Misplaced Pages

#873126

72-399: The first rear suspensions on motorcycles were introduced before World War I, and many companies offered fully suspended motorbikes before World War II, but most designs were either expensive, prone to wear and tear, or added more instability than comfort or better roadholding, especially when damping was insufficient. The models that remained hard tails offered suspended bicycle-like seats for

144-476: A swingarm with one or two shock absorbers for the rear suspension. The most common form of front suspension for a modern motorcycle is the telescopic fork . Other fork designs are girder forks, suspended on sprung parallel links (not common since the 1940s) and bottom leading link designs, not common since the 1960s. Some manufacturers (e.g. Greeves) used a version of the swinging arm for front suspension on their motocross designs. A single-sided version of

216-478: A bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University , and a master's degree and PhD in engineering mechanics from Columbia University . He spent a year as a NATO postdoctoral fellow in England. From 1966 to 1971, Bleustein was an associate professor of engineering and applied sciences at Yale University . His work on piezoelectricity along with related work by Yuri Vasilyevich Gulyayev on

288-552: A coil-over spring. In other words, the spring for the rear suspension is a coil spring that is installed over, or around, the shock. In terms of adjustment, rear shocks span the range from no adjustments whatsoever to pre-load adjustments only to racing shocks with adjustments for length, pre-load, and four different kinds of damping. Most shocks have internal oil reservoirs, but some have external ones, and some offer air-assisted damping. A number of companies offer custom-built rear shocks for motorcycles. These shocks are assembled for

360-466: A completely redesigned Softail frame for the 2018 model year, the first major change since the introduction of the Twin Cam engine in 2000. The 2018 Softail frame uses a differently shaped swingarm suspended by a single rear shock absorber, mounted underneath the seat in a similar fashion to the original Haubert and Davis designs. Harley claims that the new chassis is significantly stiffer and lighter than

432-512: A hard-tail motorcycle. The job was given a low priority until later in the year it was transferred to Jim Haubert Engineering, a firm that Harley-Davidson contracted yearly to custom build motorcycles and prototypes. Haubert built a prototype using his own rear suspension design that closely followed the look of the earlier Harley rigid frames. This version was completed enough for review by Harley-Davidson in January 1981. Davis continued to develop

504-454: A minimum of rider comfort. After World War II, imported British bikes with rear suspension and good handling became popular. Harley-Davidson replaced the Springer leading link fork in 1949 with a telescopic hydraulically dampened Hydra Glide front fork that offered more travel, a design that is still state-of-the-art today. After the all-new entry-level 1952 Harley-Davidson Model K adopted

576-768: A new type of transverse surface acoustic wave led to that wave being called the Bleustein-Gulyaev wave. In 1971, he decided to enter the corporate world and took a job as a technology consultant with American Machine and Foundry , commonly known as AMF, a sporting goods manufacturer. He was considered the "golden boy" of AMF's engineering team. AMF had purchased the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company in 1969. In 1975, AMF assigned Bleustein to help reorganize Harley-Davidson's engineering operations, which he described as "an overgrown blacksmith shop" at that time. He began commuting from New York to Milwaukee one day

648-423: A simple damper-rod system, in which damping is controlled by the passage of fork oil through an orifice. Though cheap to manufacture, it is hard to tune such forks, as they tend to give too little damping at low slider speeds, yet too much damping at higher slider speeds. Any adjustment setting will always be a compromise, giving both over-mushy and over-stiff damping. Since forks act as hydraulic dampers, changing

720-505: A single shock absorber rear suspension, a single shock absorber connects the rear swingarm to the motorcycle's frame. Typically this lone shock absorber is in front of the rear wheel, and uses a linkage to connect to the swing arm. Such linkages are frequently designed to give a rising rate of damping for the rear. In 1972, Yamaha introduced the Mono-Shock single shock absorber rear suspension system on their motorcycles competing in

