Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126470
;' 1:1 ~ E o 00 0') Eighty cubic inches. standard equipment fairing and cargo cases mark the 1980 Harley-Davidson FlT "Tour Gilda." H -D FLT test "What's a nice dresser like you doing in a racy paper like thist" Not your usual road test of the 1980 Harley-Davidson FLT "Tour Glide" ByCC When you tum the comer of your fortieth year, if you are still riding motorcyles (when will you ever grow up!), you will find that the kind of machine which served well enough in your salad days looks .pre tty silly on a man in his prime. They were cheap, hi g h -powere, di d ISposa.bIe, sma 11 . . Now you are dreammg the big dream: Coast to coast in style . You know how you ride (sanely, otherwise you wouldn't have survived so long) and why you ride motorcycles (you can't help it). You have grown to like your comforts. but you still want to travel light - a motorcycle. a. ~9!!'~~. music, sOme goodieHn' a bag: . 1: '.. I '. ' .' . ' . . That's wh~n a man sta~ kicking tl~es on the big motoT~c1es , In a dealer s shop, and the biggest of all, a whopping 750 lbs. and i.sss.see u the top of the line Harley, redesigned for this year and christened "T ou r Glide." What makes the Tour Glide different from other big, heavy road bikes is, it doesn't feel heavy . An ingenious fork geometry, discovered by H-D en gineers in their work with sidecar set• ups , makes this big scooter steer as light as'a di'rt bike : Yet when 100 mph I gusts of wind hit us from the side on the high bridge over Lake Pontchartrain in the rain . I couldn't complain. The new Hawg held its lane, while we al most lost the BMW ·riding couple with us . The TOUT Glide is unlike any other big Harley in that it has a new fivespeed gearbox. The rear chain is enclosed in an oil bath and never loosened a bit on our 2,500 mile test trip from Long Beach, California to Daytona, Florida. It used two quarts of oil on the trip. The venerable stroker V·twin and the new drive components are mounted on rubber pads so that very little of the inherent vibration gets through to the rest of the motorcycle or its riders. The tricIr. isborr~d 'from.tbe late lament' : ' . ed Norton "lsolastic" mounting and updated with automotive and aircraft components. This motorcycle comes equipped with a frame-mounted fairing 'and cargo cases ; you can't buy it without these amenities because for the first time in motorcycle history, they are styled right into the bike - not add-ens. And tne underside of the motorcycle has been cleaned up, with everything raised up for 35 degrees of lean clearance before anything drags. Even then, it will only be the traditional footboards, and they are hinged to fold up another 10 degrees. So, theoretically you could enter the FLT in AMA's open production races, where 45 degrees lean clearance is the rule. ',: :Im j olting ; of cau ' for 'the .stock.: