I have got the urge back to buy another harley I have been away for years I have got a 06 ktm 950 adv and my ktm 400 that I love and enjoy riding in the twisties and the dirt but I miss the Grocery getter, the errand runner,I had 3 old kawisaki nomads a few shadows and a vtx but they never turned the crank like my old shovel from 20 years ago. So after much thought I have decided on a early evo electra glide. I am mainly looking for 87-95 mostly due to budget but also due to the carb. I am looking at bikes from 13,000 miles to 88,000 miles. One of the hard things to find seems to be a unmolested motor I want a stock motor no performance upgrades and stock pipes this bike will be ridden often and I have all the performance I want in my ktm's . Any info or help with what to watch for would great
thanks

 

You should do fine. There are garage queens out there. A freind of mine picked up a 95 with only 4000 mi on it. Be patient.

 

My 96 EG had a CV carb. Enjoyed the bike a lot. Lowered it some. Bike had 77K miles on it and never leaked a drop of oil before I traded it for my 06 UG. I would put a thunderslide kit and a high-flow air breather on whatever you get. The responsiveness improved dramatically when I did that to the CV carb.
When I was researching that era of bike before I bought mine, I came across a few minor things to watch out for and not much in the way of major issues. I did have to replace the stator on mine, but that was about it.
I liked mine but just wanted to move to a newer bike with fewer miles in anticipation of some longer rides with my wife. The power difference between the 80ci evo and the 88ci TC was pretty impressive.

 

There was a frame change in 1993 ... they moved the battery and oil tank among other things. That also made the r/ side bag bigger. If I were choosing I would suggest 1993 or later ... more accessories available. I had a 1992 FLHTCU and it was a great scooter ... but if I was out looking I'd pick a later model unless I ran across a great deal. The EVO's were prone to cylinder base gaskets leaking so keep an eye out for that when shopping. Good Luck Brother.

 

I would look for a later model EVO. The biggest frustration I see is with guys who have a 95 and the parts they want are only for 96 and up bikes.

I bought my 98 as a garage queen with only 2,500 miles on it. You can get one with a carb if you want it.

Welcome to the forum.

 

any thoughts on a 87 with almost 50,000 miles??

 

Owned an 89 Glide for many years before buying an 11 this year. So this is my .02

for 84 through 89 - things I'd look for or be concerned about.

it came stock with the Timkin cam bearing, not the ina so that is good, want to make sure if they swapped the cam that they used a timkin.

87 to 90 cases - many did have a problem with the race for the crank on the left side case seperating and leaking into the primary, most were fixed but there are some out there still that could develop that problem. it is the biggest issue as you would need to tear down completly and replace the left side case to fix. also - the rear cylinder usually leaks from the base gasket as the miles creep up.

parts 84 through 89 are almost all obsolete. You can still get drivetrain parts, but electrical stuff and body parts are swap meet only now, important items like the ignition lock you cant by and when it wears out you have to rewire to make a newer one work.

You can wire up a new style radio and amp and speakers , but it is all custom, there are no plug and play solutions for you ( 1990 can get a biketronics retro radio kit) all other years you have to do it. It was not that bad for making it work on my 89 and the tunes were decent.

91 to 92 - went with stock ina cam bearing - it sucks and needs to be replaced, cases were ok, but not great. from 82 through 92 the battery was hung off the right side and eats a lot of space from the right side saddlebag. Parts are obsolete and a PIA to find.

93 - 95 - still old style fairing and elecrtical setup but moved batter underneath seat and oil tank under tranny so new style bags will work and you get full space. still has ina cam bearing that needs to be replaced, improvements made to engine cases.

96 - one off year, still the same as a 95 but it came with the new fairing that is still used today. so you still have to scroung for older obsolete parts for a lot of stuff and aftermarket seats and stuff are harder to comby. yes you have to swap out the ina cam bearing to.

note:
For all of the above, aftermarket parts like seats, quick release brakets, windshields , etc. are much less and many times require you to mod them to fit or fabricate stuff from scratch.



now the good part...

I'd really reccomend that you look for a 97 or 98 carbed , Evo, 5 speed glide. (even if you find one with fuel injection, swapping to a carb is cheap and easy on these models and is well documented on the net with every part you need).
Swap out the ina cam bearing for a timkin, throw in a good cam, tune the carb and pipes and enjoy. These year evo's have all the upgrades to the engine block, cylinders and heads and is whay you would get if you bought a remanned evo engine from HD today. Almost all aftermarket crap that fits from 97 to 2007 will work on these bikes and you can use parts from HD's to retrofit as well up to 2007, things like exhausts, brakes, forks, etc.

Good luck hunting !

 

Simply put... Be aware that you are buying a 20 year-old bike.

 

I sold my 95 last year- $6500 80000 trouble free miles on it.

I waited until the newer bikes were "good enough" to change- and with long distance touring i wanted better reliability.

The 95 is awesome, new owner is happy.
Stage one, reliable, good power 45 MPG at 65 MPH.
Don't worry much about a rear cylinder base seep- mine did from about 20,000 miles- never got better or worse
CV carb tuning info at nightrider.com-- the dynojet thunderslide kit is junk, don't bother with that. ( the CV carb came in for 1990- the previous Keihin butterfly carb not near as good-)

You are unlikely to find one that has not been modified, that can be good or bad-- depending on what was done and who did it.

you'll need to source a good indy shop.

for parts- lots of drivetrain parts available- but the evos averaged about 40,000 bikes each year of prooduction...twincams average about 250,000 bikes a year

so maybe some hunting.

If I were bike shopping on a budget, I jump right at an evo--- 94 or newer & carbed.

( I still have an 88 evo FXR ( in the garage with the other bikes).


Mike

 

What he said, but if you can, get the 1998. It was last year EVO Touring Model, but has the same fairing system still used today. Almost anything that plugs into the wiring can still be a Plug-N-Play.

But one more thing to remember. The most wiring plugs changed with the 1995 model year. So I would avoid Pre-1995. The entire fairing system changed with the 1996 year.

The Radio system was completely changed starting with the 1998 model year to the 2006 when Harley went to HK. Starting with the 1998 model year, the CB was moved inside the radio. But the CB has been under the Tour Pak from the first Ultra Model in 1989. This cleaned up the rear and wiring. And made the Detachable Tour Pak Possible.