792-400: A specific motorcycle and rider combination, taking into account the characteristics of the motorcycle, the weight of the rider, and the rider's preferred riding style/aggressiveness. Twin shock refers to motorcycles that have two shock absorbers. Generally, this term is used to denote a particular era of motorcycles, and is most frequently used when describing off-road motorcycles. During

SECTION 10

#1732793010874

864-400: A week to manage the process. Bleustein became a Harley-Davidson employee in 1975, initially as vice president of engineering. AMF's ownership of Harley-Davidson was problematic, and by some accounts, the company was close to bankruptcy in the early 1980s. Along with 12 others Harley-Davidson executives, Bleustein helped lead an $ 81.5 million leveraged buyout of the company in 1981. He

936-417: Is called "total sag" or "race sag". Total sag is set to optimize the initial position of the suspension to avoid bottoming out or topping out under normal riding conditions. "Bottoming out" occurs when the suspension is compressed to the point where it mechanically cannot compress any more. Topping out occurs when the suspension extends fully and cannot mechanically extend any more. Increasing pre-load increases

1008-414: Is characterized by a swingarm that extends from the bottom of the engine/frame to the centre of the front wheel instead of a fork. The advantages of using a hub-center steering system instead of a more conventional motorcycle fork are that hub-center steering separates the steering, braking, and suspension functions. With a fork the braking forces are put through the suspension, a situation that leads to

1080-415: Is important in that it provides classes used for vintage motorcycle competition. For example, vintage motocross races are held for older motocross motorcycles. To prevent the better-performing monoshock motorcycles from dominating the competition, there are separate competition classes for monoshock and twinshock motorcycles, which prevents them from competing directly against each other. On a motorcycle with

1152-475: Is intended to isolate the frame and the steering head from undesirable forces transmitted by the rear suspension by having the dampers upper mount contained within the rear swingarm subframe, rather than connecting it to the frame itself. Jeffrey Bleustein Jeffrey L. Bleustein is an American business executive, and the former Chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson . He is credited with helping save

1224-479: Is to use a reactive link or torque arm to connect the braking components to the motorcycle frame via the triple clamp. Some fork designs mitigate dive, eliminate it, or even reverse it without affecting the front suspension adversely. The Earles fork is among the latter; when braking the front brake hard, the front end of the motorcycle actually rises. BMW's Telelever fork is designed to nearly eliminate dive, and could have been designed to eliminate it completely if

1296-481: The Honda Valkyrie featured USD forks. Motorcycle suspensions are designed so that the springs are always under compression, even when fully extended. Pre-load is used to adjust the initial position of the suspension with the weight of the motorcycle and rider acting on it. The difference between the fully extended length of the suspension and the length compressed by the weight of the motorcycle and rider

1368-580: The Motocross World Championships . The suspension which was designed by Lucien Tilkens, became so successful that other motorcycle manufacturers developed their own single shock absorber designs. Honda 's version is called Pro-link , Kawasaki 's is Uni-Trak , and Suzuki 's is Full-Floater . Honda's Unit Pro-Link , used first on the Honda RC211V MotoGP racer, and then on the 2003 Honda CBR600RR sport bike,

1440-761: The 1909 A.S.L. which had both front and rear pneumatic suspension, the 1913 Indian Single with a swingarm suspended from a leaf spring and the 1913 Pope with wheels supported on a pair of plungers which were each suspended by a coil spring . Several motorcycles before and immediately after World War II used plunger suspension in which the vertical movement of the rear axle was controlled by plungers suspended by springs. Notable manufacturers of motorcycles with plunger suspension include Adler , Ariel , BMW , BSA , Indian , MZ , Saroléa , Norton , Cossack/Ural and Zündapp . Although plunger suspension could be sophisticated, with springing and damping in both compression and rebound, it had three disadvantages (compared to

1512-719: The 2018 Heritage Classic produces 81 hp (60 kW) and 108 lb⋅ft (146 N⋅m) at the rear wheel. The Softail is the most popular Harley-Davidson model family for heavy customizing and is often used for show bikes. Many aftermarket manufacturers around the globe have specialized in Softail parts & accessories like wheels, fenders or tanks to change the look of the custom motorcycle . Harley-Davidson also started an Inspiration Gallery to show their latest factory custom parts on all new models - many have their origin in CVO Softails, which are handmade Limited-Editions of

