Harley-Davidson’s TLE sidecar line was introduced by the 1984 model year as a factory sidecar option for the company’s large touring motorcycles, including FLT/FLHT family machines. Early documentation shows the original TLE sidecar running through the late 1980s, after which Harley-Davidson carried the concept forward under related TLE Ultra references in the early 1990s. By the 1991 model year, the sidecar manuals and parts literature again listed TLE and TLE Ultra applications for touring models, showing that the nameplate did not simply end with the first run.
The sidecar family later reappeared in updated form in the late 1990s and 2000s, with Harley-Davidson publishing new owner’s manuals for 1998-and-later and 1999-and-later TLE Ultra sidecars. In the 2000s, factory literature continued to reference TLE/Ultra sidecar fitment for Touring models, and later documentation still listed TLE sidecar applications on specific touring platforms through the 2009–2013 era. Harley-Davidson also continued using the TLE-Ultra name in police-sidecar attachment kits for later FLHTP and FLHP machines, underscoring that the sidecar system remained part of the company’s touring-accessory ecosystem even as the exact configurations evolved over time.
Because the nameplate appears in more than one separated production period, the history is best treated as a revived sidecar line rather than a single uninterrupted run.