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For 1981, AMF Harley-Davidson took the concept of the factory custom a long way further down the chopper road; they announced the FXWG. This was an FX Super Glide with a Wide Glide front end, hence it WG suffix. It was, Harley claimed, 'the only factory built custom in sight' and
featured a 21 inch front wheel, 16 inch rear, extended front forks with Electra Glide sliders, staggered short dual pipes
and a bobbed rear fender. To round off the custom appearance, the FXWG was available with a flame paint job over black or in four different metallic colors. For years Harley dealers
had been helping themselves out by marketing unofficial after-market parts but now the factory was beginning to offer their
own choppers in addition to lines of after-market custom parts. There was still as market for the independent manufacturers, of course, despite the downturn in the U.S. economy
in the early Eighties. The after-market products being manufactured and distributed for Harleys and being advertised
in the specialist magazines included components from many companies, in some publications, AMF Harley-Davidson themselves. When compared to a similar list elsewhere, what is surprising is how many of them were
in business ten years earlier. Amongst the products they made were items upgraded to suit more modern
components square section girder forks designed to accept single on twin Harley brake discs and calipers as well as the stock
cast wheels. AMEN - American Motorcycling Engineering - offered the Savior frame which featured plunger-type rear suspension.
This was intended to offer some rear suspension but also offer most of the looks of a rigid frame. Street Chopper magazine had produced a series of five builder guides to help guys get choppers up and running. They dealt with
frame and tank modifications, chopper electrics, custom wheels and front ends, building your own trike, and chopper styling. Times were changing though.
Gary Bang, who had been involved in the custom parts business since the earliest days, was interviewed by Easyriders
magazine in 1987. He indicated that fashions were changing in the chopper world when he said: "We were tired of the 2.2 gallon tank, it was a style that we were tired of, absolutely tired
of, just like we were tired of bell-bottom pants. Along came the gas crunch. Boy, we needed more gas. Everybody
knew that. What to do? They tried making the tank bigger, but it got uglier. Then they said: "Let's
put fatbobs back on." We took fatbobs off in the Sixties and threw them in the trash and now those fatbobs are
worth $250 a unit. So we did the fatbobs. But when we did them the front ends came lower, 'cause the tanks didn't
look right up there. More fenders were put back on; it became popular to run brakes. We're talking about the style
changing over eight years. Now, everybody's ready for the motorcycle they tore apart 20 years ago."
Bang was also aware of the stigma of stereotyping bikers as bad guys, about which he had this to say: "Bikers are like the old cowboys. Remember the old days?
The cowboys would come galloping into town and they were rough-and-ready guys. And some of those guys were real honest.
Real honest, think about that. Some of them wouldn't take a nickel off a guy if he was passed out drunk. But they'd
come rolling into town and they loved to drink and yell and chase women. They had good fun - rollicking jolly good fun.
Those guys became obsolete. They'd come to town and have too much fun, they scare the s--- out of the straight people.
We ain't no different from the cowboys - they did it a hundred years ago. The girls would be in the saloons just like
they are today." There were problems at Daytona and Sturgis in the early Eighties when the free-wheeling
chopper lifestyle repeatedly brought the scooter tramps into conflict with authority. To the tramps sliding through the scene it all
seemed trivial stuff - drinking on the street, public nudity, no rear-view mirror, apehangers too high, exhaust pipes too
loud - but it means fines and nights in the cells. Despite this the chopper guys weren't going away; they were here to stay. "When was the last time you saw a beatnik? Or better yet,
a hippie? Where are the people who screamed 'freedom' in the Sixties and Seventies? Outlaw bikers were an important
part of the culture of the Sixties and Seventies. And now in the Eighties, out of all the craziness of the last twenty
years, only the (motorcycle) brotherhood has survived.", wrote Peter Boyles in Denver Magazine during 1982.
While he asked a valid question in the light of drastically changing times, the questions also illustrated the strength of
the biker scene. In a little over thirty years it had become a solid and constant part of the general run of things.
As AMF's market share declined only this one large group of riders - hardcore bikers - stuck religiously with Harley-Davidson products.
After the fad for Japanese-powered choppers passed and the fickle had gone on to other pastimes, the hardcore kept the concept
of the chopper, and indeed the Harley rider, alive. In the manner of popular outlaws, this group displayed a defiant attitude to society in general. The attitude is succinctly summed up in J.F. Freedman's novel, Against the Wind, 'Some of
the boys mosey over and start talking bikes (which means Harleys, of course, none of this rice-burner s---). Panheads and Knuckleheads and suicide shifters and if you never rode and old Indian, man, you don't know what it is to get your kidneys scrambled permanently,
and then some of the ladies start hovering (all the world knows ladies love outlaws) .... straight society can't handle the
truth they lay on the world so they've got to cut them down, categorize them, call them outlaws. Anyway, so what if
they are outlaws, that's the American way ....' (this is Lone Wolf, the leader of the bikers, talking). The
novel is about members of the Scorpions MC but the attitude illustrated goes far beyond a single club or a single novel.
