| Author | Message | ||
     Greg_e |
I know it's the company we love to hate, and even worse is that it's from the bad old AMF years, but is an '82 FLT a decent machine? It says been in storage for nearly 20 years, cranks but no start. Original paint looks good in pics, exhaust looks stock and all rusty. Probably needs carb work to clean it out, probably new tires too. Price is pretty low and I can probably beat it down a bit more. Has about 33,000 miles so I assume the valves and guides have already been replaced. Is this something I should go look at, or truly avoid for being a pile of crap? Want the cargo boxes and two up riding that my XB9R certainly doesn't (and shouldn't) provide. Not selling the Buell! | ||
| 86129squids |
IIRC wasn't '82 a transition year from the AMF stuff? Is the motor Evo or Shovel? I'd take a skilled mechanic buddy to put the hairy eyeball on everything. I kinda miss my old Shovelhead, but it was a POS in general. Those old bikes, one should build yourself from the tires up- I don't have near enough skill, so I keep good tech's #'s handy in my phone. Post up pics, and more details! | ||
| Snacktoast |
83/84/85 were the transition years. They had all kinds of combinations: Shovel/4-speed Shovel/5-speed Evo/4-speed Evo/5-speed belt drive chain drive My concern with something that has been sitting for 20 years would be that it'll often need more than initially meets the eye. For starters it will need tires (solely based on age), carb work, brake fluid flush, oils changed, master cylinder & caliper rebuilds are very possible, etc. etc. etc. | ||
| Greg_e |
Shovel with 5 speed, but rubber mounted (going to need mounts I'm sure). I've read a lot of good things about them, and only a few common bad things like the crap valve guides and valves. Once the guides and valves are replaced they seem to be OK. Also people swearing about the enclosed chain, but other people like it and know how to pull the wheel without completely tearing the chain drive apart. Probably going to go look at it on Tuesday after work. Any other things I need to check would be great info. He did say it needs a rear tire, but I'd probably do both for peace of mind anyway. | ||
| K12pilot |
Greg drop me a line I just picked up a '80 FLT last week sitting15 years, I was riding her around the block in 48 hrs ) | ||
| Crusty |
I had a '78 FXE that I put 72,000 miles on. Even the AMF bikes weren't all bad; they just suffered from poor quality control issues. Once sorted, they were good, reliable bikes. H-D bought themselves from AMF in 1981. The FLT had a frame designed by Erik. It's a better bike than most people will give it credit for. IIRC, it should have a drive chain that runs in an oil bath. I don't think they went to belt final drive until after that year, but I'm not positive about that. If the price is right, buy it. | ||
| Greg_e |
Chris, sent you a message. Crusty, yes oil bathed chain, the guy that has it suggested about $400 just to change the tire for me (plus the tire cost), I read online you can get the wheel off in 90 minutes without needing to remove any other pieces! Certainly going to give that a try since he said it needs a rear tire. The price is pretty close now, hoping to get him down another couple hundred, then it should be a deal. | ||
| M1combat |
I thought it was the FX that had the frame designed by Erik? | ||
| Greg_e |
I keep reading that the AMF years of shovelhead are the least reliable, oil puking, pieces of garbage and I should only offer $1000 to $1500. Then there are other people who say that if the person servicing the engine has half a brain, and I keep on top of preventative things and check fasteners, that it should be nearly as reliable as an evo motor. Not sure who to listen to, especially since I can't hear it run. | ||
| Buellish |
I had a '78 1/2 FXE Superglide that I bought new and after I polished the rough edges from the poor quality control as Crusty said above,it just took regular maintenance to keep it on the road. | ||
| Snacktoast |
I thought it was the FX that had the frame designed by Erik? I believe it was the FXR, correct? | ||
| Court |
Correct | ||
| M1combat |
And the FXS... /EDIT - Nevermind... they're quite different. Did Erik have anything to do with the FXS frame? They were designed about the same time yes? (Message edited by M1Combat on September 14, 2015) | ||
| Normthenomad |