SECTION 20

#1732793010874

1584-610: The Dark Custom Cross Bones, the Dark Custom Blackline and Breakout. With the exception of the Deuce, which has a 2 in (51 mm) longer tank, these motorcycles have the same engines, transmissions, and frames, differing mainly in the fork, wheels, and accessories. The Softail model line has multiple front fork configurations. Historically, they have had Springer leading link forks, reminiscent of

1656-560: The Springer front fork that was discontinued in 1948 was offered again, as a modern design with better bushings and a central damper. Even Heritage Springers were offered, that looked like the 1936 to 1947 Knuckleheads. There have been many Harley-Davidson models with the Softail frame, including the Softail Standard, Custom, Springer Softail, Heritage Softail, Heritage Springer, Night Train, Deluxe, Deuce, Fat Boy, Softail Slim,

1728-677: The Touring or Dyna models (which have rubber engine mounts). To compensate, later Softail models used a counterbalanced version of the Twin Cam engine , the 88B, instead of the regular Twin Cam engine used in the Touring and Dyna models. This counterbalanced engine was enlarged to 96B and 103B before it was replaced by a variant of the Harley-Davidson Milwaukee-Eight engine for the 2018 model year. In 2017, Harley unveiled

1800-493: The UK), slide up and down the fork tubes ( "fork stanchions" in the UK). The fork tubes must be mirror-smooth to seal the fork oil inside the fork. Some fork tubes, especially on early roadsters and off-road motorcycles, are enclosed in concertina plastic/rubber protective "gaiters". "Upside-down" (USD) forks , also known as inverted forks, are installed inverted compared with conventional telescopic forks. The slider bodies are at

1872-607: The all-aluminium Harley-Davidson Evolution engine that was more reliable that the Shovelhead, and had heads that looked like square versions of the round Panheads. It was first offered in the Softail, and helped making it a success. From 1986 onwards, Harley offered the Heritage Softail that copies the look of the 1950s Hydra Glide full dresser, with big front wheel, big head lights plus additional lights, big fenders, floor boards, saddle bags, windshield. By 1988, even

1944-410: The almost universal swingarm that succeeded it), as follows: (i) wheel travel was limited, (ii) the wheel could move out of the required vertical axis, and (iii) it was more expensive to produce and maintain. The basic motorcycle swingarm is a quadrilateral, with one short side connected to the motorcycle's frame with bearings so that it can pivot. The other short side is the rear axle around which

2016-484: The by now standard rear swingarm with twin shock absorbers, the Big Twin FL continued to rely on the big suspended seat until the 1958 Duo Glide got twin shocks, too. In the 1950s and 1960s, customized motorcycles appeared, many of them based on old Harleys, like surplus US Army Harley-Davidson WLA , or other brands, and often with hard tail frames rather than suspended ones. While the earlier bobbers still used

2088-581: The company from possible bankruptcy in the 1980s, and leading the company's resurgence as the dominant motorcycle manufacturer in the United States. Bleustein is a native of Scarsdale, New York , and comes from a family with a background in manufacturing. His grandfather, an immigrant from Poland, ran a company called Atlas Baby Carriage in the Bronx, along with his father and two of his uncles. After graduating from A.B. Davis High School , he earned

2160-426: The company, he was embarrassed to discover that his new Harley-Davidson Sportster was leaking oil, and this motivated him to redesign the engine to eliminate the oil leak problem. He was responsible for other engineering innovations, including rubber engine mounts to reduce vibration, redesign of the iconic Harley-Davidson V-twin engine , and introduction of Kevlar drive belts . He was an active participant in

