That was a small part in the beginning of the " change " in 1985 , the ready made almost customs like the softail and the wham bam advertising campaign for the 5 speeds , Evo motor & belt drives was what drove it in the first years .They had to get the average public in the doors first to sell them anything .

The " Hog " group was also a biggie for them and a smart marketing ploy , all the closet wanna be overage badboys got to wear a patch and play pretend remember ? That's what drove the clothing & accessory line to the launch pad . Now everybody including the family dog could play biker just by having a check book . I was more than a little involved at the time , had a front row seat to all this .

While I doubt the MoCo would have cashed it in by now they surely wouldn't be the mega ego monster they are now , your very right about that .

 

Even if by some miracle the Moco had gotten the shovelhead motor EPA compliant as far as emissions and noise regulations, how many bikes would they have sold sticking with rigid mount, 4 speed kickers? Enough to survive? Anyone on here ever read a book titled "Well made in America" ? Interesting read. Addresses all these issues and more.

 

Softtails are not rigid mount anymore ? 4 & 5 speed's both had a final ratio of 1-1 , the main reason for lower gearing change was the new evo motor has such a light flywheel in them 28 lbs vrs the old shovel 45 lbs that they had no low end torque so they had to use gearing to get them off the line and into a usable torque band .

5 speed in a shovel is waste I had that setup in a 82 FXR , but you gotta have them on evo & early twinkies . I made a boatload of money putting kicker kits on 5 speeds till the mid 90's too .

No real gain till the 6 speeds hit with a true overdrive final gear and they still haven't got that right yet , I'll wait on that one too .

Interesting side note on you EPA statement . Just out of curiosity I slapped a 2 into 1 header on a 88" shovel and a buddy run the smog test for non cat. equipped cars, don't remember the figures but he said they were way over limits of course . I then did the dual plug conversion on the same motor , dialed it in the way I liked and and had him run it again , if I would have lean the carb a smidge more it would have passed .

Another bennie for those who say dual plugging is all smoke & mirrors .

 

The hydrocarbons and CO aren't a problem, even for a Pan. It's the mechanical noise.

 

Could be why we like them ?

 

I must admit to enjoying the mechanical noise of a Pan. Years ago I left the little pads out of the tin tops and since then it has sounded like castenets when it gets up to about 60.

 

My evo sporty sounds like a singer sewing machine, but damn she's fun.

 

Down here in South FL Vic dealers can't keep up with the demand. I went yesterday to our local Vic dealer, he was down to his last 4 Vics and says those will be OTD by the end of the month.
If what you say is true, please give me the Vic dealers location so I can pass it on to our local Vic dealer who will take the '11's off their hands.

 

Yeah send me the address too. I will help them out.