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What is FXR's official name?

62K views 75 replies 47 participants last post by  ShovelheadGirl 
#1 ·
Seems like every set of letter designations has a name, FXE is the Superglide, FXS is the Lowrider etc etc. What is the FXR known as or just FXR? I'll try not to be a pest but I do have some more quesitons. The cover for the pipe between the front and rear exhaust pipes is wrinkle finish. Is this correct for a stock FXR (1982)? The side covers are painted gloss black, is this correct also? Thanks again, TH:dunno:
 
#2 ·
The shovels were Superglide IIs. Evos were FXR, FXRS, Lowrider, FXLR, FXRS Convertible and some other flavors.

AFAIK, the OEM sidecovers were unpainted, shiney, black plastic.

I always thought the OEM crossover heat shields were chrome although I've seen a lot blacked out... I s'pose to try and make 'em kinda invisible :::shrug:::

Here's a link with some FXR history and chronology:

http://www.hdfxr.dk/public/FXR/FXRHistory.aspx

Another compiled by a friend with an '82:

http://webpages.charter.net/bghouse/Chilly/fxrstuff

TL
 
#3 ·
Well I have an FXRT and when people would ask me what kind of bike I had I'd say "Sport Glide", as this model's named. Many times I heard "Sportsters suck!! You should get a real mans bike". People thought that a "Sport Glide" was a "Sportster". I finally just started calling it a SuperGlide, when asked.

These days I call it "Money Pit".:)
 
#4 ·
My 1985 is called a Low Glide. When I mention that to some people they say there was never such a bike and try to tell me I mean Low Rider, which wasn't an FXR until 1986. In 1985 the Low Rider was an FXSB, which wasn't rubber mounted.
 
#5 ·
I've got two 85's 1-FXR & 1-FXRT
I hate the tapered shaft tranny, and just bought a 93 tranny, inner & outer primary etc. to swap in the FXR. I love the old FXR's because I like how the rear shocks are mounted (more straight up and down) my buddy told me that 1985 was the only year that did not have a re-call whether or not its true I don't know, but If you find a splinned shaft tranny, jump on it. It'll make it a whole new bike.
 
#6 ·
fx= narrow skinny front end
r= rubber mount
fxr normaly means super glide
fxrs normaly means low rider with the dash on the tank
fxrsp= low rider sport air forks
fxlr= low rider custome soid rear wheel 21 inch front wheel t bars 1 gas cap no gauge speedo mopunts to the t bars like a xl custome
fxdg = disc glide solid disc rear wheel 21 inch dual disc front wheel
fxrp= police
fxrt= touring i thought till i read this post
alot of folks took off the touring parts to make a super glide
in the early evo days there are some 35 mm fork low glides if i rember right
maybe even a sport glide
but i thought the sport glide was a xl with a differant tank
 
#10 ·
Here's a little trivia gleaned from my '86 Owners manual.... looking at the VIN code / model listing it lists code EGL as FXRSE, a designation most have never heard of and tough to find info about. In '87 EGL became the FXR-Sp. Seems the Lowrider Sport Edition was available as an option in '86 & possibly in '85 (I think it was the Low Glide, which didn't make sense since it's *higher*!), it came with what was called the "performance suspension" which consisted of the longer 35mm front forks, longer speedo cable & kickstand and dual front discs, which was essentially what turned into the -Sp in '87.

Lotta folks that think I'm full of crap on this change their tune when they see the bone-stock '86 in my garage with the OEM Lowrider Sport Edition air cleaner cover. Not many unmolested left anymore which is why I haven't altered it.

TL
 
#7 ·
Hows about the name....


Girls bike?

:spank::laugh:

J/K.:beatdh:
 
#8 ·
Cheap way to boost your post count Jeffy?:woohoo::woohoo:
 
#12 ·
TL
What you were saying did wake up a lot of my dead brain cells , Back in 85 i bought a New 85 FXRP-SP out in Colorado, and it did have the perfornmance supension, duel front discs brakes. It was painted Black over white, The salesman told me it was ordered by the Casper Wyoming P D and it never made it up there it ended up in Colorado. which I paid $5800 for and solded it in 90 for about $600 more but I had saddles bag and windsheld on it, Why did it have all the extras on it from York, ? I guess if the salesman was telling the truth about a special order for the P D it was ahead of its time. I rode that bike cross county twice and to the 85 HD brithday party in Milwalkie, I have a back n' blue mark on my butt from kicking myself in the A-s for selling that bike , best ride I ever had, ( except for a 70 rat Sportster )
 
#16 ·
Hey Materialman, that's awesome you still have your low glide. I've had mine for about 10 years and done a pile of work on it. It's been a fun bike and I can't see getting rid of it. Can you post a pic of your bike? I'd like to see another low glide. :)
 
#17 ·
"Sportsters suck!! You should get a real mans bike". People thought that a "Sport Glide" was a "Sportster".


