THE IDEA of a motorcycle—a motor-driven bicycle—was popularized by a swindler by the name of Edward Pennington. Pennington demonstrated a prototype motorcycle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1895, and this demonstration was the talk of the town. Shortly afterwards, he left for England, where he raised money from backers, then disappeared. Pennington had a real gift for publicity, and his demonstration sparked the idea of a motor-driven cycle in a lot of people, possibly including two Milwaukee teenagers, William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson.
Edward Pennington’s prototype motorcycle was not a commercially viable product (no one has ever figured out how it ran) but, by the time of Pennington’s 1895 demonstration, the idea of a motorcycle had the potential to be more than a dream. All the components were in place for a motor driven two-wheeler to become a reality. In the 1890s, the Count De Dion financed a French company that built the first ever reliable lightweight internal combustion engines. From 1896, these air-cooled single cylinder engines were imported to the United States. They were discussed, dissected and copied by early motorheads. Sparked by battery and coil ignition, the valve arrangement was inlet over exhaust, with a vacuum-operated intake valve. Other components needed for a motorcycle were invented around this time: the pneumatic tire, the coaster brake, and seamless steel tubing for the frame. The requirements for good handling—front fork rake and trail, for example—had been worked out by the bicycle manufacturers.
By 1902, at least thirteen different factories were building motorcycles in the United States, all using variations of the De Dion motor. William and Arthur had been trying to build their own motorcycle for a year, and were getting nowhere. Finally, Arthur’s brother Walter Davidson came home to attend a family wedding, saw the experimental motor and got bit by the motorcycle bug. With his help, a first prototype was ready in 1903. This first prototype did not develop enough horsepower, and a second prototype was built, possibly with help and advice from neighbor Olin Evinrude, of outboard motor fame.
A magazine article from World War I that discusses the increasing popularity of motorcycling and how to get involved.
This second prototype was a success, even through it looked nothing like what is now thought of as a “Harley.” The bore of the single-cylinder engine was three inches and the stroke was 3½ inches, for displacement of 24.74 cubic inches or 405.41 cubic centimeters. This little engine, with vacuum-operated intake valves, was housed in a loop-frame chassis. The rear wheel was driven by flat belt. The gas tank, oil tank and battery housing were all strapped to the top tube. The finish was black, and the engine cases were polished aluminum alloy.
Two more motorcycles on the pattern of the second prototype were completed in 1904, of which one was sold. Eight strap-tank Harleys left the Davidson family backyard in 1905. The fledgling company published a catalog in 1906, and shortly afterwards purchased a lot and built a tiny factory on it. Yearly production grew to fifty bikes. Walter Davidson started participating in endurance runs, which at the time were excellent advertisements. Prospective customers, unaccustomed to gasoline-powered vehicles, were concerned that the bike would break down and they would be stranded at the side of the road. Successful endurance runs helped calm the fears of the public.
These first Harleys were not particularly innovative, but for their time they were powerful and reliable. By 1907, the company was a regional success: the first prototype twin appeared in that year, there were eighteen employees on the payroll, and the machine had been updated with the Sager-Cushion sprung fork. Walter Davidson participated in an endurance run from Chicago to Kokomo, Indiana, and was one of only three participants to maintain a perfect score.
The following year, 1908, Harley reached National prominence, due to yet another enduro victory by Walter. His perfect score—1,000 points plus another five points for consistency—was extensively publicized by the American motorcycle press, who were impressed by Walter, the motorcycle, and the sound business methods of the young Harley-Davidson company. This excellent free publicity brought in numerous orders, and sales soared to 450 for the year.
The 1909 Harleys were restyled, with longer tanks that filled the space between the two top frame tubes, and the first production twin was introduced. Either battery or magneto ignition was available on the single-cylinder models, which increased to a displacement of 30.16 cubic inches. Harleys were now only available in gray, with extensive, colorful pinstriping. Throttle and manual advance were controlled by wires routed through the handlebars. A belt tightener was added in 1910, and the twin disappeared from the order blank, to be replaced by a stock racer priced at $275. The average American salary at this time was $750 per year.