The book goes on: 'F...... rice-burners, f... all foreign bikes: a real biker, and most definitely any outlaw
biker, whatever colors he wears, rides a Harley. It's part of the unwritten law; you buy American and you ride American.
No draft-dodging pussies here, either.' So it was, the American biker rode a Harley - union-made on American soil -
and was a proud patriot. They didn't start that crazy Asian war but had proudly stood and faced Charlie behind and M16
and Old Glory at Khe Sahn and all the other hell holes because freedom ain't free. The bewilderment of a working man
- bikers are predominantly working class - seeing his class and kin unemployed when the country was spending its dollars on
ever-increasing numbers of imports led to the bumper stickers and T-shirts that read: 'Hungry? Out of work?
Eat your rice-burner.' and also 'Buy American-made - the job you save might be your own.' Despite such laudable sentiments,
bikers found themselves alienated by straight American society, ironically excommunicated by the citizens of the country of
which they were so proud. Perceived as crude, rude and unrefined, they were considered beyond the pale by many and frequently
treated as second class citizens. Such treatment came in many forms, from being refused service in bars and restaurants
while on the road, being subjected to more than their fair share of attention from traffic cops, having club runs stopped
at roadblocks, and having constitutional rights infringed. Hardcore bikers saw it as the price to pay for living differently
- hey, bikers have more fun than people.
Led by Vaughn Beals, who had joined Harley-Davidson in 1975
in the position of a Vice-President, a group of thirteen Harley-Davidson executives raised $100 million and bought the company
from AMF in 1981. The factory's advertising of the time was boosted by evocative lines such as 'The eagle soars alone'.
Easyriders magazine reported in April 1982 that 'Harley currently sells only 31 percent of bikes in the over 1000cc
market. Honda has a 26 percent share, Kawasaki has 16 percent and the other Japanese manufacturers are coming on, like
Yamomoto at Pearl Harbor.' Vaughn Beals was interviewed on the reasons for AMF wanting to part with Harley-Davidson and was quoted as saying: "Aggression is the key word in this industry, without
it you lose your market and AMF had lost the will to fight for Harley-Davidson's share of the market." According to Beals, AMF had spent vast sums on plant building and modernizations after buying Harley-Davidson but had decided it was not going to
pump any more money into the firm. "It had to justify Harley-Davidson's expenses against those of its 30 or 40
other businesses," Beals recalled, "but those of us who were running AMF's motorcycle production had to justify what was right for Harley against what was right for AMF. It was a stand-off." He also added that: AMF considered our offer as a sort of last resort." Soar alone though the eagle did, it flew in stormy skies.
Between 1980 and 1982 Harley-Davidson had to lay off a portion of its workforce and the management appealed to the government
to increase tariffs on imported Japanese motorcycles of over 700cc displacement. Harley-Davidson felt that heavyweight
garbage wagons from Japan, such as the Honda Goldwing, were their main threat. The U.S. Government under the presidency
of Ronald Reagan imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent on such imports and Reagan himself went as far as visiting one of Harley-Davidson's
plants. Better days were around the corner for the company and in 1983 another new engine was announced, which was officially
designated the Evolution. The Evolution engine was to be Harley-Davidson's salvation and by 1984 motorcycle magazines where in a position to report Harley-Davidson's
laid-off workers had been re-employed, its market share had increased, and that the company had made a profit for the first
time in three years. Vaughn Beals of Harley-Davidson was quoted as saying: "We are not out of the woods yet
but we're working hard to get there. We have an obligation to the American people and the government to take advantage
of the breathing room the tariffs provide. We intend to fulfill that obligation by finishing up the job at hand."
One way they went about this was by aggressively marketing the new engine: the Evolution. It was a name that was entirely appropriate, as the bottom end of the 80 cubic inch (1340cc) engine could trace its
origins back through the Shovelhead and Panhead to the original 61E Knucklehead of 1936. This engine was the one major factor above all else that saved Harley-Davidson from going out of business, turning
them again into a major force in the ranks for the world's motorcycle producers. Suddenly everyone, it would seem, would
want a Harley. While the Milwaukee factory was perfecting its Evolution engine, chopper building continued in the garages and backyards for bikers around the world. The dominant style was still the various permutations
of the styling of the FX Super Glide. The major components were still rigid and swingarm frames, telescopic and spring front ends and Panhead and Shovelhead motors. The process of chopper building is not without its difficulties, something noted by Daniel Wolf who wrote: 'Chopping is the last stage of the ultimate challenge in personalizing a motorcycle. The biker not only only rebuilds the entire
machine, he virtually redesigns it. When a biker spends a couple of thousand dollars on a used Harley Fl at a police auction with the intention of doing a 'chop job', he has bought into his share of the hassles, grief and broken knuckles and the frustration of hours of hard work and inevitable
mistakes.' In his book titled The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers, he went on: 'The practical
side of chopping is that it allows a biker to turn a used and inexpensive rat bike (poor condition) into a symbol of power and status.'
