1971 Harley-Davidson Super Glide

The meaning of the word “custom” in automotive design has shifted significantly over the years. Originally describing a car or motorcycle that was modified by its owner, now it may simply describe a street standard with a stepped seat and pull-back bars. It’s even lent itself to the oxymoronic description “Factory Custom.”

And perhaps the most famous factory custom in motorcycling is Willie G. Davidson’s FX Super Glide of 1971, which essentially attached a Sportster front end (the “X” in Harley parlance) to the chassis and drivetrain of a FLH Electra Glide (the “F”). As company styling guru, Willie G. also added a distinctive fiberglass “boat tail” seat base/rear fender, which looked not unlike that used on the 1970 Sportster and 1966 175cc BTH Bobcat.

What made the Harley-Davidson Super Glide a success?

Whether the Super Glide was a stroke of genius or an exercise in lateral thinking is open to argument. The preferred version has Willie G. inspired by custom bike builders and the bobber styles of the ’50s and ’60s, while adding his own unique design flair. In the Electra Glide and the Sportster, Willie G. then found the components needed for his vision and created the FX. Cleverly, the FX managed to embrace the chopper look without actually being one!

Providing the Super Glide’s thrust was the familiar 1,200cc FLH “Shovelhead” OHV air-cooled engine with its in-line 45-degree V-twin using a built-up single-crankpin bottom end, knife-and-fork connecting rods, single camshaft and external pushrod tubes. The huge primary case contained a duplex chain drive to the sturdy clutch and 4-speed transmission with chain final drive. Missing from the donor drivetrain though was the EG’s electric starter and heavy battery. The equally stout chassis was also FLH from behind the steering head, except that footpegs replaced the EG’s footboards. A new Bendix unit of 1-5/8-inch bore brought carburetion up to date.

The front end of the FX was pure Sportster, with its fashionably slender fork, 19-inch front wheel, 8-inch single-leading-shoe front brake and vestigial fender. The remarkable thing is … it worked. By nixing the FLH’s electric start, corpulent front fork, fender, headlight nacelle and fat front wheel, the FX dropped as much as 130 pounds of avoirdupois while shifting the weight balance backwards to 42 percent front/ 58 percent rear. This improved performance without apparently compromising handling, boosting top speed to 108mph from just around the ton.

But engineering based on esthetic inspiration will often crash into practicality and ergonomics. “Styling apart, if the bike were to make it, it would have to perform with a vengeance, said Cycle‘s tester. “Accelerate it does, corner it does, stop it does not.” The likely culprits of the FX’s sad stopping were the undersized Sportster front SLS drum and the overly complex hydraulically operated SLS rear brake. The elimination of the electric start also meant using a kickstarter, the lever for which came to rest exactly where the rider’s right leg should be.

Shifting, an operation accompanied by a loud “clunk” from the tranny, also required the rider to lift his or her foot from the peg; and the “lawn mower” handlebars were awkwardly angled. Whether it was the reduced front loading is not clear, but Cycle Guide‘s testers found that the front forks would easily top out: “That clanking when going down a rough piece of pavement … gets to be a bit unnerving.” However, they liked the light, two-finger clutch operation, and that the clutch refused to slip or stick after 25 back-to-back floggings on the strip. And while unquestionably patriotic, the red, white and blue seat trim, “just sort of floated into the picture,” Willie G. is quoted as saying.

So the 1971 FX Super Glide hit the mark in most departments, but disappointed in others. The 1972 FX addressed the questionable boat-tail styling by adopting a more conventional black “banana” dual seat. Disc brakes were added for 1973, and the electric start reappeared on the FXE of 1976.

Cycle magazine summed up the 1973 FX like this: “What it does best is look good, sound good, make a lot of torque, attract a lot of attention, and cost a lot of money: and these attributes have permitted it to segregate and satisfy what must be the most incredible, most singular and most conspicuous group of motorcyclists in the United States, whose primary concerns are being seen and leaving behind a rippling trail of thunder. If that’s what turns you on, have at a Super Glide.” MC

Contenders: More alternatives to the Super Glide

1971-1975 Norton Commando Hi-Rider 750/850

• Years produced: 1971-1975
• Claimed power: 56/60hp @ 6,500rpm/6,200rpm
• Top speed: 115mph
• Engine: 745cc (73mm x 89mm) or 828cc (77mm x 89mm) air-cooled, OHV parallel twin
• Transmission: 4-speed, duplex chain primary, wet multiplate clutch, chain final drive
• Weight: 421lb dry
• MPG: 40-47mpg
• Price then/now: $2,500 (est.)/$6,000-$15,000

If the FX was a happy merger of two distinct motorcycle styles, what inspired the Hi-Rider’s aesthetic? A bicycle? Four years before the Hi-Rider appeared in 1971, Britain’s Raleigh bicycle company launched the Chopper, a clear adaptation of custom motorcycle styling in a pedal bike. But would it work the other way round? The idea could be considered a bit of a joke.

Fortunately, the Commando’s architecture lent itself to reversible customization. From 1971 to 1974, the differences between most models came down to the gas tank, seat, side panels, headlight, and mufflers — to the point where a “genuine” Interstate was only distinguishable from a converted Roaster by whether the Smiths speedometer had a trip meter! So the Hi-Rider used the headlight and gas tank from the Street Scrambler, Roadster mufflers, and its own unique handlebars, sissy bar and seat.

Norton was considered a sporting and racing brand, and the Hi-Rider came up short in those departments. But while it was a flop with the coast café-racer crowd, it sold well in the Midwest — enough to keep it in the catalog as late as Fall of 1974. Over the years the Hi-Rider picked up the same drivetrain changes as the other Commandos, though fortunately not the Combat spec engine. And whether the factory built any 1975 850 Mk3 electric-start versions is moot.

1969-1971 Moto Guzzi V7 Ambassador 750

• Years produced: 1969-1971
• Claimed power: 60hp @ 6,500rpm
• Top speed: 100mph (period test)
• Engine: 757.5cc (83mm x 70mm bore and stroke) air-cooled, OHV V-twin
• Transmission: 4-speed, engine speed dry clutch
• Weight: 559lb curb, half-tank
• MPG: 42mpg
• Price then/now: $1,694 (’71)/$4,000-$13,000

In an era when most makers of large-capacity motorcycles depended on superannuated engine designs, trust the Italians to come up with something new! The parallel twins, boxer twins and in-line V-twins in production in the Sixties could all trace their ancestry back at least 30 years. Guzzi’s timing was perfect.

First of what became known as the “loop frame” Guzzis was the 700cc, 4-speed V7 of 1967, stretched to 757cc for the Ambassador of 1969 with a further stretch to 850cc and an extra gear for the Eldorado of 1973. That an import motorcycle was good enough to make significant inroads into the market for police motorcycles says a lot for the Guzzi twins’ performance, reliability and durability. That and the confidence in the electrics to specify electric starting only. Even BMW hung on to the kicker for another decade or more.

The Ambassador also set standards for finish and touring comfort with the generously padded dual seat, sturdy passenger grab rail, and smart chrome panels on the 6-gallon gas tank. For 1971 a separate speedometer and tach appeared on a neat dash panel. Cycle magazine summed up the Ambassador like this: “It will charge along steadily, hour after hour eating up the miles and carrying its rider in great comfort. It is a good motorcycle for the guy who wants to see what’s going on at the other end of these United States — the true long-distance rider.”

Originally published as “On the Radar” in the July/August 2023 issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine.