1983 FXRS...shovel, rubber mount, 5-speed and a groundbreaking design for Harley. Longest trip I took on it was from Missoula, Montana to Va Beach, NC Outer Banks, GA, FL and back home through Sturgis in '83. Bike never missed a beat. My dealer in Missoula didn't have one so I found one in the Chicago area and bought it sight unseen over the phone and without ever riding a Harley. I still remember how sweet it felt when I let the clutch out for the 1st time to take it for a putt before I put it on the trailer to haul back to Missoula.

 

I was 18 and in the vol. fire dept.
An older member bought a new sportster, it was 1983
He rode it to the firehouse for our meeting and after the meeting I asked him if I could sit on it, he said yes.
Man it felt nice, then he said, "you want to ride it?"
I said, "your kidding right?"
he said "no"
So I took it down the rode, as soon as I let the clutch out, I thought this is the ****.
Took me until I was 43 to get my first harley and am now 45 and on my third one, 2010 heritage softail and my favorate one so far.
That same night back in 83, we had a deputy sheriff in our dept, he came to the meeting in his squad car.
Back then the firetrucks and police cars had those big bubble gum machine lights on top.
A couple of us took the red lense off the firetruck and the blue lense off his patrol car and swapped them out.
Someone told the deputy to go down the road and come back by the firehouse, and he did.
When he came wizzing by the firehouse we turned the bluelight on the firetruck on and as he went around the corner we saw the red light flashing on his crusier, he came back and was mad as hell.
We all had a good laugh that night, man I wish I was 18 again!

 

I agree, I just didn't know if AMF made that thing junk or the person that did the mods, either way I couldn't wait to get off that thing and back on my Kaw. That ride almost soured me on Harleys forever.

 

I was 10years old, it was raining and my buddies bump started me on an old 2 stroke Harley 'Hummer'. It was the first time I had ever ridden a bike with a real clutch. My buddies were brothers and went inside to eat dinner while I was doing laps around the back yard. The rain turned to snow, I was getting brave and began crossing it sideways in the corners. Dropped it, kicked it running again and used the slippery snow covered ground to spin the wheel to compensate for my lack of clutch experience.
The first ride on a real Harley was in 1985 on a '82 FXRS with a shovelhead. Liked it soo much that my first owned Harley was a '84 FXRT with a shovel in it. Five Harleys later, I have gone back to to touring bikes.

 

First one I ever rode was a late 60's or early 70's Lowrider. My best fried rode it to my house and pushed me into trying it. I had just sold my first bike, a Honda CB175. So getting on that beast was a revelation. It was too tall, couldn't reach the brake easily, had trouble going around a right hand turn at the end of the block and the damn thing weighed a ton. I got maybe a 1/4 mile around the block, got off and swore I would never get on another Harley ever again.

Then 15 years later I go to visit the same guy and he has two bikes so we take them out. I was still a bit shy of his 82 FXB, so I rode his Suzuki GS1150E.



But after bugging me about it for half the day I finally tried the FXB and was hooked. Even though it vibrated like crazy, was loud as hell (and still is w/drag pipes), the headlight bulb fell out during the night forcing me to hold it in with my left hand while running the throttle with the right.



Now I am going to have to return the favor and bring my bike down to him this summer. Then we'll trade bikes so he can see what a stage 1 fuel injected 96" B motored Softail feels like compared to his old FXB with its S&S carbed and Andrews cammed 80" shovelhead.

Should be a lot of fun, I miss that old beast. But this time he can ride the damn thing at night. Just in case the headlight wants to fall out again.

 

my 1970 xlch I got in 1972

 

The first Harley that I ever rode was a 1977 AMF/Harley XLCR Cafe Racer back in March of 1982 when I was 27 years old and I bought it for my birthday and then I rode it home. I had started out going to buy a new 1982 BMW R65LS but all of my friends told me that after riding my 1973 Norton 850 Commando since 1976 I would find that the 650cc BMW would feel extremely underpowered. I am so glad that I took my friend's advice and took a look at the Harley. I still have that bike and I ride it all over the place. Tons "O" Fun! That bike does not leak a single drop of oil and is one of the most trouble free bikes that I have ever owned. Thank God that AMF help keep Harley from going bankrupt back then or the Harley Davidson marquee would be just a memory today.

 

'88 Sportster Hugger 883 baby! Cause they didn't come in 1200 then and I was (still) broke.

 

First Harley I ever rode was a '74 Electra Glide. It was a couple of years old at the time and was the largest, heaviest bike I'd ever ridden up to that point. The bike was heavily rubber dampened from the engine to the foot boards and even the handlebars to try to isolate the rider from all the vibrations. Therein lies the problem. I could move the handlebars maybe 10 degrees before the front end would come with them and that made handling the bike at low speeds rather problomatic. To say that I "was NOT" impressed is a gross understatement.

Fortunately, they've made a LOT of improvements through the years!

 

first harley ridden and owned 1978 xl 1000 custom two tone black and silver mettalic with a gold pinstripe s&s carb and straight pipes boy she was loud and fast