During the mid-Eighties, the style for ride-able street choppers continued to involve rigid and swing arm frames and both springer and telescopic front ends although increasingly newer components were used. Cast alloy wheels, supplied by Harley as original equipment, appeared
in greater numbers, as did disc brakes simply because a lot of the secondhand Harleys were chopped had these items as stock. The after-market parts industry adapted its products to suit the evolving motorcycles too:
fatbob fender for FXR frames, strut-less rear fenders, and low sissy bars for strut-less fenders. The long,
low bikes that had become popular in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early Seventies were still being constructed, although
by the mid-Eighties the style had reached its peak. The style had been developed by Arlen Ness, Ron Simms and others
in California and became popular all over the USA. By the mid-Eighties bikers were looking for more reliable styles.
Bill Gardner of GMA from Omaha, Nebraska,, was quoted as saying, about just such a bike he'd recently built, that: "I
hate to say it, but I think it's really kind of dead now. More people are into ride-ability these days. They
want a bike they can get on and ride anywhere. These are really just bar-to-bar bikes. You can't ride them seriously."
Arlen Ness built one of those most radical of these style machines in 1985 which was based around and FX Super GlideLow Riders by this name had diversified so far from choppers that, while these machines were undoubtedly custom bikes, they were in
fact no longer chopper from they 'high bars and rigid frames' school of thought.' Ness went on to take the style to
new extremes when he built an even more radical scooter with similar lines in its design. The bike was based around
a 128 cubic inch V-twin engine. The Bay Area styling in a less extreme form was popular and Harley's FXLR of 1986 was testament to this: its LR suffix designated the bike a Low Rider and it featured a rubber-mounted Evolution engine engine and transmission, although these were modified extensively and the engine was equipped with
a Magnuson Supercharger. The frame and most of the other components were custom-fabricated especially for the project.
The style of as well as a 21-inch laced front wheel and a 16-inch solid rear.
The marketing of the Evolution Harleys, the founding of the Harley Owners Group (HOG) - seen by some as an attempt by Haley-Davidson to reclaim the family
motorcycling tradition - as well as the increasing numbers of a new generation of 'celebrities' seen on Harleys, seemed to
make Harley-Davidson ownership more than simply desirable; all of a sudden it was the hottest fashion accessory anyone could
have. Meanwhile the guys who had stuck with Harley through the bad times were somewhat bemused by the whole turnaround
in fashion. They'd been ostracized and shunned for so long by mainstream society, discriminated against and snubbed,
that seeing their reason for living turned into a fashion symbol wasn't what a lot of guys wanted. They did not
dig the pre-ripped jeans and designer T-shirts and were surprised by the smart nightspots suddenly welcoming 'bikers'.
They had been raised on choppers, flatheads, Knuckleheads and Panheads. We're talking about way before even the Shovelheads for many - though they undoubtedly make great chops too - so they didn't need some damn yuppie telling them what was cool.
Not for nothing did a new rash of stickers appear: 'If motorcycling was a family thing, Harleys would have four doors' as
well as the considerably more blunt: 'Die Yuppie Scum'. It was a similar story for the Vietnam veterans.
Sick of being treated badly for their involvement in the war they formed a club with one obvious requirement for membership
and flew a patch that left no one in any doubt about who they were or where they had been. Pressure brought to bear
by them and others with events such as the run to The Wall - the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington - helped bring the POW/MIA
issues to the fore. As the Eighties drew to a close the choppers were still running on the streets and even if some of the prominent builders and shops were concentrating on building Low Riders and modifying Evos, the guys at home were still starting with a rigid frame up on a beer crate, a pile of parts, and the determination to see it through. Daniel Wolf noted that; 'Many of the
decisions a biker makes while chopping his hog will reflect a solidifying of his outlaw-biker attitude, especially if his choices fly in the face of what the motorcycle industry would consider standard safety features
and technological advancements, and what outsiders consider common sense features. For example, he will have to choose
between having a springer front end that uses an antiquated system of cushioning the ride with external springs, and a 'glide' front end used in modern production motorcycles in the USA, earlier elsewhere, since 1949. If the biker chooses the brute strength
and 'boss looks' of the sculptured steel springer over the comfortable-riding but plain-looking glide front end, he makes a strong statement within the outlaw community. Along with the choice of forks goes the choice of frames.
A biker who runs with a springer front end will also likely choose the smooth classic lines of the rigid frame - affectionately referred to as a 'hardtail' - that has no rear shock absorbers, as opposed to a juice frame that comprises bone-clean looks for the comfort of rear
shocks. Fellow bikers again will appreciate the sacrifice that this choice entails: 'Hardtails are for hard assess.' Some of the decisions will involve taking risks; most chopper fanatics run their scooters without front fenders or signal lights. The paybacks a biker faces for taking these risks
will vary from having to eat mud when it rains .... to having his bike ticketed.' In a rare moment of understanding
in his otherwise rancorous book, Yves Lavigne summed it up more concisely; 'A chopper, although it looks sleek and graceful, is a bitch of a machine to handle.' Who cares so long as it's a class act?'
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