A buddy who's a truck driver called me today, said he's thinking about buying an FXR as a second bike. Said he'd like to find a shovel head that hasn't been opened up. Like, good luck. Anyway, he asked me when they went from shovel to evo on that model, and I said I'd research it. So here I am, researching. What do you all have to say about this matter? Any chance of finding one that hasn't been dinked with? He said he was expecting to spend $6-$10k. That's a lot of money for an old bike like that, isn't it?

 

83 last year of the shovel. 84 first year of the evo. 84 is chain drive 85 and up is belt drive.

 

I believe '84 was the first year EVO in FXRs.

It's possible to spend $6 - $10k on an FXR, especially if it's a '99 or'00 CVO.

 

The EVO motor was a Mid-Year introduction. The early 1984 models were still Shovelhead motors. The Enclosed Chain was used on all Shovelhead FXR 5 speed transmissions. When the EVO was introduced, Harley changed the Primary Case to the one that used the Belt. A few other things that changed was the exhaust, clutch and starter.

The main problem with the Shovelhead FXR models is they were manufactured in low numbers and this makes the parts hard to find. The Aftermarket has low numbers of parts too. If he is dead set to have the Shovelhead motor, he can replace any EVO with the Shovel. Then the only parts to find will be the exhaust.

 

So the late alternator Showels were using enclosed chain already? And the first Evo's were using belt and dry clutch? When did they switch back to chain?
This transition period is very confusin'

 

The Shovelhead FXR models had Enclosed Chain through late 1984 model years. The Early 1984 EVO models had the Enclosed chain but changed to belt by the end of the 1984 model year. The Early 1984 models had the dry clutch, and Late 1984 changed to the wet clutch. So 1984 had both Enclosed Chain and Belt. It also had Dry Clutch and Wet clutch. That is why the 1984 is a transmission year and hard to keep parts straight. I even have the Factory Service manual, and Part catalog and still need to look and compare parts. It was a real pain when I still owned them.

And when Harley changed to Belt, they never went back to chain.

 

Between the introduction of the Evo and 1990, when I bought my Glide (ordered in 1989) Harley roughly doubled output to 50k bikes. So shovels from the early 80s are not very common at all, many of them probably languishing around at the back of barns, waiting to be reborn! Your friend may have to rethink his aspirations.....

 

To the O.P. - your buddy can find a NICE Shovel FXR for $4-6K. He may need to look beyond the local area, but, they're out there.

Here's a couple in my area (not all Shovels)
http://baltimore.craigslist.org/mcy/3864353479.html
http://fredericksburg.craigslist.org...823052067.html
http://fredericksburg.craigslist.org...778655220.html


Not mine, just shared for informational purposes.

 

Another problem is the FXR was"the bike" to chop and customize back in the day. They were light, handled great and were fast to boot. Finding an unmolested one can be difficult. As previously discussed he could get an EVO and put the shovel in it, but I don't know why.
John

 

Back in 1984, HD of San Jose loaned my dad a demo
1984 FXR. He rode it for about 2 wks. It was red, Evo
pwr'd, 5 sp w/chain.
I rode it. If I would have had the money, I'd have OWNED
that bike. It ran rings around his rattlin' 1974 Shovel (that
I later wound up with - one of my biggest mistakes ever -
Rated right up there with my 1st wife - 2 of the biggest
POS's in my life !!)

I would still LOVE to own an FXR!!