Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RIDING ]MPRESSIO~. 1995 Harley-Davidson FXDWG Dyna Wide Glide (Left) Hlttln' the road on the Dyna Wide Glide is a fun proposition as long as you aren't In any hurry to get somewhere. The machine Is celebrating Its 15th year In the HarleyDavidson lineup. By SCott Rousseau Photos by Joe Bonnello hen the Cycle News staff decided to get its motor runnin' and . head out on the highway for the inaugural Tour de Cycle News (Issue# 4), I was extremely pleased to learn that we had procured a HarleyDavidson for our adventure. You see, I was born in the town that the Harley name made famous, and I think that everyone who shares the distinction is led to believe that dumping on the legend of Harley-Davidson is a damnable offense. It's sort of an unspoken law. And there were more direct ties, too, I suppose. My grandparents lived less than two miles from the Capitol Drive engine plant and were surrounded on two sides by neighbors who spent their lives working there. Heck, my dad even put in some time on the drill and tap machines at the plant, tapping the bolt holes in crankcase halves, chain covers and oil pumps. So there was a connection, and I remember always being excited when it came time to head down Highway 45 during my family's regular everyday travels to wherever, because I knew that we would be passing by the engine factory, and I would get to see all those shiny motorcycles - which in reality were just the machines owned by the employees who worked there. The bikes must have been great, however, because there were so many of them in the parking lot. I guess I should have known even then what my profession would be someday. Its funny how we often come full circle in life when we think about it. But things change. We moved out west, and·the excitement that I felt for the Milwaukee marvels was lost. Furthermore, as I continued on the journey that brought me to where I am, I learned how those in the know really felt about Harley-Davidsons, how reliability problems through the '70s and '80s had W I was dejected. All those HarleyDavidson proponents running around spouting that quasi-cultic "if I have to explain it to you, then you wouldn't understand" garbage. The legend almost died that day, for not only did I not understand, I didn't even know what question to ask. So I called Harley-Davidson and asked for another motorcycle, because I simply refused to believe that a company which has continued to sell every unit it could produce year after year for the last 10 was doing so with machines unworthy of merit. And a childhood myth was in jeopardy of heading the same route as Santa Oaus and the Easter Bunny. What I got was a 1995 Dyna Wide Glide, and the answer. If the SoftaiJ models are to be considered watershed motorcycles as representations of Harley-Davidson's past, then so too must the Dyna Wide Glide insofar as it provides a crucial link to the early '80s and the company's effort to respond to customer demand. Billed as a "factory custom," the original Wide Glid_e joined the Harley-Davidson lineup in 1980 as the Milwaukee firm's answer to the chopper craze, featuring such in-vogue styling features as a 21-inch front wheel,. to offer in the engine-performance department. Any attempt to rev the motor beyond this power pulse was refuted by an uncomfortable vibration through the handlebars, and even at cruising speed, there was a constant resonance that could be felt through the bike's footboards. Neither could I get a handle on the, uh, handling. I could not find fault with the bike's straight-line stability, but the massive 16-inch front tire combined with a rather longish-feeling chassis .and its accompanying lazy rake made the bike feel wobbly while undergoing low. speed maneuvers, and generally heavyfeeling in any turn. Higher-speed turns were also a headache due to the machine's inability to lean over without scraping a floorboard or one of its fishtailed exhaust pipes. As for the brakes, the Heritage SoftaiI was the only machine other than my speedway bikes where the front binder was absolutely useless, requiring serious help from the rear stopper to bring the machine to a halt. flamed paint job, "ape-hanger" handlebar and generous amounts of chrome. But whereas some of the other machInes that joined it back then, bearing model names such as the "Fat Bob" and "Roadster," have been superseded or dropped altogether, the Dyna Wide Glide lives on, combining all the traits of the original model with the technological advancements (in Harley-speak, of course) of current H-D offerings. Our particular example even had the flames, albeit a tasteful, pinstriped rendition surrounding the Harley-Davidson moniker on the fuel tank. In fact, 1 couldn't fault the looks or the finish of the bike. Of course it goes without saying that the company has come a long way toward improving reliability with the inception of the Evolution engine, belt drives, smoother-operating fivespeed transmissions and the Dyna chassis, which rubber-mounts the engine. All are found on the Dyna Wide Glide, and the machine has received a few more improvements for 1995 in the form of a cable-free electronic' speedometer and a (Right) The wide front end with massive-looking 21Inch front wheel, ape-hanger bars and flamed fuel tank are all styling cues consistent with the Wide Glide tredltlon. For cruiser 1ans, the Harley-Davidson Is stili the definitive motorcycle. almost sent the company down for the count, and how the performance of the big bikes paled in comparison with the latest in Japanese technological wizardry. The l~gend I had grown up believing in was tarnished. Yet while I wanted to be able to spout V-twin gospel and refute the claims that Harley-Davidsons were nothing more than fraudulent examples of what a real motorcycle should be, I am ashamed to admit that 1 couldn't, because except for one meaningless parade lap in a parking lot on a Low Rider Custom three years before the Tour de Cycle News, I had never truly ridden a hawg. I finally got my chance aboard a 1995 FlSTC Heritage SoftaiJ Oassie, and boy, was I ever disappointed. It's not that I hated the Softail, but my faith in the Harley-Davidson legend was shaken with each passing mile aboard the machine as threads of the childhood myth surrounding my bike and Il).y hometown seemed to tear away. Except for an anemic torque surge on the bottom end, the bike had .absolutely nothing

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