Milwaukee’s Radical Power Cruiser

When the first Harley-Davidson Softail hit showrooms in 1984, I was working as a technician in a Harley dealership. This was just a few years after the company split from AMF, a sporting-goods company that bought Harley in 1969, and through the 1970s had attempted to make the Motor Company more profitable by cutting costs and increasing production. Unfortunately, combining those measures was rather counterproductive, and the result had a detrimental effect on product quality. I remember the Shovelhead-powered Harleys I worked on at the time as being unreliable; they also leaked and vibrated so hard that parts broke.

The Softail changed all that. With twin shock absorbers hidden beneath the bike, it featured a hardtail look, and also introduced a then all-new engine, aptly called the Evolution. The engine proved more reliable and performed better than the Shovelhead it replaced, and the bike’s retro styling struck a chord with