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The Twin Cam Era
Chopped Harleys - The High Tech Era - 1990s
The 1990s saw a Golden Age, make that Chromium Age, flowering
for Harley-Davidson motorcycles in particular and the Brotherhood in general as literally millions of new riders joined up.
By the end of the decade there were something like 30 million motorcycles in the United States alone, not counting Harley
colonies growing in billet abundance from Moscow to Melbourne to Montevideo and all points in between. To use one of
those bean-counter terms, the demographics took on a whole new look. Whereas once Harleys were the manifest destiny
of blue-collar working-class people, now it seemed every doctor, lawyer, accountant, and movie star, male and female, was
hopping on the Harley bandwagon (and several falling off). The Harley-Davidson would become a badge of honor, a membership
card, a trendy must-have, a good investment, and an American focal point all in one. While the United
States national symbol is the eagle, it's more than coincidence that the primary image for Harley-Davidson is the eagle as
well. In fact, take a stroll on a German strasse or an Italian piazza or a Spanish plaza and ask the natives for their
opinion of what American means, and you'll no doubt hear Harley-Davidson included. It, like the dollar, has become the
great common denominator, a bridge joining all kinds of political and ethnic differences. Just like Sara Lee, nobody
doesn't like a Harley. Especially a customized Harley. And with success comes the flattery of imitation: wanna-be Harleys sprouted up all over the
place, not just the cruisers from Japan, the so-called metric cruisers, but also a slew of limited production motorcycles,
appearing in numbers ranging from a few handfuls annually to several thousand units. Several of these V-twin powered
machines, variously referred to as customs, un-Harleys, and Harley clones have come and gone, caught up in the feeding frenzy of bike building spurred by the phenomenal
success of Harley-Davidson. In addition, several have made names for themselves as quality motorcycles, themselves gaining
loyal followings. The same spark that brought the Harley-Davidson Founders to their little ten-by-fifteen foot wooden
shed burns bright in many others, and they had their go at realizing their own personal visions of the V-Twin dream machine. In he past, customizing your Harley, (from just adding decals to making your own frame) was a given, but now those who'd rather have an instant custom can choose from a healthy list of premixed custom bikes from a number of sources. And for those wanting a bike built to their specifications or bearing the name of a
famous custom bike designer, those options are limited only by imagination and pocketbook. Custom bikes now come in a wide range of "custom," from mild to wild, from refined to radical, from economical to grab
your ankles and kiss your wallet good-bye. And some time in February 2002, while surfing the tube, we spotted a
Harley as the main image in a Hallmark greeting card ad. Switching stations, we saw, on the Travel Channel, a sidecar
Harley tour of the capital city of Tasmania. And what is the ride of choice for the Terminator? "I'll be
back .... on my Harley." What does Jay Leno auction off on national television .... a Harley with the signatures
of numerous celebrities. What does Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Republican) ride to the Senate? Yeah,
a Harley. What bike does the supermodel Lauren Hutton crash on? Yeah, a Harley. And so does Arnold while
filming another movie. And who could forget Gary Busey's head crash, then born-again wear-a-helmet conversion .... on
a Harley. Harleys are literally everywhere. There's the story of the Russian motorcycle club that had some thirty-five members and only one bike to share among them .... a Harley, of course. It's
no wonder that Harley dealerships during the '90s were conducting lotteries to see which lucky customers could have their
names put on a six-month waiting lists to buy a Harley. Supply and demand was never more fully demonstrated than when
Harley took off during this decade, creating a bubble that keeps on expanding like the universe. For years, the naysayers
have been standing around with their pin, predicting that bubble would be bursting. But with the hundredth anniversary
coming up in 2003, that's one century down and another one just getting in gear. The 90s, the
era of Generation X (whose name had something to do with the unknown commodity the generation represented), hit us with some
hard facts of life: oat bran doesn't reduce cholesterol and Perrier is not naturally carbonated. It's not the
first or last time we've been lied to (yeah, Milli Vanilli can't sing). In L.A. an amateur video of Rodney King being
beaten results in riots when a not-guilty verdict is returned. Obviously, we all can't just get along. Unless
we're on Harleys, where rubbies, yippies, yuppies, Rolex riders, vintage riders, even metric riders, now begin to share the
