My wife & I went to our local dealership tonight. When we left we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts right up the road. As we were pulling in, I noticed an old FLH sitting near the door. I checked it out on the way into the donut shop& thought that the tank graphics were from 1976. The bike looked very "used" but not abused. Inside I saw an older man in a leather riding jacket drinking his coffee. I had to talk to him. I asked what year the bike was & my guess was right. He told me that he has had it since 1976 and only had the top end done once. He also told me that the speedometer just quit working recently, but when it quit the bike had 196,000 miles on it! He figured that he had done at least another 4,000 miles since the speedo broke.

And they say the AMF years were no good!

 

That's awesome! Good to see an old HD with serious miles on it and still running strong. I had a 75 Sporty that I put over 60k on in 4 years and it never left me on the side of the road. Looking to get 200k out my EVO.

 

Wish you had asked him how often he changed his oil & what he used. Nevertheless, goes to show how many miles you might get of of a Harley. His is probably good for another 100 grand.

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My first Harley was an AMF 1976 Sportster. It was fine bike.

 

Yep, not all AMFers were so-called "junk". My '78 FLH went over 200,000 before I sold it. One top in it, too. guess when you got a good one it was definitely a good one!

 

this might be off the subject but for some reason every time i see a pic of a Fat Bob I think off the FLH
I really like those bikes. I like seeing shovels i grew up around them and still did see alot of them running in central Pa before I decided to go active Duty and move to near Ft bragg but i do see alot of ironheads around there =

 

That's my dream, to put on that many miles on one bike. I've ridden that many miles but that was over the course of many bikes. I think it's great to hear of people with that many miles on a bike, maybe that will shut up a few of the nay sayers about Harley-Davidson's not being dependable.

 

AMF has always got a bad rap by alot of folks over the years......Many of the folks that rip AMF do not know that it was actually AMF who got the ball rolling on the evolution engine etc....I have seen LOTS of shovels with alot of miles on them over the years....Personally i would'nt hesitate to buy an older harley thats been taken care of that had a shovel head motor in it......Kinda always liked the looks and sound of that engine.....

 

That's what my first Harley was too. I never had any real problems with it, but I always thought that it needed a better carb. I never did get around to changing it before I sold it though.

 

It's depressing to hear you all talk about AMF Harleys are being old bikes. It doesn't seem so long ago.