Embrace This Ex-Steve Perry Harley with Open Arms
Ask anyone who has spent time on two wheels and they will tell you that riding a motorcycle is something special. Just sitting and staring at a bike can get most riders oh, about halfway there. This 1987 Harley Davidson FXSTC might have never cruised south Detroit, but we bet those folks would’ve embraced it with open arms.
Okay, maybe that’s enough references to give away that this mild custom comes from storied ownership. The original owner was Steve Perry, who bought the bike in 1987 following his departure from Journey after fronting the band through a decade of hits and success. The band might have made the singer famous, but the motorcycle is what kept him sane, according to an interview with 60 Minutes.
The mileage on this bike—it shows just 557 miles currently—might mean that the wind-in-the-hair experience was not as appealing as Perry initially thought it might be. Some of those were added by the second owner as well, who is the current seller. With that kind of mileage, we think the real draw of this Harley is the low mileage and fantastic condition rather than its ties to a celebrity.
The FXSTC is also known as a Softail Custom thanks to the tidy swingarm and shock that hide under the gearbox. It allows a bad-to-the-bone hardtail look without needing a kidney belt to enjoy riding. Shifting of the five gears is controlled by a set of forward-mounted foot controls that make for a stretched-out riding experience that appears to combine nicely with the raked forks and taller handlebars. The laid-back stance of the bike looks primed to eat up miles. This was right at the end of Harley Davidson’s rise to the motorcycle juggernaut of the 1980s, with dealers struggling to keep inventory and long wait lists for new models.
The powerplant is an 82 cubic-inch V-twin from Harley’s Evolution line that features popular accessories like the slash-cut exhaust pipes and a Screamin’ Eagle air cleaner. Cycle World mentioned in its first ride of the bike that the air cleaner wants to occupy the same space as the rider’s right leg, which is only one of the reasons it might not have racked up a lot of miles to date. While having suspension on both ends may make this chopper sound luxurious, the engine is solid-mounted to the frame, meaning the overall riding experience can still be quite brash.
It was never meant to be a performance machine, but this is one wheel that we think should keep on turning. As of this writing, the leading bid on Bring a Trailer is currently $5900, which is $100 shy of our #3 (Good) condition value for this bike. Perhaps after all these years, it’s time that you be good to yourself and acquire a new chariot.
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” Cycle World mentioned in its first ride of the bike that the air cleaner wants to occupy the same space as the rider’s right leg, which is only one of the reasons it might not have racked up a lot of miles to date.” Every harley built has the air cleaner on that side since forever (unless its the italian small CC versions). Cycle world back in the day was poorly written and using that statement above shows that this article is poorly written as well. The reason this wasn’t ridden was because Steve Perry was too busy making money. I guess in the era of cut and paste this is journalism.
That probably wasn’t Perry’s first motorcycle. Looking at the title the transfer date was in 2000. Yes the original sale of the bike was earlier but that was not necessarily to Perry. I was a title Clerk in my earlier life and it looks to me like the journalist on this needs to take another peek and rewrite this article. Furthermore, how the previous owner chose to use this bike, or how many bikes he had in fact is probably none of our business but I can see why you would want to use it to further your publication.