2012 Harley-Davidson Seventy-Two and Softail Slim Preview

Harley-Davidson has just released two new 2012 models that look in the Motor Company’s mirrors for inspiration, the XL1200V Seventy-Two and the FLS Softail Slim. The Seventy-Two represents the disco era when skinny choppers with fat metal flake paint jobs were vogue, while the Softail Slim evokes a period when bobbed FLs were the hippest things on two wheels.
AMF ownership of Harley-Davidson isn’t memorable due to indifferent quality standards, but as time passes it’s customary to focus on the good and discard the bad, and the new Seventy-Two underscores the better aspects of that decade. Whether watching one roll by or straddling the bike, the Seventy-Two so well represents customs of that period it’ll fool many into thinking it’s an oil-tight, customized 40 year-old Sportster.