Certainly more words have been written about Harley-Davidson than any other motorcycle. Look in any bookshop and the chances are that there will be two or three books on the marque, some informative, some pot-boilers and some being sold-off because no one would buy them.
Whilst the machines might not change much those who ride them certainly have. Once they were seen as the sole mount of the rebel riders. Doubtless they still are but new customers have come along, RUBBs, they have been called, Rich Urban Bikers and stand in any busy city and it will be the RUBBs who form the majority of Harley riders, not the rebels.
This 1971-1981 Performance Portfolio is not a rose-tinted spectacles look back on a golden era but tests written at the time by professional testers. It covers an era when the company was owned by AMF. Harley-Davidson thrived in spite of the way the company was then run but in that period there were some interesting innovations.
This Portfolio, the first in a series, looks back on an era when Harley-Davidson were, by today’s standards, in the doldrums. Today they are a cult machine but in the 1970s they were expensive, not as well made as today’s products and nowhere near as much sought after. Testers of the era looked on a Harley-Davidson as just another bike and judged it accordingly. One of Harley-Davidsons main virtues, and some would say vices, is that change is not something the company are big on. There have been many innovations over the last 60 years yet the 1936 998cc vee-twin doesn’t look all that much different from present day models. Towards the end of AMF’s ownership, the largest Harley so far built - the 1338 cc FXEF Fat Bob - was introduced, a capacity that persists to this day as the largest engine made by the company.
Features:
- Road and comparison tests
- Specifications
- Owner Survey
- Performance and technical data
- FX
- FXE
- FXS 1200 Low Rider
- FXS 80
- FXB 80 Sturgis
- FXWG 80 Wide Glide
- FXEF Fat Bob
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