any help id’ ing year ?

[grumpy2bde]

[Dragstews]

The year was 71'
Harley's merger with AMF gave em a lot of fiberglass to play around with ...

[Tattooo]

^^^^^^ Yep it could be several different years................

[Dragstews]

That look didn't go over very well ...
I must've took at least 15/20 of em off and replaced with stock fenders & seats ...

The one in the OP photos is for the Sporties ....

After over five years in the Harley-Davidson Design Department, Willie G. Davidson was promoted to Vice President of Styling in 1969. The boat-tail design, one of his first, appeared as an option available on 1970 and 1971 XLCH and XLH Sportsters.

Judging from the amazing array of new motorcycle designs that were hitting showrooms in the late 1960’s, drawing boards had to be alive with new ideas in the mid-1960’s, ready to be mocked up, studied and put into mass production. Willie G’s “boat-tail” took the then 12 year old Sportster design and gave it a twist, but not everyone liked it. As a $60 option, dealers tried it on some bikes, but most riders preferred the look of tried and true fender/seat set-up Sportsters were famous for. Though Willie yielded to two-up functionality in his design, maybe it was the visual imbalance the new long seat created; we like our motorcycles to look right, even if sometimes they are uncomfortable.

In 1971, the “boat-tail” showed up on another Willie G design that was more successful, the FX Super Glide, a blending of FL Electra-Glide and XL Sportster pieces bringing a new “custom bike” to the Harley lineup. But for 1972, the Super Glide went back to the more traditional seat/fender set-up as well. Boat-tail seats were put into dusty attics and just recently are getting some attention, commanding some money. As with XLCR’s, the cafe racer Sportster, maybe this XLH in Sparkling Turquoise with the larger four gallon fuel tank, drum front brake and its original “siamesed” exhaust system, even correct Goodyear tires on alloy rims, was simply an idea before its time.

[golfish]

If you cut off everything from the top of the rear shocks and back it's really a nice looking motorcycle. HD has really made some nice looking and performing motorcycles over the past 100 years.

All IMO of course. That's for sharing the pictures....

[DoomBuggy]

The sporty looks like it rolled of a Japanese production line, on the other hand I would ride the shit out of the FX.

[Dragstews]

The 71' "Boat-Tail" Big Twins was the only year that Sported the fiberglass tail piece and was the birth of the FX models ...

Had a buddy back home that rode one, he was a giant of a Fella, the locals called him "Big Man" ..
He was around 6'7" and weighed around 500 lbs, his Ol Lady was also pretty dang healthy too ..

When both of em was on that scooter, it plumb disappeared .. Made it look like a "Z-50" Honda .. !!


RIP ... Big Man

[Tattooo]

The 71' "Boat-Tail" Big Twins was the only year that Sported the fiberglass tail piece and was the birth of the FX models ...

Weren't they also made in 72? I didn't go look at my Harley book so I'm going by memory...........

[farmall]

I'd hang it on the wall to appreciate even more since they ain't getting any cheaper. Check prices online and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Dragstews]

Weren't they also made in 72? I didn't go look at my Harley book so I'm going by memory...........

Don't think so.

Perhaps leftover 71's sold during 72'

Nightrains was a bold move for Harley to blend a Sportie forks on, a slim-fast diet for the FLH ya might say.
And being released right in the age of the chopper boom was like the Mo-Co jumping into the Custom arena with a contender ....

[47str8leg]

Only saw a couple of the sportster version and always thought they pulled the boatail look a little better than the glide. Not because it looked so great but just because it was a smaller version than the Superglide . Harley's version of the Plymouth Superbird.
An odd duck for sure.
The sportster looks almost like they used a leftover Aermacchi tank on it.

[Dragstews]

Joe Dirt ... ??
(Yeah, right .. )

.../// https://youtu.be/NR949AQ9jbA \\\...

[laeljon]

71 FX Boattail

1971 FX went from this to this and then this.....#2 photo was the last rendition was originally Blue

[laeljon]

Boattail

70-73' shop manual

[Dragstews]

Designed by Willie G. Davidson (grandson of co-founder William A. Davidson), the Harley FX Super-Glide combined the lighter, thinner front-end of the Sportster with a Big-Twin frame and motor. At 560 pounds, it was 150 pounds lighter than an FL model, and 60 pounds heavier than an XL model. The 1971 Super-Glide was the first of the Harley FX models.



The first-year Super-Glide featured a fiberglass boat-tail seat/fender combo that survived only one year. The 1972 model looked much cleaner, with a banana seat and Sportster-style rear fender, combined with "Fat-Bob" gas tanks and dash unit from the FL. Although not a big seller at the time, the Super Glide is considered to be the first factory custom motorcycle.



1972 Midnight Express