2232-411: The damping function. The emulator has a very small orifice for low fork-speed damping, and an adjustable shim-stack for high fork-speed damping. Gas-charged cartridge forks , which became available in 2007, consist of gas-charged cartridges fitted within standard forks. This kit is suitable for supersport classes of racing, where regulations prohibit a complete fork replacement but allow modification of

Softail - Misplaced Pages Continue

2304-776: The design, switching the pivot and the springing points around so that the springs and shock absorber were under the frame and the pivot point was at the top of the triangular swingarm. This allowed the traditional horse shoe shaped Harley-Davidson oil tank to be placed under the seat. Davis attempted to produce the new design independently as the Road Worx Sub-Shock, but the partnership he had put together for this purpose collapsed. Harley-Davidson executive Jeffrey Bleustein contacted Davis shortly afterward and began negotiations to buy Davis's design. Davis sold his patents, prototype, and tooling to Harley-Davidson in January 1982. After further testing and development, Davis's design

2376-463: The effectiveness of the suspension. The length of the typical motorcycle fork means that they act as large levers about the headstock requiring the forks, the headstock, and the frame to be very robust adding to the bike's weight. The endurance racer "Nessie", built by the Mead & Tomkinson racing team, used an adapted version of Difazio hub-center steering , whereby braking forces were directed to

2448-422: The end of this period, most of these motorcycles had rear wheel travel of approximately 12 inch (30 cm). At the beginning of this period, various rear suspension designs were used to reach this degree of performance. However, by the end of this period, a design consisting of using only one shock absorber (instead of two) was universally accepted and used. The performance of single shock absorber suspensions

2520-497: The first manufacturer to produce a motorcycle with hydraulically damped telescopic forks, although the Danish Nimbus company had un-damped telescopic forks in production in 1934. Most motorcycles today use telescopic forks for the front suspension. The forks can most easily be understood as simply encased long coil springs with hydraulic damping of excess spring energy. They allow the front wheel to react to imperfections in

2592-477: The fork oil. This valve has a number of such shims of varying thicknesses that cover the orifices in the valve to control the damping of the fork on high and medium speed bumps. Some of the shims (or "leaf springs") lift with little force allowing fluid to flow through the orifice. Other springs require greater force to lift and allow flow. This gives the fork digressive damping, allowing it to be stiff over small bumps, yet relatively softer over larger bumps. Also,

2664-404: The frame forming a straight line from the steering head to the rear axle. Bill Davis, an avid Harley rider and engineer from St. Louis, Missouri, designed his softail in the mid-1970s. His first design, which he worked on in 1974 and 1975, had a cantilever swingarm like on vintage Vincent Motorcycles that pivoted at the bottom and sprung at the top with the springs and shock absorber hidden under

2736-415: The frame via a pivoted fork (rather than through the steering head ). This allowed neutral steering and an absence of brake dive. While front suspensions were almost universally adopted before World War I, several manufacturers did not use rear suspension on their bikes until after World War II. However, motorcycles with rear suspension were offered to the public before World War I. Notable among these are

2808-401: The front end will feel stiffer, in the 1980s various manufacturers attempted to get round this by methods of anti-dive such as: With the advent of cartridge forks, which allow more low speed damping and less high speed damping than the previous damping rod forks, separate anti-dive mechanisms have generally fallen out of use. Another method to reduce or eliminate brake dive in telescopic forks

2880-409: The front forks, it can also cause handling and braking problems. One of the purposes of a suspension is to help maintain contact between the tire and road. If the suspension has bottomed out, it is no longer moving as it should, and is no longer helping to maintain contact. While excessive brake dive is disconcerting, and bottoming out can cause loss of traction, a certain amount of brake dive reduces

2952-429: The front wheel is transmitted through the forks, which compress. This shortening of the forks causes the front end of the bike to move lower, and this is called brake dive . Telescopic forks are particularly prone to this, unlike leading link designs. Brake dive can be disconcerting to the rider, who may feel like he or she is about to be thrown over the front of the motorcycle. If the bike dives so far as to bottom out