I love it when people ask me if my fxlr is a sportster, when I tell them it is they start to talk smack...... I let them go for a few minutes, before I say "actually its a low rider custom, I just wanted to see if you were one of those guys that were gonna talk smack on a bike you cant identify"

That shuts them up. Then I point to my 06 lowrider and tell them its a sportster too!!!
 
#24 ·
My bike by the vin is a sport model but it has all the custom (gold ) trim and number to say its a fxrc and doesn't have the dual disc setup. I think that atleast on the early years the bikes sometimes ended up as what ever was avalible to put it to gether. Hd does'not even show a custom for 86 but the tags on the dash said it was. Any one look'n for one there are 3 in a paper called IWANNA in the asheville nc market now 2 pretty cheap.
 
#25 ·
I guess a lot of people don't know a Sportster has the drive chain on the right side, that's the easiest way to tell them apart from any other Harley. There are quite a few FXR based bikes around the custom bike shop I go to, these guys know a good bike when they see one. They all think I have the best looking FXLR they have ever laid eyes on, so I get special treatment.....

 
#26 ·
#27 ·
What to call it

So, does all this make my '88 FXRP a "Cop-Glide?"

;)
 
#31 · (Edited)
Are you sure there was an FXR in 1981? I didn't think the rubber mounts came out until 1984 with the shovel FXR until 1986 with the EVO FXR. I thought 1981 didn't have an FX R

Thealein~~~

Yes, the FXR was first introduced in the fall of 1981 but it was a 1982 "Model" so technically you are right....it wasn't offered as a "1981 Model" but rather as a 1982 FXR Super Glide II and a 1982 FXRS Super Glide II

Feel free to click on the "link" above to the "FXR HISTORY" to read all about the historical background of the FXR.

Here is some of the historical information provided......(it's rather interesting to me)....

"........The first year sales for the FXR "model" were quite good, totalling 6,255. The 1982 FXRS Super Glide II and the 1982 FXR Super Glide II were the Number 1 and Number 2 best-selling "Big Twins" for 1982. However, as history would point to.....at the end of the day…..sales at best were mixed year in and year out and continued to drop for the FXR, ultimately being defined as too “Japanese” in appearance for the “staunch” traditional “FX” crowd….the conflict of purchasing a cheaper version of the FXR coming from abroad for some combined with the “failed” look of the “triangular” frame resulted in effort by the motor company to go to it’s roots, that of building a bike that could only come from Milwaukee like the “softail”. As remembered by Mark Tuttle, “we got a lot of “negative” response to the triangular area under the seat, even though we had created what we were indeed after, a very stiff chassis, very neutral handling, and a really good lean angle, which resulted in a fair amount of ground clearance and a higher seat height, and while it was probably the best-handling Harley ever built, Unfortunately, it just wasn’t selling as well as the rigid mounts were”.

“Best handling” it was and still is, but the original FXR was a whole lot more, first, it was the best motorcycle Harley’s engineers knew how to or were allowed to build.

Mark Tuttle, states that, “we found that other than a “handful” of riders, nobody was using that “capability” the market would, “rather have had lower seats and more of a low cruiser look than all that “handling capability”.

“IF” the original FXRS bike had started out as an “engineer’s bike”, in 1982, then in 1984 it could have just as easily been stated that the FXR was indeed “recast” into a “marketeer’s bike” with shorter shocks that took away some of that “ground clearance” and “lean angle” that had originally been engineered into it, in favor of a lower seat height that Harley’s marketers thought would revive it’s flagging sales.

Because the shorter shocks still had to control the same load, fork and shock springs were made stiffer. The result was a great loss in cornering clearance (now less than that of the Wide Glide or Softail, but noticeable only by the few who actually tried to ride the FXRS the way the original was meant to be ridden and a stiffer ride balanced by a lower, more Harley Davidson like feel. To emphasize the “charge” in “stature”, the marketeers gave the shorter FXRS a new name, ie: Low Glide. The “irony” was, once the FXRS was given a “motor” as good as its chassis (evo engine replacing the shovel) the chassis was taken back a half-generation in function. A few noticed and complained, but the majority were pleased their feet were now flat on the ground, and sales went up as well........."


Regards,

"Classic"
 
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