The twin was back in production in 1911, with mechanically operated intake valves. The “Ful-Floteing” seat post (a sprung and damped seat post that was an important advertising point as American roads were rough and full of holes) turned up in 1912, along with a clutch, and (on the twin) chain drive. The rider’s manual for that year crowed, “Our claim that the Harley-Davidson is the cleanest, most silent, most comfortable, and the most economical motorcycle made, are rather broad, but can easily be verified. Its extreme cleanliness is due to the fact that all moving parts requiring oil are enclosed. As for silence, the Harley-Davidson is known everywhere as the ‘Silent Gray Fellow.’”
A Silent Gray Fellow with a twin cylinder engine, first available in 1911. A less satisfactory twin had been sold by the company in 1909, but was discontinued. This bike was a popular choice for day-in, day-out transport in the era before inexpensive automobiles became available.
Harley Davidson had just started a factory racing team when this motorcycle was built, although the company had for some time sold competition models to privateers. A period racing helmet sits on the seat, and leather leggings lean against the rear wheel. Flames would shoot out from the short pipes, lighting up the track during night racing.
These statements would not be selling points today, but in 1911 Harley-Davidson was selling to a totally different audience, one that saw a motorcycle as practical transportation: less trouble and expense than a horse, and requiring less exertion than a bicycle.
Some of the 1914 models had a two-speed clutch. Other 1914 innovations were footboards and a kick-starter. 1915 saw even more improvements: a three-speed hand-shift transmission, electric lights, and improved lubrication. The basic Harley-Davidson twin was now in production, and the changes over the next fourteen years would be refinements of the 1915 model. Gradually, sales of the twin eclipsed sales of the single.
The syringe-like device on the left side of the tank is a manual oil pump. Racers would have to take a hand off the bars to pump oil every so often. The riders of these machines—capable of speeds of over 100 mph—had to have nerves of steel.
By 1915, Harley’s twin had assumed the basic shape it would keep for the next fourteen years. This three-speed 45-degree V-twin had the intake-over-exhaust valves in a pocket next to the cylinder, and total loss lubrication.
This Harley twin, often thought of as a J, although Harley built F twins as well, had a generator-operated electrical system, overhead intake valves and a sidevalve exhaust. This valve arrangement is known as intake over exhaust, or F head, and worked well, given the metallurgy and engineering knowledge of the time. Other features of the Harley twin were total loss lubrication, and single-throw connecting rods riding in roller bearings. Other manufacturers were starting to experiment with sidevalves, and some even tried to build overhead-valve motorcycles. Harley management was not interested in innovation. The company had found that quality control and good management sold motorcycles, and was happy to let other firms do the research and development work, with the resulting expense and inevitable failures. Harley guaranteed a horsepower rating, stood behind its dealers, and delivered well-assembled motorcycles that were, for their time, reliable.
The 1915 J was available either with or without electric lights. Many motorcyclists of the period preferred acetylene lights, and this motorcycle is restored with an acetylene headlight.
While much of the rest of the world was at war, Harley-Davidson was fighting its own battle—for market share. Starting in 1913, the Model T Ford had taken over much of the commuter market, leaving a shrinking arena for motorcycle sales. Growth was possible in the urban delivery and police markets, but the best hope for sales was in the sport market. The American motorcycle dealer’s motto has long been, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” Harley-Davidson went racing.
Harley-Davidson hired William Ottaway from the Thor motorcycle racing team and he and William Harley studied the latest advances in aviation engines. Harley-Davidson also took on prominent English research engineer Harry Ricardo as a consultant. The result of these experts’ combined efforts was the design of four valves per cylinder single and twin racers, with hemispherical combustion chambers. The Harley race team was carefully set up, with trained pit crews. Riders would be assigned either eight-valve or inlet-over-exhaust twins, which were considered more reliable. The eight-valve riders would ride wide open, hoping to wear opponents out, at which point the inlet-over-exhaust racers would open it up and head for the finish line. This strategy, plus good trackside support, led to Harley-Davidson winning the prestigious 1916 Dodge City 300.
The front cover of Literary Digest of November 1917 shows a motorcycle in action at the front during World War I.
