please enlighten me to what is the longest running HD production bike

 

call me uneducated - how's the dead man throttle work?

 

Me too, a buddy has an 883 that he bought for his wife. She's gone but the bike is still in his garage, hmmmm, another sporty chop., that could be fun too.

 

I absolutely love my Sportster. Can not imagine owning any other bike.

 

I to never heard of a dead man throttle. How does it work?

 

As it applies to boats it's a throttle that doesn't automatically return to idle; it stays wherever you set it. I'm assuming that it's similar for motorcycles.

 

The "X" model as in XL, XLCH, XLX, etc. The Sportster.
The company was doing okay when the Sporty came out. So I don't make it the one that saved the co.

The XL-series hit the dealers in 1957. Labeled the Sportster, launching one of the most famous and well-termed motorcycles in history. The XL was a pure, American hot rod motorcycle. It was the first American muscle bike, and today remains the most popular machine in its class.


The model that I believe saved the company, was the "Factory Experimental" model they came out with in 1971.

Take an X series front end, and marry it to an F series chassis, VOILA, the "FX". I believe, please correct me, the best selling model of ALL time for HD, the FX series. The Japanese were running rampant over the land, along with the tail end of the British bikes.

This was also a couple of years into AMFs slash and burn technique to make HD profitable, again. BOY, that worked then, just like it does now, huh? And WE still talk about the quality issues, 40 yrs (YEP, 40 this year) later.

My one and only "NEW" store bought HD, a '76 XLCH.

 

I have a buddy over in springhill that can hook you up with another 1969 sporty,,,, he just dosent have the time to really make it a daily rider.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

The throttle mechanism consisted of a heavy cable run from the carb up to the riser where the two piece handlebars attached (one for each side). The cable went into the riser and into the end of the handlebar, then snaked through the handlebar to the throttle grip....INSIDE the throttle grip. In the grip was a curved groove that pulled or pushed the ball end of the throttle cable as you twisted the grip. It had no return spring mechanism, so wherever you held the throttle....it stayed. It was a great arrangement, but by today's standards considered unsafe with no return spring. Sort of a built in cruise control...saved your wrist from holding the throttle open on a long cruise.