Softail

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 [3] paint job. It still had twin shocks, though, and many bikers wanted the clean look of the hard tail frame, with 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 the seat.[4] Davis then built a prototype[5] 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.[6]

In April 1980, Harley-Davidson started work on its own rear suspension design that would have the look of 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.[7]

Davis continued to develop 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.[8] Davis sold his patents, prototype, and tooling to Harley-Davidson in January 1982.[9]

After further testing and development, Davis's design was introduced in June 1983 as the 1984 Harley-Davidson FXST Softail.[6] 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 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 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 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 1948 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, 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.

Other softail-style motorcycles:

• Honda VT600C (Shadow VLX)
• Kawasaki Vulcan 800, 900
• Suzuki VL 1500 Intruder LC / Boulevard C90
• Victory Vegas
• Yamaha Royal Star, Royal Star Venture
• Yamaha XV1600A (Road Star, XV1700)
• Yamaha DragStar 650, 950, 1100
• Zero Engineering Type 9
• Daelim VL Daystar

• Bicycle suspension
• List of Harley-Davidson motorcycles

• Cruelworld Softail at Von Dutch Kustom Cycles.