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I was at my Uncles watching the leafs game tonight and we started looking through some old photos and found one of my Dad's old bike.

I was wondering if anyone could help me identify the model and year.

Late 70s/early 80s Superglide?

I was told by my Grandpa that my Dad had a sportster and a low rider. However he had a couple of others during his time but he couldn't remember what they were.

I'd say mid to late 80's with that "ham can" and spoke mag wheels.

csspostal wrote:I was told by my Grandpa that my Dad had a sportster and a low rider. However he had a couple of others during his time but he couldn't remember what they were.

Low Rider was a Superglide with mag wheels and twin discs on the front, which is what this bike has. So it's good chance this bike is the Low Rider he is talking about.

Johnj wrote:I'd say mid to late 80's with that "ham can" and spoke mag wheels.

That distinctive air cleaner is from the late 70s/early 80s period.

Also it is hard to tell from the blurry pic but it looks to be a Shovel and not an Evo.

OP, is the bike chain driven or belt driven?

Excellent I eventually want to get one as close to my Dad's as possible one day.
The only other picture we found was even worse than this one. If I find a better pic I'll post it.

I'm thinking late 70's to early 80's Low Rider. Definitely a Shovelhead. Gauges are mounted on the tank, while the Super Glides of that era had them mounted on the handlebars. Also, you can just make out the kickstarter mechanism behind the rider's heel. Harley introduced the Evolution motor in '84 and the last one to come with a kickstarter was, IIRC, the '85 Wide Glide. The other models lost the kickstart around the 1983 model year.

Gummiente wrote:I'm thinking late 70's to early 80's Low Rider. Definitely a Shovelhead. Gauges are mounted on the tank, while the Super Glides of that era had them mounted on the handlebars. Also, you can just make out the kickstarter mechanism behind the rider's heel. Harley introduced the Evolution motor in '84 and the last one to come with a kickstarter was, IIRC, the '85 Wide Glide. The other models lost the kickstart around the 1983 model year.

Yes I concur it is a late 70s/early 80s Low Rider.

I am now home so I have my reference books at my disposal to narrow it down further.

According to Allan Girdler's Harley Davidson Guide, the Low Rider was introduced in 1978 but only came in Silver. In 1979 it came in Black, Silver, or White. They also added the sissy bar and the leather pouch in 1979. Also the 1978 came with the 74 ci engine which did not have that giant-cleaner. So that would eliminate the year 1978. The last Low Rider to have the Shovel was the 1984. So we can now narrow it down to 1979-1984.

Gummiente do you know what was the last year they used that funny looking air-cleaner that AMF had to use to meet the then new EPA noise standard? I guess what I'm asking is did they use that on all 80ci shovels until the very end?

EDIT: In thinking about it, I would assume so as AMF could not meet noise standards without it. The Evo was much quieter so it didn't need it.

HYPERR wrote:Gummiente do you know what was the last year they used that funny looking air-cleaner that AMF had to use to meet the then new EPA noise standard? I guess what I'm asking is did they use that on all 80ci shovels until the very end?

EDIT: In thinking about it, I would assume so as AMF could not meet noise standards without it. The Evo was much quieter so it didn't need it.

Not offhand, no. The Evo's came out with the new football style air cleaner, so my guess would be you are right in that the ham can was in place until the last year of the Shovel.