I had to get rid of the SP2, one of the FireStorms, and as mentioned traded the FTR in.
I now have, one FireStorm, my R80 Cafe Racer, which to be honest is more of an ornament.
After a lot of sole searching, and considering I plan on taking early retirement soon to travel around Europe, and possibly even further afield, I went on a voyage of testing namouras bikes, I ended up buying a new BMW R1250R (the new shiftcam one)
I am a big fan of V Twins, but unfortunately there's not much choice out there on the market, apart from a Ducati, of which I'm a bit warry of, I like to keep my bikes, and I don't really trust Ducati when it comes to reliability over time, just my opinion of course.
I am only 5ft-8in tall, with a 30in leg, so a lot of other makes like KTM, and Aprilia are out of the question, so I decided to go for the BMW big flat twin, that way I still get the mass of torque, the dealer is 8 miles away, came with a 3 year BMW warranty, and a 3 year BMW breakdown service, so it seemed to be a very sensible solution for what I want do in the future.
Anyway that's me so far, hope you're all enjoying your FTRs, and keep safe.

 

[Max Kool]

I ended up trading it in, I lost a lot of money on it, but to be honest, I just felt it was time to just cut my losses.

The sad part of your story is, a 500* dollar tune would most likely have solved all your problems.... your loss would only be 500 bucks and you'd still have an FTR. I agree Indian should have done a better job in the first place, but I decided that wouldn't piss me off and I'd get a tune right away after I got mine. Best money spend on this bike...

Anyway, happy you're happy now.

*people spend way more on useless farkles in general..

 

[K9F]

I'm not getting at you Kev and sincerest apologies if it appears so.

We are of similar ilk when it comes to biking history. I will be 60 this year and have already cut my working week down to three days. I did 32 years in the RAF, 7 in the Merchant Navy and am now an an Electrical Craftsman in a large 800 bed hospital. I had two expensive motorcycles with barely enough time to ride one so the decision was made to cut my working week to 'make time' to do the things I want to do. All work and no play makes Mal a dull boy.

I arrived very late to the 'Tuning Party' it was 10 months after I had purchased the bike, mine had 'foibles and quirks' and thankfully not the dangerous and severe problems a minority have had. It wasn't until I got the tune that I realized what I had been missing out on.

From an Engineer's Perspective and taking the pragmatic approach, as soon as you experienced the issues (that were well published that the Mothership could do nothing about) nailing on a tune to get the true potential out of the bike and it possibly not falling out of favor as it did would have been the most sensible and cheapest option in comparison to what you must have lost.

I see your logic behind buying the BMW. They are so well engineered and smooth, personally at the moment I like a bike you have to still 'work at' a little to harmonize your own limitations to that of the bike, maybe the latest BMWs are different I haven't ridden one but my cousin had an older RS and I found it uninspiring as to me it was over-engineered.

Kev I wish you well. As a footnote I too have a penchant for V-Twins (also not Ducati) on my travels today I saw a Yamaha V-Twin MT-01, first one I've seen. Unfortunately no longer made but it looked a very capable machine and did captivate my interest.

 

[ferraiolo1]

Yep $500 lost for a simple tune vs $1000s lost in trade in value.

and the $500 tune most will End up buying anyway due to exhaust changes.

 

[JDP]

Yeah the tune is great runs like a different bike well worth the money, you wouldn’t mind spend some money on bling so tune it

 

[mark.lb]

I can’t disagree with anything cheekykevUK said:

“It should work properly when you buy it new, what ever you decide to do to it afterwards is up to you, and your choice, anyone that thinks different that should wake up.”

As you know I have a FTR-RR that is not tuned. It runs very smoothly in stock trim. I expected no less when I spent $17,000.00 plus a premium to be first in line in 2019. (Would I have spent $500.00 to correct problems if it were not running to my satisfaction? - YES) But a new motorcycle should not be delivered to customers with the type of problems CheekykevUK was experiencing.

As a side note - My 2021 Vintage and 2022 Chief also run properly from the factory and off the showroom floor in stock trim. I expected no less.

 

[Deleted member 429]

I'm still in the process of trying to resolve this with Indian and Polaris....I'll patiently keep plugging away at it as it needs to run properly with Indian's support...
If they support a tune and will fund it that will be most appreciated and if they don't resolve it I'll get as much enjoyment as I can from and it carry on through an escalation process...
I agree with all that's been said but the bottom line is that I/we paid for a a bike to an acceptable standard and with some of these incidents we are putting ourselves and others at risk if its not resolved...
There are processes to deal with this..so I will make use of them.

 

[K9F]

There are processes to deal with this..so I will make use of them.

Sorry vmaxboy but this is simply another ‘point of principle’ case and you are simply treading the same path as several others that have not had a successful resolution and eventually moved on. You are simply just wasting time and energy! Interested slightly to know what your escalation process may be?

 

[Deleted member 429]

No worries...

Yes I agree its a point of principal...I have no problem with an Indian funded tune...
I like a direct approach so I researched the connections to Polaris US and the UK technical centre in the UK...
I also have some senior contacts found on LinkedIn which I will use at some point and finally the option to use consumer rights afforded to us....but not yet, they should have a fair chance with a potential fix.
I am very much aligned with your spending more time and doing less work...I'm in a similar situation and looking forward to riding and spending bike related time...This will be one of the things I spend some of my time on as well.
I have an automotive quality back ground so I'm just going to deal with it as a "work type issue".
I'm sure it will get solved one way or another I just haven't finished exploring all the avenues yet...I'm undoubtedly going to buy bikes in the future, I'd like to by another Indian as I like the culture...but I cant ride the culture as safely as I'd like to at the moment.
As a point of principle Indian activated a safety recall for the 10 amp circuit breaker due to the risk of cutting out, I'd like to see then do the same for this I judge for this to be consistent.

 

[K9F]

Not getting at you vmaxboy at all.

I do not know how severe your issues may be? Mine had quirks and foibles and ones I thought I could live with? Eventually some 10 months later I committed to a tune more out of curiosity than acute need.

Whether Indian/Polaris stump up partly or completely for a tune is speculation at best. My point is that whilst you’re heading down the current cul de sac you could potentially be wasting a great deal of time and possible frustration needlessly whilst all the while missing out on the true potential your bike has to offer. The UK biking season has also started in earnest.

Whether you deem yourself to have issues or not, a tune from one of the two reputable tuners is probably IMHO the best money anyone could ever spend on their FTR if legislation allows?

The same Point of Principle could have been applied when the dealership provided you with a bike with no baffles it should have been their responsibility to get you a set not yours perhaps? Did you get a set in the end?

I never had the contact breaker recall done but it will finally be this week when the FTR gets serviced. People even went so far as to rush out and buy replacement breakers themselves when it was announced rather than wait for the recall!

 

[Deleted member 429]

Its no worries K9F...I didn't think you were..
I'm not excluding the possibility of having the bike tuned at some point and just want to exhaust all the available options to me before going that route and any complications with my insurance.
Non of the after market options are homologated and not supported by Indian so its just a case for me of working through it...
I have the time and the patience to do this and I am of course riding, warming it properly and taking care for the potential cut out.
The condition its self has a higher severity but not a high frequency. Frequency, severity and detection are the bench mark method for evaluation.
No such luck with the baffles and of course this has been registered with the seller to support an over all drive to get a final fix before considering a tune, at that point I might be asking for a few pointers.