Softail - Misplaced Pages Continue

3024-582: The idea is also used in motor scooters such as the Vespa . The hub-center steering as developed by Ascanio Rodorigo , on a concept associated to Massimo Tamburini is a complex front swingarm alternative system that entails suspension and steering, as seen in projects such as the Bimota Tesi, and Vyrus motorcycles. Scott produced a motorcycle with telescopic forks in 1908, and would continue to use them on some models until 1931. In 1935 BMW became

3096-408: The initial force on the spring thereby reducing total sag. Decreasing pre-load decreases the initial force in the spring thereby increasing total sag. Some motorcycles allow adjustment of pre-load by changing the air pressure inside the forks. Valves at the top of the forks allow air to be added or released from the fork. More air pressure gives more pre-load, and vice versa. Basic fork designs use

3168-420: The late 1970s and 1980s, motorcycle rear suspension design and performance underwent tremendous advances. The primary goal and result of these advances were increased rear wheel travel, as measured in how far the rear wheel could move up and down. Before this period of intense focus on rear suspension performance, most off-road motorcycles had rear wheel travel of about 3.5–4 inch (9–10 cm). At

3240-479: The manufacturer chose to do so. Leading link front forks, such as used on some Ural motorcycles , can also be designed either to reduce or eliminate dive. The Saxon-Motodd (marketed as Telelever by BMW ) has an additional swingarm that mounts to the frame and supports the spring. This causes the rake and trail to increase during braking instead of decreasing as with traditional telescopic forks. The Hossack/Fior (marketed as Duolever by BMW ) separates completely

3312-638: The narrow front end of the Sportster, later offered as the FXRS Low Rider. By the end of the decade, the FXWG Wide Glide was kind of a factory chopper, with a wide telescopic fork like on the FLH, narrow 21 inch wheel, buckhorn handle bar, bobbed fender, a small sissy bar, and even flames paint job. It still had twin shocks, though, and many bikers wanted the clean look of the hard tail frame, with

3384-456: The original forks. Applying the brakes of a moving motorcycle increases the load borne by the front wheel and decrease the load borne by the rear wheel due to a phenomenon called load transfer . For a detailed explanation and a sample calculation, see the braking section of the Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics article. If the motorcycle is equipped with telescopic forks , the added load on

3456-423: The previous-generation Softail and Dyna platforms, the latter being discontinued with some of its models being carried over to the new Softail chassis. The 2017 Street Bob 103 ci was dyno tested and made 65 hp (48 kW) and 88 lb⋅ft (119 N⋅m) at the rear wheel. The new 2018 Street Bob 107 ci makes 77 hp (57 kW) and 101 lb⋅ft (137 N⋅m) at the rear wheel. The 114 ci motor such as in

3528-407: The rake and trail of the motorcycle, allowing it to turn more easily. This is especially important to racers trail braking on entrance to corners. Brake dive with telescopic forks can be reduced by either increasing the spring rate of the fork springs, or increasing the compression damping of the forks. However, all of these changes make the motorcycle less pleasant to ride on rough roads, since

3600-480: The rear axle can usually be adjusted forward and back in relation to the swingarm, to adjust chain tension, but a few models (such as some 1971/72 Triumph and BSA four-strokes and Ducati 860 GTS and Darmah 900s ) make the adjustment at the swingarm's pivot point. The hydraulic shock absorbers used on the rear suspensions of motorcycles are essentially the same as those used in other vehicle applications. Motorcycle shocks do differ slightly in that they nearly always use

3672-422: The rear wheel turns. The long sides are connected to the motorcycle's frame or rear sub-frame with one or two shocks with coil-over springs. In production motorcycles, swingarms are not exactly rectangular, but their function can be more easily understood by thinking of them as such. When a swingarm is present on only one side of the motorcycle, this is known as a single-sided swingarm . In 1981 BMW introduced

