I'm very new at the Harley scene and honestly didnt know Harley had stopped making their Springers. I was looking at the Harley website today, the 2007 model lineup showed the Softail Springer was a bit less expensive than the Heritage Softail Classic. That suprises me. So, I need a history lesson, why on earth are they not produced anymore? Were they not a popular bike for some reason?

 

Too much time and $$$ to make them.

 

Like anything else in business I would guess the ends didn't justify the means. if they would have sold like hotcakes I'm sure they would be making more.

It's a bummer to me. I've always been a fan of them. Have two of them now. Not only do I thing they look better, I think they ride better.

 

All comes down to the fact that the Springers were expensive to produce and they are a niche bike.

Many of us also would like to believe that H-D just wanted to keep up the values of the Springers for those of us lucky enough to own the finest bikes H-D ever made. Too many of the same bikes produced just dilutes the richness of the bike itself.

According to H-D, they only made 23 of my year, model, and color. How often, do you suppose, I run into others with my model bike, let alone in my color? Contrast that with how many black road kings I saw just today?

I am o.k. with H-D making just a few, or no, Springers for a while. It just keeps up the value of the one between my legs.

 

Sickest modern springers and probably my favorite models ever were the FXSTSB (Bad Boy) and the FLSTS (Heritage Springer). Bones was ugly, stock, but a lot of people here have done some great things with them. Wish they'd bring back a classic-looking springer...

 

I've said this here many times, but I think a Springer says "Harley Davidson" more than any other motorcycle model they've produced, past or present. They began production of the modern looking Springer in 1930 and produced them continually until 1948, then they went absent for a while, then reappeared in 1988, and have appeared in their line-up, off and on, up until the 2011 model year. A Springer offers many advantages over telescopic forks, but one thing that has contributed to the recent discontinuation more than anything is the lack of compatibility with ABS brakes, which the industry is moving towards. For those who don't care about ABS and want to have a bike that screams of history and uniqueness, then the Springer is the only model that serves that role, and it's the model that has the most history wrapped up its design.

http://www.flyingsnail.com/Sprung/sprungbytheyear.html

.

 

Like Arnie they'll be back, may be afew years though, on a side issue gotta say these pics at the top of the page are getting more horny, nice.

 

I dont know for sure, I would think it is sales though.

The Cross Bones I think looks great out of the box, especially because of that springer front end.
Did they stop making it already? I think it is going to be a classic in time, people will wish they had gotten one.

The only thing I dont like about the springers is they dont have an offset so they end up looking very stout, so little rake it just looks funny.

I think if they offset them a little to keep up with a 32* rake or better they would look better but I hear they dont handle that well and they bottom out easily.
I Too like the look.

If you want to stand out in the crowd, you cant have a Harley period so the guy saying I hardley ever run into one like mine especially the color, lol
I never bought a road king to stand out, I buy them because they are the most comfy bike I ever owned for long distance riding, if I wanted to stand out I would buy an Indian, or a drifter like I had.

I went to two bike ralleys on my Drifter and never saw another one in any color, thats standing out, I mean everyone wanted to look at this bike, on a Harley of any kind its all about what have you doe to yours, cause they arent not unique at all.

I went to a traveling Indian museum and had people lining up to look at my bike instead of the dozens of antique Indians, I know how it feels to be on a rare looking bike, and it is fun and no one ever mistakes your bike, I could go anywhere in New England and people would say, I saw you in NY, or I saw you a month ago on the Mass Pike, etc.. and they were right, lol.

People would ask me, where can I get one, how much are they who makes them and what year is it?

Road Kings, SG's, Ultras, etc.. are everywhere, now there are so many look likes that you really have to look close to make sure you arent looking at a Kawai, or Yamaha, etc.. they all look like Road Kings to me until you look at something you recognize

I have pics here of bike week, all you can see are Road kings and street glides and ultras, one after the other after the other, nice bikes but you feel like you are lost in a crowd.

In 2006 I had the only 04 ROad king custom I could find at Laconia and I looked everywhere hard, Ithought that was pretty cool, I mean it is still a road king, but guys would ask me, what is that, who makes it and when I said Harley Road king they would look again and be like, no sh#t, the lettering on the tank was different at that time and my mods made it even more different.

Look at my albums and see my glow in the dark green drifter, there are no others that look like it, especially like mine, anywhere I go on it, people stop me in traffic, at lights, wherever I stop people come in to talk, at at bike week I had a line of people taking pics and asking questions, if you want to stand out , get off the hawg period.

IF you want a comfy ride that you can depend on get a road king.

I have a couple of Daughters who are on the shy side as far as attracting attention to themselves goes and they would follow me on the drifter in a car and just be red faced at all the attention, I love it myself being in band and being tall I always stand out anyway and I kinda like it, but on my Harley I am just another guy with a Harley.

Lump

 

I didn't like anything produced after 2003 anyways..

I'll just keep my Heritage Springers

 

I miss my 05 Classic Springer. I miss my 48 Pan more. But you're right. They ride a lot better than the hydro glides.

It's one of the "if you never rode one, you wouldn't understand" things. I've had guys who admittedly never rode one say how bad they rode. Lol. Ok.