Have been riding since 1964. My first new bike was a 1967 XLCH which came with a 3mo. 3000 mi warranty that covered the part only. Total junk. AMF [ Randy Gott} bought H.D. motor co. in 1969. Disgruntled factory workers were the primary cause of defects. Basically all he did was invest a huge amount of money and basically told the company "For God's sake do something". Quality control finally straightened out late 1972. Willy "G" finally entered the fray and was given free reign. All hail Willy "G". Was working at Fletchers H-D when the lead was banned in gas in 1978 mid year 1978 exhaust valves stuck from the lack of lead. Boss bought an FLT in 1979. I rode it and it was the most underpowered thing I had ever ridden. As far as the enclosed drive chain went, in theory it was great, in practice it was a nightmare. The mechanics hated it because the rubber boot that sealed the chain failed on almost everyone. Todays' Road glide is the direct descendant and what they were striving for in 1979. Not many unmolested shovel powered FLT's out there now and still not much interest as a collectible. Personally I wouldn't consider it good for much of anything but yard art. Pretty long winded, huh? | ||
| Tootal |
The shovel wasn't a great design but heat was it's enemy. Quality control was another. I have seen a machinist completely disassemble a shovelhead and lap all mating surfaces and replaced all bearings, balanced the crank and dual plug the heads. When he finished it didn't leak and ran really well with a non stock cam. I've always wanted to do the same thing. As far as the chain, I'd get rid of any oil bath and replace the chain with an O-ring or X-ring chain and forget it! | ||
| 86129squids |
Hopefully it's a Wednesday bike...  I once saw 3 bikes in a restaurant parking lot, all with distant out of state tags. One was a new Goldwing, one was a new BMW, the third was the baddest Shovel I've ever seen, upon close inspection, purposefully built to do exactly what the other two bikes were capable of. Had a huge café-looking fairing, with plexiglass thick enough to stop a bullet... a big, hand-built aluminum oil tank at the bottom of the downtube behind the front tire... oil pressure gauge on the left of the motor... and Corbin beetle bags. I'm sure the gearing was set nice and tall. The whole thing was flat black, with proper detail where it was needed. I didn't have a way to take pics, but to this day I've wanted to build a replica of that bike. | ||
| Greg_e |
Do the dual plugs really do anything? I've seen it mentioned several times. Or is this just needed after you try to squeeze a bunch of extra power out of it. I'm not concerned about the possible lack of power, it wasn't designed to be a fighter jet. If I feel the need to go beyond legal quicker than I can shift, I have my XB9R with 1050 kit which has plenty of get up and go for anything I would want on street or track. The word Tour in the FLT's name suggests something completely different. If I needed a sport tour, I would buy a BMW R series, or if I could find one, a Buell xt. But the number of people that say these can be the worst machines possible have me thinking about final price. Not sure I will be able to get it low enough, though the thing has been advertised for a month, and our good riding season is just about over. Still hoping to get something and have a couple of weekends of fun before getting into the real rebuild time. (Message edited by greg_e on September 14, 2015) | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The dual plug head thing is helpful for hemi engines to cope with lower octane gas without lowering the compression too much. Start the fire in two spots to try to head off preignition. | ||
| Tootal |
That's correct. Heat and detonation go hand in hand. The pistons in the FLT are domed and block the flame front at ignition. Dual plugs start the flame front from both sides of the domes causing equal pressure on the piston. This allows you to back off on the timing and helps handle lower grade fuels better. I even dual plugged my EVO engine and it got better fuel mileage, started quicker and never pinged and it had flat top pistons! The dyno boys will tell you it's a waste of time but efficiency and smoothness both increased with my engine. During WW2 I believe, they tested how many spark plugs you could use before they saw no more advantage and I believe they stopped at 17! Even Harley dual plugged a factory Sportster for a few years. | ||
| Greg_e |
Another mod that I may need to consider if I buy this. | ||
| Bsanorton |
