Close window
Print details

Harley Davidson FXRT Custom

Harley Davidson FXRT Custom

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

Harley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT Custom
Harley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT Custom
Harley Davidson FXRT CustomHarley Davidson FXRT Custom
Lot number 204
Hammer value £4,700
Description Harley Davidson FXRT Custom
Registration F116 SRU
Year 1988
Colour Custom paint
Engine size 1,340 cc
Chassis No. 1HD1ECL14JY121868
Engine No. ECLJ121868
Documents V5C; MOT March 2016; 22 old MOTs; invoices; service records etc.

Regarded by many as ‘the best Harley ever’, the FXR was launched in 1982 under the slogan ‘Separate the men from the boys’, the implication being that while foreign bikes were OK for boys, real men would prefer a throbbing Harley V-twin between their legs.

Viewed within the company as ‘an engineer’s bike’, the FXR was designed around the same 80ci Shovelhead engine and five-speed transmission package that had made its debut in the all-new 1980 FLT Tour Glide, the first modern Harley with a rubber-mounted powertrain. The plan was to turn the Tour Glide platform into a sporty roadster to sell against the Japanese opposition.

The Harley engineering team (which included a young road-racer named Erik Buell) quickly determined that the Tour Glide frame was not suited to the mission and instead designed an all-new frame that would hold the powertrain in the same elastomer tri-mounts. The frame had a more triangulated shape than that of the FXE Super Glide, with rear shocks set further back on the swingarm and a raised seat height and footpegs to give it more lean angle. Producing much less vibration to the rider, it felt more sophisticated than any Harley before, a bike you could go out and have some fun on, not just cruise around.

Relatively compact, with excellent ergonomics and triple disc brakes, the FXR platform was to form the base for a number of successful variants, including the SuperGlide, WideGlide and LowGlide, gaining the improved 80ci Evolution motor from 1984 onwards. Most notable was the FXRT SportGlide, a ‘sport touring’ bike equipped with a wind-tunnel-developed fairing and hard panniers which quickly became the bike of choice not just for the police, but also for the Hell’s Angels who appreciated the performance and handling when it was time to make a quick get-away!

Largely hand-built and difficult to manufacture, the FXR was phased out in favour of the new CAD-designed and robotically assembled FXB Sturgis DynaGlide platform in the early 1990s, but was so sorely missed that it was actually resurrected in 1999, Harley’s CVO (Custom Vehicle Operations) division making a limited run of 2,800 special FXRs which are all highly sought after today.

This stunning machine started out in life as a regular 1988 FXRT SportGlide complete with fairing and panniers. The vendor bought it from Harley dealers Motex of Collington in April 1992 as a two-owner machine with some 10,300km on the clock (6,400 miles). He used it extensively over the next six years by which point it had covered some 80,700km (50,100 miles). Over the winter of 1998/99 the bike was completely stripped, rebuilt and modified to the superb condition you see today, most of the work being carried out by Harley-trained technician, Tony Coleman of Motex, Worcester, who had maintained the bike since it was purchased in 1992 and continued to maintain it when he later set up All American Motorcycles of Hartlebury.

The modifications are too detailed to list in full here but are amply documented by many invoices in the history file. Highlights include: a full engine rebuild with HI-4 Crane Ignition Dyna Coil; Andrews EV3 camshaft; Screaming Eagle carburettor; Arlen Ness push rod covers; Performance Machine Fusion front wheel; floating brake discs; billet brakes; braided brake lines; solid cast polished Harley Davidson ‘Fat Boy’ rear wheel; Supertrapp exhaust system; Hagon rear shock absorbers; polished engine casings, rocker covers, forks etc; fork brace; custom rider and pillion seats; custom belly-pan; custom paint by Piers Dowell of Tenbury Wells, the latter alone costing £1,880 in 1999.

Since the bike was completed it has covered just under 15,000 miles and has won numerous awards both here and abroad (‘Best in Show’, ‘Best Custom Bike’, ‘Best Paint Job’ etc) with various trophies to prove. Remaining in superb order throughout with an MOT until March 2016, it is security marked and Datatag protected. Being offered here at a fraction of the costs lavished upon it date and with an agreed insurance value of £11,500, it now needs an enthusiastic third owner who can continue to enjoy and cherish it as the vendor has these past 23 years.

Close window
Print details