SECTION 50

#1732793010874

3744-422: The regular models. Other softail-style motorcycles: Suspension (motorcycle)#Rear suspension A motorcycle's suspension serves a dual purpose: contributing to the vehicle's handling and braking, and providing safety and comfort by keeping the vehicle's passengers comfortably isolated from road noise, bumps and vibrations. The typical motorcycle has a pair of fork tubes for the front suspension , and

3816-407: The road while isolating the rest of the motorcycle from that motion. The top of the forks are connected to the motorcycle's frame in a triple tree clamp (known as a "yoke" in the UK), which allows the forks to be turned in order to steer the motorcycle. The bottom of the forks carries the front wheel's axle. On conventional telescopic forks, the lower portion or fork bodies ( "fork sliders" in

3888-405: The seat. Davis then built a prototype based on his 1972 Super Glide. He patented the design and arranged to meet Willie G. Davidson August 1976. Davidson was impressed, but made no commitments, and six months later, said Harley-Davidson was interested but would not use the design at that time. In April 1980, Harley-Davidson started work on its own rear suspension design that would have the look of

3960-580: The setup. Notable exclusions are the Ducati 916 which was intended to be taken endurance racing, the MV Agusta f4 which has a hollow interior for reduced weight (a magnesium version is also available), and the Ducati 1098, which was given a single sided swingarm purely for styling reasons. On many shaft-drive motorcycles the drive shaft is contained in one of the long sides of the swingarm. Notable examples include all post-1955 BMW models prior to BMW's use of

4032-578: The single sided swingarm (mono lever) to motorcycles on their R 80 GS model. Notable examples include the Honda VFR800 and the BMW R- and K-series. Single-sided swingarms make rear-wheel removal easier, though they generally increase the unsprung weight of the rear suspension. This is due to the additional material required to give identical torsional rigidity to a conventional (two-sided) swingarm setup. For this reason sports bikes are rarely seen using

4104-765: The single-sided swingarms, Urals , many Moto Guzzi twins, the Honda Goldwing , the Yamaha XS Eleven , and the Yamaha FJR1300 . The BMW R- and K-series combine a shaft-drive contained in the swing arm with a single-sided swingarm, and the combination is marketed as the Paralever . Newer Moto Guzzi motorcycles use a similar arrangement marketed as the CA.R.C. ("CArdano Reattivo Compatto" - Compact Reactive Shaft Drive). For motorcycles with chain drives,

4176-590: The so-called suicide clutch that was operated by left foot, with the left hand working a jockey shift, or the kick starter, even after electric starters were available. Even the front brake was removed for a good clean look, like on the more famous of the Easy Rider Harleys, the "Captain America". As seen in the movie, these hard tails were not easy to ride on bad roads and could be painful if sat on over bumps such as railway crossings. Even after suspension

4248-431: The springs (or shims) only allow flow in one direction, so one set of springs controls compression damping, and another rebound damping. This allows the dampings to be set separately. Cartridge emulators are aftermarket parts that make damper-rod forks behave virtually as cartridge forks. The damping orifice in the damper-rod is made so large that it has virtually no effect on damping, and instead an "emulator" takes over

4320-523: The sprung front-ends that were used before the Hydra-Glide in 1949. The FXST designation is used for 21" front wheel bikes or when the Springer fork is used with a 21" wheel, while the FLST designation is used for 16" front wheel bikes or when the Springer fork is used with a 16" wheel. Because Softail models do not have rubber-mounted engines, they transmit more of the engine's vibration to the rider than

4392-423: The suspended single seat, the 1960s choppers had a small seat cushion directly on the hard tail frame, giving the rider a position much lower and rearward than on stock Harleys, which at the time were mainly ridden by Police officers. This position was without doubt uncomfortable, but it looked cool and gave the rider a tough guy, outlaw image. Some other obsolete and risky features were still used for coolness, like

SECTION 60

#1732793010874

4464-399: The suspension being compressed, using up a large amount of suspension travel which makes dealing with bumps and other road irregularities extremely difficult. As the forks dive the steering geometry of the bike also changes making the bike more nervous, and inversely on acceleration becomes more lazy. Also, having the steering working through the forks causes problems with stiction , decreasing

