I have an 87 FLHTC. Bought it new. Been a good bike. 82,000 on it. First off Charging system stock is only 22 amps. Most people up date to a 32amp when the 22 goes. The swing arm pivot shaft is a 3 piece. HD updated to a solid one. The radio was only used in 86-87. Its an old shaft style, it just looks like DIM chassie. Its a bitch to open up to put in anything else. The air anti dive reservoir is the front crash bar. When the fork oil gets hot it vaporises and end sup in the crash bar. That is why they moved it to the handlebars in 88. If I was in the market I would look a little newer. Mostly because of the radio issue,which might not botther you. 87 was only like the 3rd year for EVOs. A lot of updates came along the way. Alot of parts are superseded to new numbers, some aren't and can be a PITA to find.

 

i got a 89 flhs it cranks and run as good any bike ive seen i love it. parts are not hard to find and a lot of parts from newer bikes fit.

 

I have an 86 FLHT. I bought it new. I wouldn't trade it for any other.

 

Sounds like your in the same position I was in the spring.

I found a full dresser I could afford and work on. Just wasn't planning on spending so much time taking care of issues that creep into the older bikes.

The radio was an issue for quite some time. Fixing it and putting it only to have it fail after a few more hours over and over. I went with a Kenwood replacement but had to forgo using the handle bar controls and stuck the unit's remote on the top of the tank well within easy reach.

But that's not all. It has a lot of "quirks" to it. Spot lights were added and they stuck the power on the ignitions circuit breaker. For many that would have been difficult to track down where the breaker kept triggering and shutting the bike down. This fix lead me to the coil, and now I'm at the cam sensor. At least 2 weeks of attempting to fix only to go down the road 80 miles and have another issue kill the engine. I'm quickly loosing faith in it for trips!

I only wish that I could have foretold the 2 grand it's needed so far in repairs and if I had I could have added that to the buy price and gotten a newer bike.

I thought I had a fuel problem. Tank was full of 24 years of crud. The original petcock is a plastic angle and that started leaking. Now I have some debris that made it to the carburator and the float valve is slightly cruded up and leaking. Found a collapse tank venting tube and discovered it was rusted closed at the tank mount. Just cleaned it out and replaced the tubing. Test ride today!

One thing has lead to another, hasn't stopped all summer!

Shocks, brakes all around, tore down the primary for a new recharging system and now needing to replace the cam shaft pickup (sensor) cause I think it's faulting when the bike gets hot.

BTW it had the original 35,000 miles, was in good looking shape and the motor and transmission are strong and sounding good. No oil leaks and starts real well.

Here's where I'm at. It's all I could afford ($6,000) and I had planned on being the one wrenching on it because I have experience at that so I'm saving a lot by doing it on my own (at least I'm trying to convince myself I am).

So if your up to the challenge now you know what you may get into with an "old" bike.

The upside is it's plain and simple, straight forward. I would never wrench on a newer more complicated machine.

I have had some great rides and trips out of it. Couldn't believe we packed it the week after I got it and headed hundreds of miles north for a getaway with only radio issues ... ah, those were the days!! lol

 

The thrill of riding older bikes is getting back home with nothing gone wrong! In May my wife and I rode from our home in the UK through France, Germany, Czech and Slovak Republics and Poland, over 2,500 miles in all. Had to get the darned bike jump started one morning (still don't understand why) but no other problems. Wouldn't be the same on a new bike!

 

I would recommend 1996/97/98.
However, I can get parts/acc or modify newer parts or buy used.
I like carbs too.......Like cake!

 

Evos ride better with cake! Or is that Evo riders ride better....