What Does FLH Mean On A Harley-Davidson?
The Harley-Davidson brand is known for powerful engines, rich American heritage, and unmatched presence. The last 100 years have seen this company evolve from a small motorcycle manufacturer working out of a shed in Milwaukee, to a trendsetter in everything cruisers and tourers. Harley has an extensive list of motorcycles, all divided into specific families, and it singles out said motorcycles through alphanumeric codes and model designations.
Among these identifiers is the FLH code, which denotes a Harley-Davidson motorcycle as either a Softail or a Touring bike equipped with a fork-mounted fairing or windshield. Since Harley-Davidson has several bikes that match this description but with additional features, you'll find the FLH at the fore of other letters in the code, as seen in examples like the FLHX, which is the code for the Street Glide. Here's all you need to know.
Harley has always had some of the industry's best cruisers and tourers
It's no secret that Harley-Davidson cruisers and tourers are among the best in the world. Within the company's catalog, some of the best cruisers come under the Softail family, while a good number of the touring bikes fall under the Grand American Touring category. Bikes that feature a 16-inch front wheel are identified by the FL letter code, but if the motorcycle has the aforementioned fork-mounted fairing or windshield, then the identifier will be FLH.
As you might expect, Harley-Davidson offers several Softails and Touring motorcycles equipped with a windshield or a fork-mounted fairing, along with additional features that further tailor them to their specific niche. In fact, there are more than a dozen. The first of these is, of course, the aforementioned Street Glide.
Alongside it is the Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic, or FLHC, a successor to the beloved Heritage Softail Classic, denoted as FLSTC. The Heritage Classic is a Softail, meeting the FLH's first requirement of being either a Softail or a Touring bike. It also comes with a windshield, fulfilling the FLH's second requirement.
Next to these two is the Street Glide Ultra, or FLHXU, which bears much resemblance to the base Street Glide, sporting Harley's iconic Batwing fairing, but has more robust comfort features such as the company's two-up comfort seat and a passenger back pad with armrests. Harley-Davidson also offers the CVO Street Glide, or FLHXSE, which comes with a beefy 115-horsepower VVT 121 engine, premium paint and lightweight cast wheels, and a slew of high-end technological features like Wi-Fi capabilities and a massive TFT touchscreen.