This limited-production Harley-Davidson nameplate appeared for the 1999 model year as one of the first motorcycles in the company’s Custom Vehicle Operation program. Harley-Davidson has described it as part of the original CVO launch, and the FXR-based specials were built in very small numbers, with the FXR2 limited to 900 units. It arrived as a factory-custom interpretation of the revived FXR platform, aimed at riders who wanted the handling character and enthusiast appeal of the FXR family combined with more distinctive styling and premium finish treatment than a regular production model.
The FXR lineage itself had already earned a strong following by the time this special edition appeared, especially among riders who valued the chassis’s reputation for rigid, well-controlled road manners. By bringing back the FXR format in a limited CVO run, Harley-Davidson turned that reputation into a collectible factory custom rather than a mainstream model revival. That makes this motorcycle historically important less as a long-running nameplate and more as a milestone in Harley-Davidson’s modern premium-custom strategy.
Because the FXR2 was a one-year limited edition, there is no separate later production period to track. It remained a 1999-only offering and is remembered as part of the inaugural CVO chapter, alongside its FXR3 sibling, rather than as an ongoing series.