The term softail refers to motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

s and bicycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

s that feature a rear suspension system with springs or shock absorber

Shock absorber

A shock absorber is a mechanical device designed to smooth out or damp shock impulse, and dissipate kinetic energy. It is a type of dashpot.-Nomenclature:...

s to absorb bumps. On Softail motorcycles, the shock absorbers or springs are often hidden underneath out of view to give the appearance of a hard-tail or rigid frame, however many older motorcycles such as the original BMW R series actually use a rigid (welded) frame design with an exterior suspension connected directly to the rear axle.
The word softail is a registered trademark of Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...

 motorcycles, coined with the release of the FXST Softail in 1984. Since then, the word has expanded to include other motorcycles with hidden rear suspensions as well as bicycles incorporating a rear suspension.

Harley-Davidson Softail

In Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...

 motorcycles, the softail frame is designed to look like the hardtail bikes of the past, while still offering the comfort of rear suspension. The shock absorbers are positioned along the axis of the motorcycle, tucked away under the transmission

Transmission (mechanics)

A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...

.

There are several Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...

 models with the Softail frame, including the Softail Standard, Custom, Springer Softail, Heritage Softail, Heritage Springer, Night Train, Deluxe, Deuce, Fat Boy, the Dark Custom Crossbones, and the new Dark Custom Blackline. These motorcycles have the same engine, transmission and frame with the exception of the Deuce, which has a 2 inches (5.1 cm) backbone stretch, but differ in the choice of fork, wheels and accessories.

Front forks

The Softail model line has included a number of choices in front fork configurations. Just as the Sportster and Dyna models offer wide-set and narrow-set fork tubes to accommodate different wheel sizes, the Softails feature either the narrow X-type or fat FL-type forks. Historically, they have also offered the Springer leading link forks that are reminiscent of the sprung front-ends that were used prior to the introduction of the Hydra-Glide in 1949. The FXST designation is used when the X-type fork is used or when the Springer fork is used with a 21 inch wheel, while the FLST designation is used when the FL-type fork is used or when the Springer fork is used with a 16 inch wheel.

Engines

The Softail models do not have rubber-mounted engines. This led to more vibration in Evolution

Evolution engine

The Evolution engine is an air-cooled, 45-degree, V-twin engine manufactured since 1984 by the Harley Davidson Motor Company for the company's motorcycles. It was made in the displacement for Harley Davidson Big V-twins bikes, replacing the Shovelhead engine, until 1999 when it was replaced by...

-engined Softails than in rubber-mounted Touring or Dyna models with Evolution engines. To compensate for this, current Softail models use a counterbalanced version of the Twin Cam engine

Twin Cam engine (Harley-Davidson)

The Harley-Davidson Twin Cam 88 engine was released for the 1999 model year in September 1998. The Twin Cam 96 was released for the 2007 model year. Although these engines were the successors to the Evolution engine , they share a number of characteristics with nearly all previous Harley-Davidson...

 instead of the regular Twin Cam engine used in the Touring and Dyna models.

History

Bill Davis, an avid Harley rider and engineer from St. Louis, Mo. designed the softail in the early 1970s. According to Greg Field on page 242 of the chapter "Father of the Softail" in the book The Harley Davidson Century, published by MBI Publishing (2002), Mr. Davis contacted Willie G. Davidson in 1976. Furthermore, in his book, "Harley Davidson Softail", Field says that Davis sold over his "sub shock wide glide prototype" to Harley Davidson in 1982. In 1984 Harley Davidson began to manufacture a revised version of the Davis softail design.

Other softails

Other motorcycles with softail rear suspension include:

• Honda VT600C
  Honda VT600C
  The Honda Shadow VT600C, also known as the Honda Shadow VLX, is a cruiser motorcycle. It utilizes a 583 cc V-twin engine, a four-speed transmission, 35* rake, chain drive, and a single-shock softail-style rear suspension...
  
  , also known as the Shadow VLX
• Kawasaki Vulcan
  Kawasaki Vulcan
  The Vulcan name has been used by Kawasaki for their custom or cruiser motorcycles since 1984, using mostly V-twin engines ranging from 125 cc to 2,053 cc.-1984–2006: Vulcan 750 series:...
  
   800 and 900
• Yamaha DragStar 650
  Yamaha DragStar 650
  The Yamaha DragStar 650 is a motorcycle produced by Yamaha Motor Company.- Background :...
  
  
• Victory Vegas
• Yamaha Royal Star and Royal Star Venture
• Yamaha Road Star, also known as the XV1600A
  Yamaha XV1600A
  The Yamaha XV1600A is a cruiser style motorcycle. It is also called the Yamaha Road Star or in Europe the Yamaha Wild Star. It has been produced from 1999 through current model Year 2012. The 1999-2003 models were the same 1602cc naturally aspirated engines. And in 2004 they changed the...
  
   or XV1700

See also

• Motorcycle suspension
  Suspension (motorcycle)
  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....
  
  
• Bicycle suspension
  Bicycle suspension
  A bicycle suspension is the system or systems used to suspend the rider and all or part of the bicycle in order to protect them from the roughness of the terrain over which they travel...
  
  
• List of Harley-Davidson motorcycles

External links

• Cruelworld Softail at Von Dutch Kustom Cycles.