Willie G Davidson the Company's chief designer came up with the idea for this bike after attending the famous Sturgis Rally in South Dakota. He made some sketches based on the customised bikes he saw at the rally , and then worked with Harley-Davidson's engineer, Erik Buell, to create the bike. The result was a low riding, cruising bike and it's nylon drive belts became the standard HD drive system in later years.

The Sturgis came out just before Harley-Davidson was bought back by its directors from the AMF Company. A badge that commemorates this event can be seen on the bike. The Sturgis model stopped production in 1982, and this model became a collectors item. In 1991, a special limited edition, the FXDB Dyna Glide Sturgis, was produced to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Sturgis Rally