"You don't sit on a Harley, you sit in a Harley"

You don't hear it much since the demise of the Duo Glide/FX frames in the mid 80s. The rigids and early rear suspension bikes had those pogo seats. Customizers started mounting seats on the frame, putting your butt closer to the road. Those 4 speed Duo Glide/FX frames were like sway-backed horses. Once the seat was mounted to the frame, you did feel you were in the bike and not perched on top of it. The same really can't be said for the Soft Tails, Dynas (very linear backbone) and FXRs.

 

The sales pamphlets say you sit in the LowRiders.

 

Not the same...you just have shorter shocks and a skinnier seat. If you look at naked FX and Dyna frames, there is a difference

 

When I replaced the stock seat on my FXCWC with the Danny Gray seat, it felt more like sitting in the bike instead of on it.

Sitting a couple of inches lower might be the difference in feel.

 

"More than a Machine" is an old AMF phrase....Right about when the XLCR came around...Circa 1977?

 

My favorite was "Allright,Japan, your next custom motorcycle is ready. Maybe THIS TIME, nothing will get lost in the translation". Well, here it is, 25 years later, and they STILL don't have the look down. They're alot closer with today's cruisers than those pitiful Harley clones of the 80's & 90's, but they just can't get it exact. Strangely enough, that ad was for the FXR, which is the riceiest looking Harley ever built.

 

You wanna see a dead ringer Jap Harley look alike google the Rikuo motorcycle co.

 

I remember that ad. And I remember being pissed off that it was an ad for the FXR...I was an FX rider through and through. Now I have a 26 year old FXR. WTF? The Japanese bikes are closer in looks to H-D than they were in the 80s, but they still look wrong, and sound like crap.

 

I get the gist of the sit in vs on a harley, but HD could do a world of good by getting rid of those stock seats that put you two inches higher and two inches forward than anyone really wants to be unless your vertically challenged. I know, they make em to fit all sizes, but why not offer seats from the git go to fit your stature? Seems like a win win situation for hd and the public. Why should HD give money to after market, when they could capture more market with folks that want a climb on and ride a bike!!
guess I'm just not that smart, they put out CVO, take it one step further. I should get money for these ideas!! Not everyone buys a harley with plans to re-do it to fit their style. My bad ,dumb idea, had some wiskey cokes.

 

Rikuo look so much like Harleys because HD shipped tooling and personnel to Japan. They originally manufactured Rikuo under license and name of Harley Davidson.