Post Sale Update: This Harley sold for a BIN of $12,500 on eBay.
I can’t decide whether I love or hate the paint job on this FXRT. It’s the blessing and curse of Harleys that the vast majority of them carry the decisions of their owners, meaning any potential buyer of a secondhand model has to come to terms with someone else’s choices. So, would I want a bike that looked just a little bit like a Spanish galleon? Part of me says yes, part of me says no. The one thing I don’t question is the coolness of that fairing ─ easily one of the best designs in Harley-Davidson history.
According to Rider magazine, the fairing was originally intended for the notorious Nova project. You’ve probably heard of that one: in the late 1970s, Harley spent millions of dollars and years of effort developing a V4 engine that most Harley historians argue would have placed the American brand ahead of Japanese competition.
Set to launch in 1981, the project was axed amid the shake-up that broke the brand free of AMF ownership. Company heads decided it was financially more intelligent to develop the Evolution engine that would ultimately end up driving the FXRT (among others). The Nova disappeared into lore and some at Harley chose to disavow knowledge of it until several decades later, when the bike became a feature of the Harley-Davidson Museum.
Not to be confused with the modern FLSB Sport Glide (an excellent bike in its own right), the FXRT Sport Glide was manufactured from 1983 to 1992. When it first rolled off the assembly line, it was powered by an old-school Shovelhead V-twin and had a chain drive. That changed very quickly, and for the rest of its run the FXRT was a belt-driven motorcycle running a 1337cc air-cooled Evolution V-twin that delivered roughly 64 horsepower and 67 lb-ft of torque.
The five-speed motorcycle won kudos for its handling, but brakes were typical of Harley at the time. Jay Leno once said of Harley brakes: “You’ve heard of anti-lock brakes? These are anti-stop.”
A potential red flag for this particular example (VIN: 1HD1EAL15NY125955) is the fact the seller does not know the bike’s actual mileage. However, the seller insists that “the bike has been well-maintained.” With a Buy It Now price of $11,000, this FXRT is for sale in Thousand Oaks, California, here on eBay.