The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, and National racing ceased. The Indian Motocycle Company, the largest American motorcycle company and Harley’s arch-rival, dedicated much of its output to the war effort. Harley-Davidson sold the army 15,000 bikes in 1918 and 1919, but was still able to supply its dealers with all models, unlike Indian. This situation left Indian dealers high and dry, and Harley-Davidson exited World War I a winner of its own private war for market share.
Harley Davidson switched from gray to olive paint during World War I as a tribute to the doughboys. Motorcycle tires were white until the early 1920s, when changes in rubber technology turned them black.
American police motorcycles were built to be faster than stock bikes, so that cops could catch speeders and rumrunners. This bike has an auxiliary hand clutch, to allow smooth starts on hills.
Racing resumed in 1919. Harley-Davidson racers took the checkered flag in most of the long-distance National races. Indian won a few, and Excelsior, the third of the “Big Three” motorcycle manufacturers, won none. This situation was largely repeated in 1920. In 1921, Harley won every National race, and then, deciding that its glorious but expensive race team was not paying for itself in terms of sales, discontinued the National racing effort.
Jim Davis was one of the few nationally ranked racers from the 1920s who survived his racing days. He rode for both the Harley-Davidson and Indian factories, then went on to be chief referee and starter for the American Motorcyclist Association. He died in 2000 at the age of 103.
Although Harley-Davidson engineering continued to develop its single-cylinder and twin- road-going engines, the major obvious change was the 1917 switch from gray to olive-green paint, in honor of the US Army. In 1919, the company ceased production of its single-cylinder model and, in an unusual move for the company, introduced an entirely new model, the Sport, with opposed twin cylinders, oriented fore and aft as on an English Douglas, and an outside flywheel. The Sport was discontinued in 1923. It was an interesting bike, but was not competitive with the Indian Scout, a fast and stable sidevalve twin introduced in 1920. The JD—a 74.66-cubic-inch (1207.11 cc) version of the inlet over exhaust V-twin mostly aimed at police departments—came out in 1921. Harley continued to build the 60.33-cubic-inch (987.67 cc) J-twin, a smoother and more tractable machine. A new frame debuted in 1925, which dropped the seat 3 inches.
This is a production racer sparked by a magneto. It has a “dealers” frame, allowing the engine to be dropped out of the frame by unbolting the bottom plates.
This is an unrestored inlet-over-exhaust 74.66-cubic-inch (1207.11 cc) Harley twin from the 1920s. At some point, someone painted it non-stock colors. A motorcycle in this condition is actually quite valuable today—it appears to have all parts, including the sheetmetal, present.
This 74-cubic-inch V-twin motorcycle is actually used as a mobile advertising display in a present-day garden supply business. The outfit appears in parades and special occasion events and is a real draw for the business.
Improving roads and higher speeds mandated more stopping power. In 1928, in what looks suspiciously like collusion, all of the Big Three’s new models appeared with single leading shoe front brakes. 1928 was also the year Indian introduced the 101 Scout, which proved extremely popular with sport riders.
Harley-Davidson, not to be outdone, introduced a twin cam version of the J. Up to this point, the road-going twins had one cam shaft with four cam lobes. Harley-Davidson had been building twin cam racers since World War I, however, as the twin cams—two cam shafts with two lobes each—reduced reciprocating weight and eased tuning. Harley management decided to sell road versions of these racers to the public. The new 61-cubic-inch JH and 74-cubic-inch JDH were some of the fastest production motorcycles of the time, with the JDH capable of 85 mph out of the box and 100 mph if the internals were polished and carefully reassembled.
In addition to competing in the American market, Harley-Davidson developed an export trade, especially to Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. All of these countries had similar conditions to the United States, and appreciated rugged motorcycles that could withstand long-distance travel on bad roads. Single-cylinder machines were more popular in Japan and the Commonwealth markets, and a new single, mostly intended for export, appeared again in 1921. It disappeared in 1923, only to reappear—updated with sidevalves and with an overhead-valve variant—in 1926. The head design was licensed from Harry Ricardo. Harley-Davidson had decided that sidevalves were the wave of the future, and was gaining experience with making them.
Note the large racing oil pump. This is probably a “twin cam” motor, with a camshaft for each cylinder. The idea has been reprised on the current version of Harley’s twin.