Hey fellas,

I've always had a place in my heart for the EVO and since I traded my 92 FXDC in on an 04 Heritage, I miss the old EVO motor. I like the Heritage a bunch but I'm not crazy about the TC88 motor. I'll keep the Heritage for sure because I can't imagine giving up the balanced motor for a non-balanced EVO in a Softail, but I'm seriously considering buying an EVO FLHTC and either building it a bit or just making it my own with cosmetic stuffs. I don't really like the Ultra's since more often than not they look like mid-70s Cadillacs by the time they get to me, but I'm flexible.

I'm wondering if you guys could list some pros and cons of the different generations of FLHs. I like the new modern style dash, but its not essential to me, I don't care for the old boxy side-covers on pre-90 models. I saw a 92 Anniversary Edition a few weeks back and my heart went all fluttery. Also, I see prices for these bikes all over the board, from $5500 all the way up to $12 and $13,000. Any opinions or help would be helpful.

I'm a wrench, so I'm not scared if I have to rebuild a basket-case, but if there were particular years or whatever that I should watch out for, let me know.

Thanks guys!
Brett

 

IMHO,evo's rock!

 

84 - 88 - gas tank and cover all one piece , boxy side panels , difficult to get dash parts for the eariler years, lots of obsolete brakets. motors are bottom breathers, but good castings, old style clutches , harder pulls

89 - 92 - gas tank cover seperate has more modern look, boxy side panels, old style dash but easy to upgrade the stereo speakers and ipod stuff,
motors are bottom breathers can have bottom end leaks to primary that means total rebuild with new cases.

93 to 96 - motor (top breathers) , tranny and clutch are good. old style dash but the side panels are modern. easy to get parts and aftermarket seats for.

97 /98 - all the upgrades from the factory are done for the motor and driveline, modern dash and can be made to "look" like a 'glide up to 07. Easy to upgrade the brakes, forks, swingarm and wheels, (have to replace mechanical speedo with electronic in some cases)

all of them basically have the same forks, wheels and a lot of drivetrain pieces. 97 the frame was changed somewhat, but the older models can use a lot of parts from 97 -07 pieces with a little fabrication work.


you can take a 84 to 92 and relocate the battery under the seat and put the more modern side covers on it and use later saddlebags and you can retrofit a 89 and above gastank to a 84- 88 to make it look more modern

 

Like 89 said, '93 and up have advantages over the older EVOs. 'course I'm partial to '98.

 

The pre '96 models have far less parts available from the MoCo. '96 and up share many parts with the Twinks.

 

I have a 95 and some after market parts are hard to find. Don't get me wrong, I love my bike, but if I had known then what I know now, I would have bought a 97 or later.

 

I have a '95 FLHTC and love it. Bought it new. If ever there was a bike that needed a 6 speed my '95 Classic is it. It's down power-wise compared to my '06 SG but it's comfy as hell and always gets the nod for long trips. I might convert it to the late-style fairing so I can have an updated sound system.

 

I've got a '94 with a Biketronics kit and it works great. You really don't you upgrade the fairing to get a good sound system ... unless you want to ;-). If you pump up the engine that 5 speed works great.