Wow! What a great thread! Once I started I couldn't stop until the last post.
My indoctrination into FXRs began with the aquisition of a 1986 FXRS Lowrider Sport Edition 6 years ago. It's a real "bike in a barn" story.
Purchased near Atlanta, GA, the original owner put 2025 miles on it in the 2 years he owned it as evidenced by the GA title I received at purchase. (wish I would have made a copy of it before transfer to Ohio) The 2nd owner put an additional 4000 miles or less on it, the bike had 6003 miles on the clock when I first laid eyes on it in August 2003.
Here's where things get interesting, the 2nd owner had the bike prepared for storage as he was moving to the Caribbean for what was supposed to be a year. This was circa 1991 or so. The guy that assisted in storage prep was a tech and later Service Manager at the original selling dealer. They pickled the engine, tranny and primary, sprayed the bike down with cosmoline and put it up on jackstands before covering it up.
Fast forward 11 or 12 years.... this now former Service Manager is running an independent shop near Atlanta. He gets contacted by the FXR owner still living in the Caribbean who wants him to pull the bike out of storage, make it road-ready and sell it. The owner obviously wasn't in touch with 2003 used H-D prices because he names a fairly low price he'd like to realize and tells the now-indy dealer that he can keep anything over that amount. So the bike gets pulled out of storage, cleaned up, new battery, replaced dry-rotted original front tire , fresh fluids, cleaned and rebuilt the original Keihin butterfly, fires it up and goes for a ride. The darn bike still felt tight, like new.
I first heard of the bike when the indy dealer posted to an Internet list I'm on. Said the bike was going in Cycle Trader for $7200 unless someone he knew was interested. In that case it could be bought for $6500. I requested pictures and after seeing them was on the phone pronto. I asked question after question and after becoming nearly exasperated this guy sez, "geeez, it's almost like a new bike! Just buy it!" I FedEx'd a deposit that day and 2 days later was on a flight from Cleveland to Atlanta. Road it home over 2 days, US23 from the guy's shop all the way to central Ohio. One near calamity enroute.... the rear axles didn't get the hole for the cotter pin until 1989. After a particularly spirited ride through the NC/TN/VA hills and twisties I was stopped at a red light in Wise, VA. Letting out the clutch I felt the rear end drop and the bike wouldn't budge. Looking under the right saddlebag I see no castle nut... Hell!.. I didn't even see an axle end!!! Looking under the left bag I see the axle sticking out about 4 inches from the swingarm. I must have been living right because if that axle would've slid out of the swingarm in the preceding hour or so I would've been smeared somewhere along US 23.
I got hauled to an H-D dealer in Pikeville, KY and the next morning a new axle WITH cotter pin hole was installed, wheel bearings and everything related inspected and away I went.
Over the years I've vacillated over what I wanted to do to the bike. Originally, I wanted an FXR to make it my own.... bobbed rear fender, mid glide front end, chrome, paint... lots of stuff. But knowing I had an (then) almost 18 year old bike that was pretty darn close to the way it had rolled out of the showroom I figured it'd be nothing short of criminal to bastardize it now.
I road the bike for 2 - 3 thousand miles before the 18 year old gaskets started doing what I knew they were going to do. When the inner primary started dripping I upgraded to a 32 amp stator and new voltage regulator 'while I'm in there'. Also replaced the reportedly problematic transmission pulley which had been upgraded with a stouter hub.
When the right side gaskets started to leak the base gaskets were just beginning to weep. "While I'm in there" the heads got a bit of a cleanup, new lifters, base and rocker gaskets etc. We also pulled the cam to take a look at the inner bearing. All probably woulda been fine if we wouldn't have pulled the cam. The journal end was scored so the cam and inner bearing both got replaced. The wrench that assisted me had a new EV3 laying around so we stuck that in. As much as I wanted to now keep the bike OEM putting the EV3 in was a real good decision
In the interim I've cleaned grounds and electrical connections, replaced the starter relay and turn signal flasher with upgraded items, put fresh rubber on the rear, stuck a sealed beam headlight on (with replaceable 55w 100 H4 bulb.... the original was an anemic 35w 55) and cleaned and polished everything that can be cleaned or polished. Front and rear cast wheels shine like new as do the aluminum rocker covers. There's some blemishes on the coating on the primary cover and some rubs on the coating on the ignition cone. Other than that it's clean as a whistle.
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Topic: FXR HISTORY (Read 321957 times)