I ride a 99 fxd and love the bike. It has a big bore kit, pipes, cams, and I have added a set of drag bars and some risers. I made some rear trun signal mounts that look like dice because I had to make something for it. Now to the point of my post. With the popularity of all the "Bike Build" shows I have noticed there are people making good money reproducing old Harley pans and shovels. Why doesn't Harley offer a rigid frame bike with a shovel or pan. With modern air ride systems I.E. Paul ***'s "Rigid air" they could make a sweet throw back bobber or Chopper.

 

First time some RUBbie lawyer has that rigid skate out from underneath him on a washboard curve, everyone at HD gets sued, everyone with asphalt connections goes down, and the guy who put up the road sign that sez, "CAUTION: ROUGH ROAD AHEAD" gets run through the grinder 'cause it was 2.7 nano-inches too close to the hazard.

 

......or why not make a fat style FL style 'retro' off the '06 dyna frame. They only used that twin shock frame style on the FL and FLH for 30 years. Something a bit different then the hard-tail look.

 

In all seriousness, I doubt there is enough market for HD to be interested in a repop of a rigid. Very few new riders would put up with the rough ride; some of 'em still think the rubber mounts shake too much. I'd like to see a repop of the FL type in the Dyna frame. That'd be the only rubber mount I'd consider. I don't care for the looks of the frames on the present day touring bikes. Looks too "metric" to me.

Comes to it, I don't s'pose it'd really be too difficult to make a Dyna look like an older FL. Swap the front end, or maybe start with a WG, stick a fattie on the front, and then change fenders. That'd get you pretty close.

 

if you have ever ridden a rigid very much, you could answer your own question!

 

I loved my '79 FL. That bike was about the same size as my '06 Dyna so proportionally, the look of a FL front end would be really old school. Add the great rubber mounted engine, 6 speed and you have a great middle heavyweight......

I just don't see how HD can ignore so many years of FL and FLH twin shock history. It makes perfect sense to me. This is also why I won't even get into the softtail vs. dyna debate.

 

I have ridden rigid bikes and the ride is ok for me. I like the look of the rigid frame. I mentioned in my post some type of air ride suspension. What I am saying is while a bike like this won't be for the masses there would be some who would buy it. I find it strange walking into a Harley dealership and seeing Choppers not made by Harley there. If the dealers see enough need to bring them in the shop why can't Harley?

 

Rode a rigid Sporty for 9 years. Didn't ride all that bad, but I was a tad younger then.

 

I'd guess that if you add up all the rigid customs made & sold by custom manufacturers over a year's time or so, it probably wouldn't pay for the tooling of a new assembly line. Would be nice to see a nice tight rigid along the lines of a FlyRite or Sucker Punch Sally chop.

 

The answer is simple,they already have a nostalgia bike in the Heritage Softail that sells well enough and they sell every bike they make.
Why poke around in a small sector of the marketplace that has already got too many players in it.