My 1st HD was a 78 1/2 (1st year 1340) FXS. My 2nd HD was a 83' FLHT. 1st year for that model which had the FLT frame, rubber mounted engine, bat wing and 5 speed shovel. The 2 models were like night and day. The FLHT was smooth and a pleasure to ride for many, many hours and I did. The FXS vibrated, bolts came loose and sucked above 60 mph. 1st year of the FLT was 80'. 1st year of the shovel FXR is 82' which my buddy owns to this day and has over 60K on the engine without any engine problems. I would have had an 82' FXRS, but the owner was a prick and I ended up with the 83' FLHT. Was nice to have a dresser at that point in my life. (Message edited by bsanorton on September 14, 2015) | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The other option is to accept that it's old and has performance limitations. You can get away with a lot of performance improvements with evo engines (as seen in our tubers) without really affecting reliability. Ironhead sportsters and shovelheads both can be tuned right up to awesome power output levels but at a cost of reliability and longevity. Ironhead sportsters used to be pretty respectable on the drags with nitromethane and carb jets that looked like pipe fittings. You don't have to worry about getting stuck in traffic on the track  MANY times, on my old ironhead, I would have to just pull over and sit until traffic cleared up in Boston. I would sit there and pretend to be cool while the bike gradually gets back down to operating temp. It may very well be a cool old bike but I would never trust it in the same way as even a mid-1980's evo; even with a ground up rebuild. | ||
| Greg_e |
I spent some time looking at alternatives, and there is a new listing for 97 BMW K1100LT that I could probably live with. It's black so not my first choice, but it would probably fill my needs of two up, passenger backrest, decent cargo space. Would probably run forever if I care for it. But it doesn't have the same quirky soul, just a block purring down the road. But all that searching makes me think that I need to just stick to a low price on the FLT, consider it a pretty rolling chassis with some engine parts, and walk away if the deal isn't right. I could have the BMW in my name and riding by Friday if it hasn't sold yet, they claim it needs nothing but gas, even oil was changed recently. | ||
| 86129squids |
"two up"... I'd jump on the flying brick. Given you're looking at a ride that'll reliably get you and your love out and back, if you can get a BMW K bike for good money, get it! Don't think it doesn't have soul- it's altogether something different, but still good. Try telling her that "quirky soul" is so important when you're on the side of the road. | ||
| Greg_e |
K bikes have their own gremlins that can leave you stranded if you ignore the service, like the final drive unit eating bearings. The injection/induction manifold on early K75 and K100 needed complex balancing on anything that still on the road today. Replacement is the cost effective way to repair it at the dealer because they are $100 an hour with about 6 hours for balancing the induction, vs several hundred for a new manifold. The thing about a K bike is the need to have a diagnostic computer to do repair work, not sure mear mortals can buy those. It would be a more comfortable ride, and probably more power too. R bikes would be neat, and I might end up with something like an R1150RS. | ||
| Greg_e |
All for nothing, looks like it is sold. Going to look at a BMW tonight, there's a toasted old k100 for $1200 I might look at too. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
You probably dodged a bullet on the shovel | ||
| Tootal |
I had an 85 K100RS and 17 days before my 3 year warranty was up it spun the splines on the drive shaft. $998.00 parts and labor no charge! That was dodging a bullet! After that it was pretty much bullet proof. Whenever you change the rear tire pull the diff and drive shaft and lubricate the splines and put it back together. It really didn't take very long and it never had another issue. In fact I still have the stock exhaust in my attic! | ||
| Greg_e |
The flying brick turned out to be silver with some black. A bit beat for BMW too. I was surprised at how all the plastic parts no longer fit correctly. Also surprised by how uninspired I am thinking about it. I'm really just left feeling kind of "eh". It's a motorcycle, it has storage, it has a nice passenger seat. Just no real feeling for it or from it. I think the shovel might have been fun to put back together, and probably would have gone down the road nice when I was done, and while most people hate it, I did like the way it looked. | ||
| 86129squids |
So- didja pass on the Shovel? Sounds like it... I just looked, I guess the local guy who had the first year, prettiest PC800 sold his... there's another guy selling a '95 PC800, black/silver, pretty sharp bike. I know, not everyone's cup-o-tea, but here ya go... http://knoxville.craigslist.org/mcy/5153537661.htm l I really enjoyed mine, would get another in a heartbeat if I could. |
