The Wide Glide nameplate first appeared in 1980 as Harley-Davidson’s chopper-influenced factory custom, built around the brand’s stretched front-end look and bold street presence. The original FXWG run continued through the mid-1980s before the name disappeared from the lineup. Harley-Davidson later revived the Wide Glide in 1993 as the FXDWG, this time on the newer Dyna chassis, giving the classic styling a more modern platform. That Dyna-era Wide Glide became a long-running cruiser in Harley’s catalog and stayed in production until the Dyna family was retired in 2017.
Across both eras, the model was positioned as one of Harley-Davidson’s most visually distinctive big twins, aimed at riders who wanted the brand’s factory-custom attitude without having to build a bike from scratch. Its identity was always tied more to stance and style than to touring utility: a long, raked silhouette, wide fork, exposed mechanicals, and a low, stripped-down cruiser profile. The 1993 revival kept the spirit of the original alive while updating the package for a new generation of Harley buyers. Because the nameplate was discontinued and later brought back, the Wide Glide has a split history rather than one continuous production run.