I am looking for any information regarding changes to the front fairing on Road Glides over the past ten years. I am looking to buy and customize my first touring bike and need help choosing which year model I am to start with. Having ridden Softails and customs, I know very little about the touring line. I have found info about the angle change for 2010 but I cannot seem to find if the shape or design of the rest of the fairing body has changed over the years. I have heard that there was a shape change around 2004-05 but cannot find any supporting info. Thanks so much for any and all help. Mike

 

For starters, even the current road glide models are using the -98 pn# outer fairing so any fairing from 98 to present will be the same shape. In 10 they did change the angle of the mounting bracket and the outside supports to allow for vented lower fairings. The angle was also changed slightly a year or so before as well. The road glide is based on the old tour glide style. If you google the tour glide you will see the old style sharknose fairing.

 

And I believe, can't say for certain, that the tour glide fairing is based on the concept of the old vetter fairing that HD used to use as an accessory.

 

Wow. Thank you. That is a big help and I'm pretty sure you just saved me a lot of money.

 

The first thousand or so Tour Glides had fairings made by Vetter. A fire (IIRC) shut Vetter down and forced the MoCo to find another source.

 

If whats left of my mind is workin right I belive in 04 the fairing nose was tilted down 4 deg. and in 2010 it was raised about an inch and tilted down 2 more deg. so you can use the same lowers as the Ultras come with. To my understanding the fairing design is the same other than that. How bout it Dawg? That sound right?

 

The Liberator Fairing made by Vetter Inc was produced from Fall of 1974 to the Spring of 1977. Made for Harley-Davidson. Few made because molds were destroyed Jan. 1977 in Vetter fire.

At the same time Harley was researching different types of Fairing, including the Batwing design. In 1965, Dean Wixom designed the Batwing fairing as an accessory for the FLH. Forty five years later... the "BatWing" fairing is still with us, now made by the Motor Company. After the fire, Vetter said it would be over a year before production could resume due to the molds being destroyed.

Harley decided to go with the Batwing and the rest is history.

The Tour Glide Fairing was a different fairing and was not the one made by Vetter. It remained basically the same from the introduction in 1979 to the end of the Tour Glide with the 1996 Tour Glide Model. The only change was the Turn Signals were molded in the Fairing , but in the last few years of the Tour Glide run, they were moved to the lower supports.

The Road Glide Fairing was a re-design of the Tour Glide. It was made more aerodynamic and there were positions for the radio and gages molded into the inner fairing. It is the same Fairing from it's introduction with the 1998 Road Glide. The only change has been with the mounting brackets that moved the fairing to make the use of the Vented Lowers. Before the 2010 model, the Non-Vented lowers used were exclusive to the FLT model.

 

 

 

So if the only changes are the brackets, does anyone know why the windshields are listed 98-03 and 04-current? Will a current windshield fit on an 03-earlier?