road. As Easyriders Editor Dave Nichols says when writing about what he calls the dawn of the new Golden Age
of Motorcycling: In 1990 motorcycling lost one of its greatest ambassadors. Billionaire
publisher and avid rider Malcolm Forbes traveled the world aboard Harley-Davidsons, presenting a very American image of independence,
freedom, and goodwill. Harley offered up a tribute with the biggest motorcycle parade in history at that year's Daytona
Bike Week, where Harley-Davidson took the wraps off a new model in 1990 known as the Fat Boy. This stripped down FL style Softail is still one of the factory's more popular models. Special for 1991 was a bike that hearkened back to the Shovelhead Sturgis edition. The FXDB Dyna Glide Sturgis was a blacked out factory custom featuring a totally new frame and rubber-mounted engine. 1990 was a
banner year for Easyriders. With two hundred issues under our belts and having brought you the best of the biker world
for twenty years, we were ready to do something big, something unprecedented. On July 14, with the sponsorship of American
bikers everywhere, Easyriders went to the Salt Flats of Bonneville with our twin Shovelhead Streamliner and took the absolute Land Speed Record away from Kawasaki. The 322.150 mile per hour time is still the
world record on two wheels. In August of that year, Sturgis in South Dakota held its fiftieth
Annual Rally and Races. Over 300,000 bikers rode in from all points on the globe to be a part of the event that the
late J.C. "Pappy" Hoel and the Jackpine Gypsies started in 1936. Naturally. Hot on the heels of this
scorchin' hoop-de-doo, Daytona had its fiftieth anniversary of Bike Week, and Laconia had its seventieth birthday. By
the end of 1991 Harley-Davidson had earned a whopping 62.3 percent of the market share in the 850cc and larger motorcycle
category and had the imported bike companies on the run. Just as with the Sturgis fiftieth, Harley came out with a limited
edition 1992 Daytona Dyna Glide with special paint and graphics to commemorate fifty years of the ultimate run to the sun. The Motor Company
celebrated its ninetieth in 1993 with specially trimmed models and began offering fuel injection on certain models.
In 1995 annual production had reached 100,000 units, and dealers couldn't meet public demand. With so many riders plunkin'
cash down for American made motorcycles, the climate was ripe for bike-buildin' entrepreneurs to step in and make a buck.
The Rebirth of the Golden Age of Motorcycling? The midway mark of the '90s acted as the starting flag for a number
of new motorcycle companies. The Indian motorcycle was trying to make a return, as was Excelsior- Henderson. There
was talk of a new Vincent, and Triumph was making a surprising resurgence. At the same time, several smaller
companies - such as Titan, California Motorcycle Company, Big Dog, and Ultra - were rattling their bike-building sabers, using
S & S motors and transmissions along with the best products from American aftermarket companies to produce complete custom motorcycles. Of these new companies, Excelsior-Henderson and Polaris, with its Victory motorcycle, seemed to be the
most promising and well funded. As the Excelsior-Henderson ad banners said in 1998 at Sturgis, "This ain't a one-horse
town anymore." Seemingly overnight, more and more S & S powered custom bikes started popping up. The courts took the Indian name away from Eller Industries and awarded it to Indian/CMC.
Suddenly it looked as if the Big Three would rise from the ashes like some motorized phoenix to create a second Golden Era
of Motorcycling. (Sadly, Excelsior-Henderson would fall by the wayside in the late 1990s.
Not that Harley was daunted by these upstart start-ups. The Motor Company held the party to end all parties in
Milwaukee in May 1998, celebrating ninety-five years of motorized excellence. The ninety-fifth anniversary models featured
special paint and trim, and the Road King was the most popular bike in America. For 1999 Harley slapped the aftermarket with its completely new Twin Cam 88 motor, and a slack-jawed world could only look on in awe. This revolutionary 1450cc powerhouse would rocket Harley
into the new millenium in style. The
Custom Bike List We'd like to quote the Ten Rules of Customizing, gleaned from the master builder Cyril Huze. This list seems to sum it up all nicely. - A
good designer is not the one who takes you from "what you have" to "what you want" but the one who takes
you from "what you want" to "what you didn't even know you wanted."
- When you customize, don't follow the crowd. Just follow your dreams. A custom shop should be a dream factory.
- Great mechanical skills can take a motorcycle only so far. Passion is the engine of creativity.
- Designing and building a motorcycle is like composing and orchestrating a song. Everybody can
use the same notes. But who is going to make a hit?
- A
good bike appeals to your reason. A great bike appeals to your emotions. There are so many emotions you can assemble
on a motorcycle.
- Just because an accessory fits
doesn't mean it looks right.
- Good ideas result
from uninhibited experimentation.