4536-650: The suspension from steering forces. It was developed by Norman Hossack though used by Claude Fior and John Britten on racebikes. Hossack himself described the system as a 'steered upright'. In 2004 BMW announced the K1200S with a new front suspension that is based upon this design. A single-sided front swingarm suspension was used on the Yamaha GTS1000 , introduced in 1993. The GTS used the RADD, Inc. front suspension designed by James Parker. A single sided girder fork

4608-513: The top, fixed in the triple clamps , and the stanchion tubes are at the bottom, fixed to the axle . This USD arrangement has two advantages: (i) it decreases the unsprung weight of the motorcycle; and (ii) it increases torsional stiffness , which can improve handling. Two disadvantages of USD forks are: (i) they are more expensive than conventional telescopic forks; and (ii) they are liable to lose all their damping oil should an oil seal fail. USD forks are typically found on sportbikes , though

4680-411: The weight of the fork oil will alter the damping rate. Some telescopic forks have external adjustments for damping. A more sophisticated approach is the cartridge fork , which use internal cartridges with a valving system. Damping at low slider speeds is controlled by a much smaller orifice, but damping at higher slider speeds is controlled by a system of flexible shims, which act as a bypass valve for

4752-695: Was available for over 20 years, in the 1970s many riders preferred these old style tough guy frames, and even new hard tail frames were made by aftermarket companies. In 1970, Harley only had the big twin full-dresser touring bike, the FLH Electra Glide, and the small XL Sportster. With the FX Super Glide, the Big Twin Harley-Davidson Shovelhead engine was offered without the extras of the E-Glide, and with

4824-462: Was introduced in June 1983 as the 1984 Harley-Davidson FXST Softail. This basically was an FXWG Wide Glide, but instead of the visible twin shocks, the softail swingarm was used, with the shocks hidden under the gearbox, which at the time was still 4-speed with kickstarter and chain. Other companies had introduced rear suspension designs with invisible shocks, but for performance reasons. The Harley Softail

4896-647: Was promoted to senior vice president in 1988, executive vice president in 1990, president and Chief operating officer in 1993 and chief executive officer in 1997. He became chairman of the board in 1998. In 2010, the Harvard Business Review called Bleustein one of "The 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World, mentioning the $ 13 billion increase in the company's market capitalization during his tenure as CEO. He stepped down as CEO in April, 2005 and

4968-572: Was replaced by James L. Ziemer . As CEO, Bleustein was known for holding large numbers of face-to-face meetings with stakeholders, including customers, employees, stockholders and suppliers. He was an advocate of the "free flow of ideas" He is credited with strengthening the dealer network and for Harley-Davidson's expansion to China, including opening dealerships in Beijing and Shanghai . After accepting his first job at Harley-Davidson, Bleustein soon became an "avid biker" Early in his time with

5040-424: Was the first modern motorcycle intentionally designed to look as if it was decades older. Between gearbox and seat, the rather dull asymmetric battery box (right side) and black oil tank (left side) was replaced by the symmetric horse-shoe shaped chrome oil tank around the battery in the middle, another feature of the old hard tail era. In addition, Harley had just completed the "buy back" from AMF, and had developed

5112-653: Was use on the German Imme R100 motorcycle between 1949 and 1951, and the Vespa scooter has a single-sided trailing-link fork . More recently, between 1998 and 2003, the ItalJet " Dragster " scooter also used a single-sided swingarm suspension, though unlike the GTS1000 there was no upper control arm; the upper part of the suspension on the Dragster served only to transmit steering input. Hub-center steering

5184-508: Was vastly superior to twin shock motorcycles. Accordingly, this design distinction is readily used to categorize motorcycles. With the exception of Bentley and Draper system ( New Imperial and Brough Superior machines) and the HRD (later Vincent ) system both developed and patented in the 1920s it is only since the 1980s that monoshock motorcycles have been the norm, the term "twinshock" is now used to categorize vintage motorcycles. This distinction

#873126