I am a history buff, the history of all things. So in this issue of Cybercycles please bear with me while I recount what I think made Harley-Davidson great coming out of the AMF years. It’s a history of learning from the past, listening to one’s customers and competitors whether it be other manufacturers or probably more importantly, real motorcycle lovers.

The Fat Boy is perhaps the classic example where Harley learned from one of its dealers. But before you could have a Fat Boy, you had to have the Softail frame. A custom bike builder named Bill Davis from St Louis, Missouri came up with a design to hide the suspension under the seat to make his Shovelhead 1972 FX Super Glide look like a hardtail.

In 1976, while still in the AMF days he showed his design to Willie G. While impressed, nothing came of it. Davis then changed the design with the shocks under the frame calling it the Road Worx Sub Shock.

In 1982, Jeff Bleustein, knowing the Evolution engine was coming along, bought the patents, prototype, jigs and tooling. Only a year later Harley introduced the 1984 FXST Softail using Davis’ design.

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/harley-davidson-fxst-30-years-softails-cruisers-motorcycles/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softail

http://cyrilhuzeblog.com/2014/10/29/did-you-know-the-story-of-the-harley-davidson-softail-frame/

The new Softail frame then begot the 1990 Harley-Davidson FLSTF Fat Boy. But let me give you the true back story of the birth of the Fat Boy.

It didn’t start in Milwaukee but rather in Canada at Harley-Davidson Montreal. The general manager there was Duc Dufour and his lead technician was Denis Lavoie. Being a dealer they took a new 1984 Softail donor bike and lowered it making it a hardtail. Then added what we would call beach bars, changed the front fender to a fibreglass one, and finally the masterstoke was putting an aluminium solid disc rear wheel on the front. Whala, and they named it the “Lowboy.” Not just one but a small production line painted white. The later series had its own Lowboy logo and a few were painted black.

Jump to 1987, and Jerry Wilke (a 32-year-old executive at Harley sales, marketing, customer relations and on the product planning committee along with Willie G and Louie Netz) was visiting the Montreal dealer where he spotted a Lowboy. He immediately called Willie G and was told to buy it and ship it back to Milwaukee. You can read Wilke’s full account in the HOG magazine archives: HOG Issue 1, 2020. Copies of this, with the 30th Anniversary Fat Boy article, should be available at your dealer.

https://www.harley-davidson.com/au/en/owners/hog/h-o-g-magazine-archive.html

https://canadianmotorcyclehalloffame.ca/inductees/2012/duc-dufour

As Willie G often said, he and other executives loved to ride to rallies and shows to talk to the people who rode Harleys. Most recently you could say that with the 2014 Rushmores Tourers, that the Motor Company listened to its customers. Not just designing stuff for markets that the Europeans, Japanese and Chinese already owned. Hey, Chrysler got it right with the Dodge Challenger in 1970.

In 2008, they brought it back with Mercedes underpinnings and huge engines and now it is outselling the Mustang and Camaro!

https://www.motor1.com/news/374463/dodge-challenger-outsold-camaro-mustang/

I may be putting words into the new Harley CEO Jochen Zeitz’s mouth, but as you may have heard by now his “Rewire” update will hopefully get The Motor Company back to building what it does best. Harley doesn’t need saving. It just needs to build Harleys.

Go to The Motley Fool at www.fool.com or Harley-Davidson Investor Relations investor.harley-davidson.com where you will be able to download everything that was released in late July.

My forecast is for the bread and butter Touring range, Sport Glide, Cruisers and the new Sportster to kickstart the recovery by making good ole American iron again. The More Roads electric and adventure bikes will have to prove themselves right from the start. The Pan America 1250 and the Custom 1250 may well be the only new 2021 Harleys we see now that the 975cc Bronx Streetfighter has been canned. I would assume that only the pre-ordered LiveWires will be built and sold for the time being.

Harleys will be assembled in York, PA and Thailand. India and China will build/assemble for their markets if they can compete with the likes of Royal Enfield. Again, look at the history of the Softail, Evolution engine, Sportster and Dyna. At the time of the Buyback from AMF, they where all that Harley could afford. And they were what the buyers wanted. The Evo engine saved the Company. Project Nova V-4 was cancelled.

Today’s Willie G, Louie Netz and Jerry Wilke; and for that matter Bill Davis and Du Dufour, will be looking at all the shows for new ideas. Not only in-house Harleys with the No Show and Battle of the Kings; but the whole range of social media. The print magazines and online blogs around the world are now publishing articles of their “10 Best” motorcycles. You can find them easily Google them with the words “10 best Harleys.” Select Images above the results for the photo links that will catch your eye. Not only “best” but I found the 25 Fastest Cruiser Motorcycle from 0-60, etc. Try it on winter rainy day.

There now, I did’t bore you with all that bad stuff in the news. Remember you can go to www.heavyduty.com.au/cybercycles and there read all the words above and have all the links plus heaps more!