The FXD Superglide

The Dyna FXD Superglide is the redheaded step child of the Harley-Davidson line. Yes, there are the venerable old grizzled bikers, with permanently greased stained finger nails and leather vests barley containing their beer belly, who contend that a Harley Sportster is a “girl’s bike.” Or that the Sportster is a beginner’s bike, a temporary ride on the way to a big twin. However, one only needs only to do a Google search to find dozens web pages dedicated to the Sportster. Despite that fact that Sportsters often act as an introduction for many riders into the Harley family, the line has a huge following of people love them and are not shy about saying so. Indeed they can be downright annoying about it, challenging Softail owners to races, or loudly pointing out that Sportsters are still raced in flat track and still winning, while most hyper powered big twin drag bikes limit their racing in Harley only competitions (Japanese drag bikes tend to eat them for lunch). The fact is the Sportster has a strong fan base of loyal individuals who love their bikes and are not afraid to say so. In contrast, the FXD Superglide, while a big twin, for some reason does not generate nearly as much praise or ink as other Harley models.

The Superglide is tolerated in the crowd of Wideglides, Night Trains, Fat boys, and Street Glides. Accepted, but not necessarily respected. The lowly Superglide is the cheapest of the big twins. There is not much flash to them, nothing to really grab your attention when they are parked next to another bike in the Harley big twin lineup. Put a Superglide beside a Fat Bob and the crowd will gather around the Bob, ogling the twin headlights and commenting on the exhaust design, while the Superglide is ignored. Hell, not only is it the cheapest of the big twin line, it has been the most obvious in its use of Sportster parts (yes, shocking as it may sound, Dynas have shared Sportster parts in the past). The Superglide is often thought of as the bike that is settled for when the owner really wanted some other big twin, but lacked the money to buy it. It is considered the poor man’s big twin. The owner is viewed as someone who had enough cash/credit to pass the Sportsters and buy a big twin, but not enough to get a “cool” big twin – they had to settle on the base model. Yet, those people who view the Superglide in this manner have missed an important point: Of all the big twins, the Superglide is the most fun to ride.

When I speak of fun, I’m not talking of posing. Everyone wants to look good, and the bike you ride can speak for you, if you wish. If you want others to think you’re cool, buy a Rocker, park it in front of a bar, casually lean up against the handle bars, and sooner or later some sucker will think you’re cool. I guarantee that you will have fun talking to people about your Rocker and about how cool you are. But that is not the fun I speak of. Instead of posing beside your bike, if you want to crack the whip and have a balls-out good time riding a Harley big twin, blasting down the twisties and blowing past cagers, the Superglide is the best one of the lot. This blog has been created to add some positive ink for the FXD Superglide, to expound its virtues and deride its critics. Superglides are not only better than Sportsters, they are better bikes than any Harley Big Twin when it comes to riding.

Unlike most Harley big twins now made, the Superglide lacks a raked out front end. Its front wheel rests relatively close to the frame which improves handling. The steering is far more responsive than any other big twin. While the Superglide is no sportsbike in the Ducati sense of the term, it is the sportiest big twin produced. In fact, I would put it up against the lightweight, thin as a rail Sportster in a street race. In essence, the Superglide has the largest engine Harley manufactures shoved in the shortest, most responsive big twin frame it makes. If that doesn’t sound like fun, then you need to buy something with lots of chrome and a flashy paint job (and go read someone else’s blog). I’ll post some chassis comparisons charts later so you can have a look at the difference between the Dyna family and the Softail family, as well as differences within the Dyna family itself. But before I get into that, let me tell you a little about my particular bike.

I own a 2003 FXD, which I bought used for the sole purpose of having a cheap, reliable ride under me while I work on my next custom project. My last bike was a full on custom – a Pan/shovel head in a rigid frame with tall bars and a five speed transmission with a kickstart. That bike will soon be featured in Cycle Source magazine. Although it was a cool bike, it was also a money pit (as all custom bikes are). I have a 1939 Harley U (big twin flathead) engine that I’ve been wanting to get together for years, but have always filtered money to my pan/shovel instead. So, about a month ago I sold it and decided to buy a more commuter friendly bike that I could ride to work when it is not raining and have fun on during the weekend. I wanted a standard twin cam Harley for its rock steady reliability. Something I could ride hard, and not worry about dumping more money into – any extra money I get together will be going to the flathead project. So for the past several weeks I have been keeping my eye on Craig’s List, Honolulu. I went out and visited several owners, and finally came upon this 2003 FXD.

The owner had not changed much from stock. The few things he did change, other than the grips and pegs, I liked. Most important among those changes is the change in handle bars. He swapped the stock pull back bars for Harley drag bars. This gives the bike a much more aggressive feel when riding. I would almost like to put clubman bars on it, a la café racer, but that may be pushing it a little too much. The drag bars seem good for now. Other additions included Screaming Eagle mufflers (the bike retains the stock headers), aftermarket mirrors, smoked turn signal lenses, a lay-down license plate bracket, a chrome belt guard, and the mentioned Harley grips and pegs. I’ll go over the likes and dislikes of all these things in more detail in future posts.

When purchased, the bike had approximately 10,200 miles on it. Not bad for a six year old bike. That’s less than 2,000 miles a year. According to the owner he purchased it in Oregon (it had Oregon plates), but spent much of its time in Arizona before being shipped to Hawaii. That is to say, most of those miles are likely to be highway miles as opposed to Honolulu traffic miles (Honolulu has some of the thickest traffic I have ever seen – and yes, I lived in L.A. and Osaka Japan before).

In a very short period of time of owning the bike, I was reminded of how much fun it is to pass cars on a whim, and lean as far as I wanted into a turn. I remembered how much fun it was to go fast without the fear of losing rear wheel traction, a constant concern when riding a rigid bike. I can honestly compare this bike to other Harleys I’ve had in the past and say this is the most fun.

In any case, I’ll have more to say on these matters later. I also plan on posting all changes I make on this bike. While my aim is to get my flathead going, I simply cannot leave well enough alone and will be making improvements to the Superglide along the way. I’ll keep you posted.

And by the way, all this blogging stuff is new to me. I'm learning as I go...