- Simplicity is
the ultimate sophistication.
- Good design is guts,
brains, and soul.
- Customizing. There are no rules!
It Takes
Two to Tango The other side of the equation is, Who buys these bikes? People who don't want their bikes
lost in a sea of look-alike two-wheelers. People who want people to turn their heads when they roll by. People
who want to attract the opposite sex (call it metallic sexual display; instead of bright feathers, rely on extrabright chrome).
People who want to make a unique statement about themselves. People who want to cleave the wind and find a new path
through life. People who feel claustrophobic in cars, a.k.a. cages. People who have to have the latest toy.
People who view motorcycles as a legitimate art form. People who want to go really fast. People who want to annoy
the establishment. People who like to stay in their garages and create, especially during winter. People who like
to walk the fine line between danger and disaster. People who want to be someone other than who they were pre-Harley.
People who saw The Wild One or Easy Rider and were indelibly imprinted. People who want to fly but don't want to leave the ground.
Strong people who find peace with riding. Weak people who find strength when riding. People who want to stand
out on a planet of 6 billion people. When it all boils down, a custom bike is about identity itself, a primal force. There are as many reasons as there are people who ride Harleys or any
of the custom variations. The Recognition Factor is probably shared by all, to one degree or another. Recognition is a relative
thing. Some need an entire industry to applaud them, others need only the approving glance on one special person.
Still others are satisfied just to see the smiles on the faces of their children in the chrome. Some get their recognition
via the subtle and seamless flow of metal and paint, others through raw horsepower and sound waves capable of knocking down
the walls of Jericho. Sometime recognition is based on adrenaline levels, sometimes on a simple nod of appreciation.
The men and women behind the welding torch and paintbrush are three-dimensional artists; their creations,
greater than the mere sum of their parts, take art itselft and plant if firmly between our legs and magically under the control
of our own hands. This is beauty that truly is in the eye of the beholder. And here are some of the major beholders.
Your own eye will determine the beauty. Meanwhile
from the Factory, 1990 - 1999 New in the '90s model year lineup was the FLST Fat Boy, based on the Heritage Softail.
The Softails had been the hottest sellers since the late '80s, and in 1991 over 26,000 were built. New in '91 was the FXDB Dyna
Glide Sturgis. For '92 there was also the new FXDB Dyna Glide Daytona, a limited edition model, as well as the new FXDG Dyna Glide Custom. For '93, Harley-Davidson added the
FXDWG Dyna Wide Glide, FXDL Dyna Low Rider, and limited edition FLSTN Heritage Softail Nostalgia. The year '94 saw the new FLHR
Electra Glide Road King, while for the '95 Bros got the new FXD Dyna Glide and black springer-forked FCXSTSB as well as the new base model FLHT Electra Glide Standard. There were new Sportsters in '96 with the arrival of the XL1200cc Sporster Custom. For '97 there was optional fuel injection on the Electra Glide plus the new FXSTB Night Train in an all-black
treatment, and the new FLHCRI Road King classic, complete with leather saddlebags, not to forget the new FLTRI Road Glide,
which replaced the Tour Glide. 1999 brough the hot new Twin Cam 88 Evolution engine to the streets and placed in all the touters. There was also the cool new FXDXS, with its XR750 bars, Twin Cam, and all-black format. Taking a close look at the custom bike scene, Harley-Davidson began producing its own line of custom bikes in 1999, with price tags hovering around $25,000.
Metric Customs Arrive on the Scene It's a fact of motorcycling life that the lines have blurred (and deliberately)
between traditional Harley-Davidsons and the various Japanese cruisers, to the point where the novice motorcyclist, and sometimes
even the veteran, might well mistake one for the other. Add the custom touch and the picture gets even blurrier or more interesting, depending on your point of view. The reality is that
an increasing number of Japanese bikes are being customized, and the after-market industry, sensing keen interest, has responded by producing an increasing amount of custom parts for these "metric customs." Yes, people are spending big bucks on their Yamahas, Kawasakis, Hondas, and Suzukis
to add that personal touch previously reserved for Harleys. Major custom shops, dealers, and individual builders working out of home garages are creating a new direction in customs not originating
in Milwaukee. Three representative examples follow, a customized Yamaha, Honda, and Kawasaki. Easyriders Magazine Celebrates Its Twenty-fifth Anniversary
in 1996 Launched in June 1971, Easyriders magazine, in this writer's unbiased
opinion, joined the ranks of other milestone publications like Life, Playboy, and Screw; magazines that
somehow captured the uncapturable of America. One man started it all, and kept it all going strong .... the late Lou
Kimzey. He had already created and published Drag Racing, Drag Strip, and Big Bike magazines.
