Imitation Sturgis?
 

I have had this bike sitting in the garage for awhile now and finally have time to start the working on it. It was sent over from Knoxville and was described as a Sturgis in need of some TLC. SOME?.....really? At any rate, after giving it the once over, I think I have an imitation that has been cobbed together with some Sturgis parts to look like one. It does have the belt drive primary, wheels, and a couple other goodies, and I believe the front end is not original. The guy swears it is one. My first indication was that the outer primary didn't seem to exactly line up with the inner. Second was the rigged wiring all over it. Finally, I looked at the VIN. It has on old style VIN that I believe they phased out in 81 or 82 for the newer style longer one. The VIN of 3G96XXXH8 tells me it is a 78 or 78 1/2 80 inch FLH. Didn't the Sturgis come out in 80 or 81? As far as I'm concerned, it's a bastard bike, but it is going to be a fun project none the less. Just wondering what I should tell the guy to let him down easy.

Who knows really. It definitely has a few Sturgis parts on it. Maybe was a Sturgis, that was involved in a crash and bent frame. They someone hung all the usable parts on a late 70s FX frame. Too many possibilities to speculate but, if the glove don't fit you must acquit. If the VIN says it's a late 70s model, it's not a Sturgis.

Oh one more thing. To run the belt final drive you would need the proper 4 speed belt drive swing arm and primary. They ran that swing arm and inner primary on several models up through '86.

Tell him what he wants to hear,or tell him the truth and feel better about yourself,easy decision IMO.

Not necessarily, converted mine to rear belt without any factory or kit parts using the standard square swingarm.

But like you said with a shovel who knows it all mixed & matched so interchangeably.

A Sturgis should have a 1Hxxxxxxx vin if it's an 80 and a BD (5th and 6th digits) for model in the vin for an 81.

That's exactly what I was thinking, this thing has the old style shorter VIN.

The older style shorter vin was used on the 80 model and the newer longer style on the 81. They switched vin style in 81. Either way the vin you posted isn't a Sturgis vin; new or old style.
Personally I would download the vin worksheet and show the guy. It may hurt his feelings and he may have gotten ripped off, but it will keep him from having heartache and embarrassment when he tries to sell it as a Sturgis and someone calls him on it.
It could also be the case that either he or whoever he bought it from had a Sturgis with a tweaked frame so they swapped everything over to an FLH frame and for whatever reason don't understand that when they did that it's no longer a Sturgis, but a parts bike, albeit a cool parts bike, that will never be anything more and definitely not worth what an original Sturgis would be worth. Just curious does the engine vin match the frame vin?

You are correct...Vin indicates it started life as a 1978 FLH 80. Add to it that Sturgis model did not vcome out until 1980. You have the info you need to tell the PO if you choose. No easy way to let him down. Does the frame match the vin on the motor?

However that looks like a nice looking project.

"However that looks like a nice looking project" ... That's exactly what I was thinkin' "Panz" :>)