Harley-Davidson Motorcycles
Harley-Davidson Model Explanations
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FXSTC Softail Custom
Story by Mark Barnett, Photos courtesy of Harley-Davidson Photography & Imaging
The Softail frame, with the shocks located under the engine and extending rather than compressing as the tire and wheel move upwards was introduced by Harley-Davidson in 1984. It has been with us ever since. The FXSTC is Harley-Davisdon’s “chopper” with longer fork tubes and more rake in the frame, pushing the front wheel out a little further from the engine. The Softail swingarm is made to mimic the hardtail lines of bikes with no suspension at all in the rear, all pre-1958 Harleys and just about all the wild choppers featured on the TV shows. The skinny 21” tire up front again harkens back to the choppers of the 1960’s. The FXSTC Softail Custom disappeared from the line up in 2000, when the FXSTD “Deuce” was introduced to take its place. But passion for this combination of features was evident in the population and the FXSTC was re-introduced in 2007 and the Deuce dropped the next year.
For the most part, the Softail Custom is a big twin city bike, a good-looking, slightly chopper-esque model meant to be personalized, modified and ridden on weekend rides. The bike comes standard with forward foot controls, the same location as used on most choppers. And it has a tallish sissy bar, a slight reference to the Captain American chopper in Easy Rider. Like all post-2000 Softail models, it does have twin counterbalancers and can be ridden all day. It is a very smooth running bike. The addition of saddlebags and a windshield will put it on the highway to Sturgis. As with all Harley-Davidsons there are a wide variety of modifications possible: lower seats, lower suspension, lots of chrome, increased displacement, custom paint, and 900 other pages of Harley accessories. The FXSTC Softail Custom made it back into the line up, in my opinion, because it stuck with the traditional H-D lines and look. Originally, bikes like this were made by stripping down a dresser, putting on longer fork tubes and a 21” front wheel. The dresser tank stayed on the bike, and this shape is still there on the Softail Custom. This bike captures the “look” from the sixties and seventies better than the Deuce in the eyes of many in the population, hence its return.
The listed seat height on this model is 26.4”, a little taller than the rest of the Softails. Most if not all of this added height is in the plush seat, so if a lower bike is wanted, don’t count out the Softail Custom, since a seat change is a simple operation.