He was the leading force, with emphasis on force, behind what would become a publishing milestone. The "chopper pro" staff member way back when was Joe Teresi, a designer and builder of choppers and drag racer who was the owner and publisher of Paisano Publications. Another bike builder who formed that
first nucleus at Easyriders was Mil Blair, whose talent with the camera helped put the publication on the map.
Easyriders is recognized worldwide (and no doubt beyond in Harley Heaven) as the ultimate Harley-Davidson lifestyle
magazine. Always imitated, never duplicated as they say. Weathering its own cycle of ups and downs, Easyriders
(a.k.a. Paisano Publications) has made it, along with the Motor Co., into the twenty-first century. As
Easyriders' current editor, Dave Nichols writes: Just as Fonda and Hopper's film Easy Rider acted as a microcosm
of the hippie and biker culture, so Easyriders focused on this wild lifestyle and defined it. The first issue didn't
offer a biker chick on the cover, just a wild chop job. Soon, the boys realized that sex sells and made sure there was
always a pretty girl seem with the motorcycle. Easyriders had a definite and tweaked point of view, from the wonky "Takin'
It Easy" column of bizarre news stories and weird tidbits, to mind-bending art direction and quirky cartoons. They
even invented oddball characters like Miraculous Mutha, who was the embodiment of the whore with a heart of gold. The
first issue jumped off the shelves, and soon the magazine had a life of its own. Early issues
of Easyriders carried the tag line "For the Swinging Biker" (though this soon changed to "Entertainment
for Adult Bikers") and conjured images of wild parties and fast rides on unimaginably customized machines. The magazine created an image of hard partyin' bikers, a life where beautiful women were plentiful and begging
to go for a ride on a chopped Hog or between the sheets. The first issues were published bimonthly, with the very first
David Mann center-spread appearing in issue three. Another artist to join the staff early on was Hal Robinson, whose
leg-wettin' cartoons only served to further create the image of what Easyriders was all about. Very early on, Easyriders
established ABATE, which at the time stood for A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments. Today, the organization's
acronym stands for A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education. The idea was to create a body that policed governmental policies
regarding custom motorcycles and acted as a watchdog for new laws that restrict biker's rights and freedom. At present,
ABATE has chapters all over the country, with membership in the tens of thousands. The magazine
was, and is, a sounding board for readers who kept the lifestyle alive through Harley's lean AMF years. Easyriders readers have always been very local. There's never been any guesswork in finding out what they
want, and so Easyriders' success has been the success of the American biker, independent, fiercely loyal, and proud.
Always wanting to give readers what they want, Easyriders magazine went monthly with the November
1976 issue. By now, the rag had gone from sixty-eight pages to ninety-four and would soon jump to over a hundred.
Loyal readers had gotten into the act of preserving their biker lifestyle and were sending artwork, photographs, poems, fiction, true road tales, jokes, and cartoons that exemplified the Easyriders
way of life. In fact, by 1978 there was so much good scooter photography coming in that we gave birth to another magazine.
In the Wind. Both publications continued to feature the coolest custom bikes and hottest Harley honeys on the planet. Easyriders has always been about reflecting the motorcycling world,
and as the custom bike scene changed and evolved, so did Easyriders. By 1980 the rag was already going through refinements, adding more
tech tips and legislative news, offering more color photography, more big bike events, runs, and parties, more gorgeous gals
and wilder art. Cool products produced by bikers for bikers began to appear, beginning with Easyriders T-shirts, belt
buckles, boots, and more. This would soon mutate into an entire products division, including everything a biker needs,
from leathers and riding gear to tools and bike lifts. By the mid to late 1980s, Easyriders continued to grow as well,
adding Biker and Tattoo to our stable of magazines, and we were offering $100,000 sweepstakes to win new Harleys and Fly &
Putt Trips to Europe. New riders on new Harleys couldn't help but notice our coverage of such traditional biker parties
as the Sturgis Black Hills Classic, Daytona Bike Week, and the Laconia Rally and Races. These new riders joined the
old-school bikers as rallies in droves, and the times, they were achanging. Easyriders continued to echo these changes,
becoming the largest-selling motorcycle magazine on the newsstands while still offering its whacked-out point of view to scooter tramps worldwide. The outlaw biker image, like it or not, was going mainstream in a big way.
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