Need Advice

[mden2000]

I want to get an older bike and restore it. I know that their are certain years that people say you should not get due to the owners of Harley Davidson. What years should I avoid in purchasing?

[unclepsycho]

Avoid Anything prior to 1903


ha ha just kidding..... I havent heard of any years to avoid other than the fact that the bikes older than the panhead , the parts are hard to find if not impossible.

[frisco-rigid]

Hey Md

No years..!

That is all just Old Wives Tales about avoiding the AMF years..

Even back then the AMF sickles weren't that bad if a guy knew which end of a wrench to hold,,, & by now they've all been re-built correctly (hopefully)..

As Unc said,, some of the waaay older models may be tricky to find any parts much less OEM parts..
There are some Co.'s that manufacture Replica parts but that could be tricky all by itself.. Swap Meet OLD parts are often garbage----unless you know what you're looking at..
About how old are you thinking about..??

[Bigincher]

I would avoid the 1936 Knucklehead. Probably the Holy Grail of all motorcycledom. Cost you thousands and thousands of dollars just to think about it....

Transition years are goofy. First-year of, and last-year of, such as 1947-48, also 1964-65, have a lot of changes. I'm trying to remember what year Shovels were weird, too--- somewhere in the late-70s' early 80's. Sorry for the vagueness.

[Buzz Kanter]

Rather than focus on what to avoid, I'd suggest you spend a bit of time trying to figure, in general terms, what you are interested in.

Do you want a big twin or Sportster? Do you want a kicker only or electric and kicker? Do you want hand or foot shift? Roughly how much do you want to spend.....

[Bigincher]

Originally Posted by frisco-rigid

That is all just Old Wives Tales about avoiding the AMF years..

Very true. Don't let the AMF thing fool ya--- if anything, let it fool the seller! I have an AMF shovel, it was a fine motorcycle before I rebuilt it. There were some QC issues in those years, but I doubt you would find an original AMF bike and just run it like it is anyway...

[lightning]

you here so much about the amf years and this year and that year . i decided to try it anyway ..i would probably be satisfied to get my hands on a 80 or up sportster..if any one has any let me know

[wideglidebill]

as i am sure you have read in these posts, if you end up buying a old but not so old evo...stay away from late 80 thru i think it was 1994, because of perosity problems with cases.
other than that, i think they are all good

[lotanless]

I accept with information:the Mascot will be there for sure next week. Unless it gets caught up in some Olympic boycott or anti-Chinese protest. That's a promise.

[jrotten]

Howdy, I agree with ya on the AMF bikes. Been riding Shovels for years and Even the bikes I had that weren't rebuilt did fine. But I have to tell ya, I'm a stone cold Shovelhead freak. Another benefit to Shovels is the initial cost. I've seen some real good deals lately. JMHO