ok hgm back in 70 or 71 when harley was bought bya.m.f they pissed off a lot of their workers they didnt like amf take over so they started to sabotage the bikes so nobody would be happy and drive amf into the ground there were many articles written about it like in easyriders mag back in the 70salso in other mags and yes they really found wrenchs in the transmissionsplus other sabatoge also look what they did to the 79 sporty
most of the parts you can only use 79 parts no others will fit thats why i say any harley made by amf is nothing but scrap iron if you dont believe me ask your local harley mech. that had to work on them it was a nightmare until the workers bought harley back or ask some of the senior riders who remember well thats all i have to say about it and besides why has the bike ur buddy have sat for so long does it run or not or did he park it cause it was costin to much to keep repairin it do your research on amf harleys before you buy oneor you will have nothing but headaches



ride hard die free

 

Allright, I'll give you AMF years was really bad. But was this because HD, Triumph, BSA, and the other non-jap were old engineering, or was it poor quality?

My '76 Ironhead reminds me ALOT of my '67 triumph in that the general parts quality is sub-standard, enineering is ancient by todays standards, and lots of wrenching needed to keep them going.

I really think the increase in HD quality had as much to do with keeping up with Japanese Quality and modern technology, as getting rid of AMF.

My '87 FXSTC has ALOT in common with AMF Shovels just a few years older, but the quality in '87 is radically better. But I don't think the AMF vs pre-AMF is all that different.... Agree??

My guess is that if AMF would have kept HD, AMF would have either done the same increase in quality.

My theory is that the arrival of the Jap bike is what really caused this transformation in HD quality.

I want to hear other opinions on this.

 

4000 should get you a good running proven reliable bike.i have a feeling that bike will be sitting there for awhile.
theres probably sabotage everywhere to some extent.a friends friend boght a new harley in those days and claimed the handlebars came off the bike while he was riding....scary.mostly i am sure it was just poor quality control/process,poor/slow engineering.the same thing was happening in the car industry.the japanese were getting better and better and we were comfortable.human nature.---i heard they use to have carburators throwing contest at harley rallys.
as far as not riding an amf harley most people just say that because its the popular thing to say.i know people who say that and they have never owned ANY harley ever.they say it just because its an accepted statement that makes them cool i guess.a ton of people on this forum has amf harleys.


i

 

ok it wasn't a matter of old enginering or poor quality harley was gettin ready to close the doors for good due to the fact sales were down and the economy was really bad in the 70s almost all the british bike companys were shut down i believe triumph was the last to go and harley was next they did everything to keep going also the jap bikes where the thing as far as amf if they would have stayed with harley you wouldn't have a harley now i can't remember but i believe amf was a jap corp as far as things falling off and bad wiring,carbs,axel bearings,engine cases,and gears this was all sabotage by the workersanyway most of the riders today on amf bikes have fixed all of those problems but it took time and alot of hair pulling and cash to straighten them out and alot of them gave up and sold them to other people 81 is the year harley workers bought the company back i dont know if i would buy a new harley today due to all of the electronics on them now it seems like there havin more problems from what i've read on this forum well i guess thats all i can say so if you want to buy that $4,000 sporty have at it



ride hard die free

 

Seems to me that any bike still rolling after 29 years with medium to high miles has either had the major kinks removed or was a darn good machine to begin with, rare maybe. What I am dealing with in my 79 XLH is nothing more than poor maintenance it received in the last few years from it's previous owner. I was around and riding first Harleys then others from the mid sixties through today. I remember Harley's dark days, and the AMF's were in the mid to late end of that period. During the late seventies through 2004, I owned only Brit, then Jap bikes. The talk was loud that Harleys were sabotaged in the mid to late 70's. There were cases when they showed up at the dealer without fluid, untorqued all over and with parts loose inside the engine and tranny. An engine without pistons and other unforgivable stuff that the dealerships had to correct when they found them. A little of that happens even today, but not on purpose I hope. More than one tranny has crashed recently because the factory 'forgot' to put fluid in per the established procedure. The used bikes were going cheap in the late 70's, but like so many I didn't want one.

It' s testament to perserverance that Harley has been able to turn things around so remarkably. These days Harley's are respectably reliable. Now I have two, one of them from Harley's darkest days. How many Jap bikes do you see on the road, from the 70's - even the 80's? Talk about scrap iron.

 

Everyone that owns a Harley made after 1969 can thank AMF they are not riding Hondas. Period.

 

This is a good post. The AMF bikes had a lot flaws--I had a shop in those days and have a few horror stories of my own. While I won't go so far as to "thank" AMF, they did infuse some much needed capital. At any rate, the AMF bikes have survived the test of time--there are a whole lot of them still on the road running and running well.
In most cases, all the AMF issues have been long since resolved.