About the Harley Davidson Fat Boy

Video Transcript

"Did you know the Harley Davidson Fatboy which first appeared in 1990 was actually introduced by the motor company as a "dig" to their Japanese competition? I'm Jeff Jannett, Harley Davidson master technician with South Side Choppers, St. Pete, and today we'll be discussing the Harley Davidson Fatboy. The Harley Davidson Fatboy, first introduced by the motor company in 1990, was actually designed as a dig to their Japanese competition. Basically, Harley Davidson, who has bought themselves back from AMF, decided that now they were really doing well in the market, and they wanted to show how much of the market they had cornered. The first Fatboy that was created had a paint scheme that was...also shared the same paint scheme as one of the atomic bombs that we dropped on Japan. Not too politically correct at the time, but, it was a very popular model. Things that made the Fatboy stand apart from the other bikes in the Harley family were the solid disc wheels that they had, front and rear. A telltale trademark of the Fatboy. Also, it had the fat style tank. Fat front tires. Fat front forks. And, it was also a soft tail, which is probably the most popular family in the Harley Davidson family of motorcycles. Soft tail is so denoted as you don't see any shock absorbers on the rear swing arm. They're actually underneath the bike, ergo, makes the bike look like a hard tail, but since it has shock absorbers, soft tail. If you have any further questions concerning the Harley Davidson Fatboy, I recommend looking up Harley Davidson on the web, and they can go into the full history. So there you have it. The story behind the Harley Davidson Fatboy. I'm Jeff Jannett, South Side Choppers, St. Pete, Florida. Harley Davidson certified technician. Keep the rubber side down."