Commemorative Dyna Glide Salutes Daytona
Anniversary bike featured first production pearl paint job.
March Edition
The weird and wonderful Daytona Bike Week is sometimes described as Florida's Mardi Gras. Starting in early March, the ten day motorcycle rally has been held annually for the past the past eighty years—or eighty four depending on how its counted. In 1992, it celebrated its 50th anniversary, and Harley-Davidson marked the milestone with the FXDB Daytona commemorative edition.
Event Attendees
Released in very low numbers, the FXDB Daytona came out hot on the heels of the 1991 FXDB Sturgis. Released the year before, the limited-production FXDB Sturgis launched the Dyna platform, while fittingly commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The 1992 FXDB Daytona was then quickly followed in the same year by the FXDC Dyna Glide.
>>Join the conversation about this special Dyna Glide right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum.
Special Count
Daytona holds a trademark for 'The World's Largest Motorcycle Event,' but that claim is up for dispute among South Dakota's city planners. While an accurate attendee count might be difficult to procure amidst the coleslaw wrestling and various combinations of chaps and bikinis, Daytona gets special recognition because its roots are planted with the birth of motorcycle racing.
>>Join the conversation about this special Dyna Glide right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum.
Race Spectators
With a shallow taper into the sea and sand packed flat from retreating tides, Florida's beaches are the perfect natural race track. Known as the 'Handlebar Derby,' the first official Daytona motorcycle race was held in 1937. The 200-mile motorcycle race was watched by upwards of 15,000 spectators, but speed competitions had been going on even before Harley-Davidson was a company.
>>Join the conversation about this special Dyna Glide right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum.
Summoned Spirits
In the years following the first official race, crowds and competitor entries began to double. The event became otherwise known as the invasion of Volusia County. In 1939, the News Journal reported that the National Guard was summoned and that “the party got so rough that city firemen had to...dampen the crowd's spirits with a little cold water.”
>>Join the conversation about this special Dyna Glide right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum.
Unbridled Strategy
Beginning in 1942, the Daytona 200 was put on hiatus for four years. Yet, world conflict was not enough to deter racers, and fans kept the party going. These gap years are why Daytona Bike Week celebrated its eightieth anniversary, and not its eighty-fourth, in 1992. It took until the 1950s before the city council finally devised a strategy to prevent 'unbridled rowdyism.'
>>Join the conversation about this special Dyna Glide right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum.
Paint Spot
Coinciding with the 2021 rally, the Harley-Davidson Museum rolled out their FXDB Daytona in the video series Off the Shelf. The museum's example is number 661 of just 1700 bikes produced with the special livery. More than just commemorative, the FXDB Daytona holds a neat spot in Harley-Davidson history as the first production bike to feature a true pearl paint job.
>>Join the conversation about this special Dyna Glide right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum.
Original Box
Other touches included gold-painted cast wheels, chrome switch housings, and steel braided brake lines. Despite their rarity, FXDB Daytona examples do come up for sale. In 2017, model number 1586, still in its original shipping box, was offered at auction—no word on any takers. Somewhere between a racing event and a bacchanal, Bike Week is as unique as the 1992 FXDB Daytona.
>>Join the conversation about this special Dyna Glide right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum.
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