Can anyone help me understand why my dad's 69 Electra Glide VIN reads 69FS, I know nothing about motorcycles he's passed away I would like to know what I have sitting in my garage to determine if its worth fixing or its better to just sell it, what is the value, my understanding is it should be FLH (twin motor, Hand shift) but the title reads FS...any help would be greatly appreciated. It is also not running as it has sat forever since he's passed.

 

On the same side of the bike, under where the two cylinders meet, there is the VIN pad and VIN #, what does that say? Titles have gotten typos before, so lets start with the bike and what she says.

 

Thank you, to the best of my ability to read it I can only see the number which is 11662, those match but the FS and FLH are throwing me for a loop.

 

I do not think the numbers are correct for the year being an odd year and the number be even - plus the FS is not a good sign as they did not use those letters together

search around the site for speeding big twin he is the guy for numbers on any thing Harley he is the guy you want to talk to and send him pictures if he asks

other then that the bike is very much original except for the seat - if you parted it out you would get maybe 12,000 so all is not lost

 

Ok, so the title is wrong, it has 69FS, motor has 69FL which make sense, can anyone tell me if this bike came from the factory with the jockey shift or was that added later?

I know it came with the suicide clutch, but unsure about the Shifter. Thanks.

Jockey Shift, we have the originally seat and you can see just behind the bike is the original windscreen.

 

Since it has the FOOT clutch ,the frame mounted HAND shift is a given
While they were available as either foot or hand shift ( beginning in 1952) the VIN does not differentiate
It`s possible that someone converted it to hand shift but I`d say not

 

Please at least attempt to get it running before resorting to that .

 

OK, better VIN # with the FL, still hoping Speeding jumps in for his comments. I am glad we checked the bike, Titles can get weird over time.

That is a Rocker Clutch, not suicide. Could have come from the factory like that, perhaps she started life as a Police bike. Not sure if there is anyway to prove any of that.

You can call the Harley Davidson Museum, 1-800 #, and ask them to do a VIN search. Varies bike to bike, but they may be able to give you a ton of information. Worth the time to call them. Again, the Museum, not the Factory.

Handle bars look like buckhorns from here, would not be factory, but that is minor. Can you post up some more pics?

 

Thank you good to know. I appreciate your help.

 

Welcome to the forum. I can’t see anything wrong with the serial number (SN) and all characters appear consistent with factory stamping for a 69 Shovelhead.
Notice the style of the year characters and they may have been done with a tandem stamp.
Notice the F and L are sans serif. These characters are another two that may have been done with a tandem stamp.
Notice the 1s have a short horizontal serif at top left and a serif across the base.
Notice the sequence 6s have a straight back but overall they are different to the year 6.
Notice the 2 appears sans serif.

Here’s an example for comparison of most characters.





Because it’s FL you may find a certain type of sans serif 7 stamped on top of each crankcase half near the rear mounting bolts although that exhaust pipe may make them hard to see? (If it was FLH I’d expect to find a certain type of sans serif H.)

The number 11662 indicates sequential production and that number is within the known range for a 69 Shovel SN because they started at 1000 and went well over 13000. It also complies with the 1960–69 even-odd code because for an odd model year such as 69, when there are five sequence characters the first two of them, when read as one number, should constitute an odd number. Your first two are 1 and 1 so when they are read as one number the result is 11 which is of course an odd number.

Stamped under each crankcase half near the outer edges and somewhat toward the front you may find a crankcase production number. For generator Shovels this is also referred to as a belly number, a line-bore number or a confidential number and it may be formatted as per the following example: 169-1234. Check the left case first as its number may be easier to see even if there is a crankcase guard under there. Photos would be good but at least please let us know what you find.

Stamped on the left side of the frame steering head you may find an additional original component identifying number, aka security code, aka anti-theft number consisting of one letter followed by either three or four numeric characters. For example J1234 but the characters are only about 1/8” tall so you’ll need to look closely. Photo?

And can you post a picture of the sidestand in its entirety.

Also a close-up of the R-H side of the steering head would be a good idea as well as a photo of the entire R-H side of the bike. Thanks.
Eric