Harley 'n HOG

The Early Days, 1900’s

In 1903, Mr. & Mrs. Davidson rarely saw their three sons. None had followed their father’s footsteps into the carpentry trade while they were ambitiously pursuing engineering jobs. William, the oldest, was a foreman with the Milwaukee Railroad Company while Walter, second oldest, was a machinist in Kansas. Arthur, the youngest, became a patternmaker at the Barth Manufacturing Company, also in Milwaukee.

Arthur and his good friend, William Harley, were soon focused on the internal combustion engine. Society was poised in optimistic belief of the fast-developing technology as steam power began to transform North America and Europe. Electricity and the petrol engine were emerging, giving way to the promise of a higher standard of life. Mankind was now on the brink of a new age in transportation and it is no surprise that Arthur and William were among the pioneers in the development of such technology.

Some said that the young Harley and Davidson wanted to build a petrol engine to pace cycle races while others thought they wanted to power a rowboat since both were cycling and fishing enthusiasts. Whatever the reason, from the winter of 1900, they began to spend their spare time designing their first engine. Their first 10-cubic inch engine wasn’t a masterpiece since speed was controlled by the spark setting. However, it ran so the two young men did the obvious and bolted it onto a bicycle frame.

Meanwhile, Arthur had been corresponding with his elder brother, Walter, keeping him abreast of their progress. Walter was so interested that he left his job in Kansas to take another in Milwaukee so he could partake in this new enterprise. All retained their full-time jobs until their first proto-type putted its way onto the streets of Milwaukee. Contrary to many young entrepreneurs of the day, Harley and the Davidsons didn’t jump into production until their prototype worked reliably and consistently.

This conservative and cautious thinking typified the way they ran their business for the next four decades. The 10-ci engine needed more power and was soon discarded and replaced by a larger 25-ci (410cc) motor. This one had sufficient power but soon vibrated the bicycle frame to pieces. Their answer was a special-purpose frame with larger tubing, bigger brakes, wider wheels and beefier bearings. Yes it still had pedals, which one had to work like mad to start, but once running it cruised around 25mph. This coupled with the fact that it had no gears or suspension, was evidence that it was now becoming a true motorcycle.

The 25-ci F-head worked and kept on working. People began to take notice and the first orders started to trickle in. William Davidson Sr. began building a 10 X 8’ shed in their back-yard garden area, which became the first Harley-Davidson factory. During the winter of 1903/1904, Arthur built two bikes for their first paying customers. Bill Harley then left Barth Manufacturing to study for an engineering degree and Walter left his machinist job in Kansas to participate in the new venture full-time.

As word got around that the Harley-Davidson was a reliable machine, more orders flowed in. To help support their fast-growing business, an affluent uncle, James Mc Lay lent them sufficient money to build a “proper” factory on Chestnut Street (later renamed Juneau Avenue), where in 1906 forty-nine bikes were produced. For the next 70+ years, Harley-Davidsons were produced from this site and even now the infamous V-Twin is still produced there. Production grew in leaps and bounds as order kept piling in. More staff was taken on to keep up with the increased production. Output tripled to 152 bikes in 1907 and then tripled again the following year. Arthur, a born salesperson, left his day job and went out on the road to demonstrate the bike and recruit dealers. William Sr. then became the “Works” Manager and Harley-Davidson Incorporated was born.

The Explosive 1910’s

The Silent Gray Fellow became the nickname for the 25ci F-Head that had hardly changed since 1903. It was dubbed Silent Gray Fellow because it was quiet and came in only one color, Gray. However, it was much improved over its predecessor with the addition of sprung leading-link forks designed by Bill Harley while attending college. In fact, this design was used until 1947 and then reintroduced in modernized form in the late 1980’s. Soon after, the 25ci (410cc) engine was beefed up to 35ci (575cc) and was installed in a longer wheelbase frame. This model was given public credibility by Walter in the Long Island Endurance Run, which he won in 1908. The 5-35, as it was officially known, topped speeds of 50 mph. However, it wasn’t enough for the emergence of the day’s motorcycle riders who traveled great distances throughout America. As was the case with all of Harley-Davidson’s rivals, Harley-Davidson needed a bigger bike.

Oddly enough, Bill Harley did not invent the V-Twin when he doubled the single cylinder onto a beefier crankcase. Bill was merely doing what his competition was doing to improve their product. Although the V-Twin was fairly quick and easy to manufacture using existing engine components, it had its problems in its early days. Hampered by an atmospheric inlet valve, which was actuated by piston vacuum rather than a camshaft & pushrod, it was actually no faster than the 49ci twin. As a result, the 803cc 49ci was quickly withdrawn from Harley’s product line while Bill Harley retreated to the drawing board.

Then it reappeared in 1911 as the F-type with a mechanical inlet valve. This resulted in high-rev output that yielded considerably more power. Another problem of the prototype was drive belt slippage, which was overcome with belt tensioning. Through 1916, an insurgence of innovation from American manufacturers put American motorcycles ahead of European with Harley-Davidson in the lead. A clutch in the rear hub allowed the rider to stop and start without having to stop and restart the engine. That was soon superceded by a multi-plate clutch and chain drive with a two-speed gear in the hub. Harley-Davidson further enhanced this breakthrough in 1915 with a three-speed gearbox and automatic engine oil pump. Also that year Harley introduced the J-model with optional electric lighting powered by a gear-driven magneto.

Production soared from these technical enhancements to over 3,000 bikes in 1910, 5,000+ in 1911, 9,000+ in 1912 to more than 16,000 units the following year. As the decade closed, Harley-Davidson sales soared over 22,000. With only 10 years after Harley produced their first prototype, they had become #2 in the American motorcycle market. The longer-established Indian was still in the lead and Excelsior was #3. A bitter and intense rivalry ensued between Harley-Davidson and Indian for the next 25 years. However in a fit of patriotic fervor, Indian unleashed its entire production line to the military during the First World War. The result was many disgruntled Indian dealers with no product to sell who, at the hands of Arthur Davidson, transitioned to Harley-Davidson sales.

The Harley-Davidson/Indian rivalry was never more apparent than at the racetracks. Although the Harleys and the Davidsons were not racing aficionados, they shrewdly realized that board-racing success would translate to increased sales. So, William Ottaway, an engineer at Harley-Davidson, developed the short wheelbase II-K racer which topped speeds of 90 mph. It’s racing success was so profound that he was given approval to develop an Eight-valve V-twin racer, producing 55 hp. The infamous Harley-Davidson “Wrecking Crew”, the official factory V-twin racing team headed by Harry Ricardo, swept up the racing victories all over America until the motorcycle market collapsed in 1920.

With the emergence of inexpensive cars (including Henry Ford’s Model T), motorcycles were increasingly perceived as leisure toys for adventurous young men & women. However, motorcycle manufacturers optimistically believed that a quiet, efficient and inexpensive machine would entice their market back to riding motorcycles. Harley-Davidson’s panacea for the market’s declination was the Sport Twin of 1919, a semi-bland flat-twin, which could barely reach speeds of 50 mph. However, it was quiet and easily ridden with a three-speed gearbox, enclosed drive chain and optional lights. Unfortunately, the Sport Twin failed to draw back the motorcycling market and was mothballed only a few years later. Although it was well received in Europe, it was regarded as Harley-Davidson’s first flop. The Sport Twin was a loan-funded revival initiative for Harley-Davidson. This was very bad news!

Since 1903, Harley-Davidson sales grew in leaps and bounds year after year and nearly caught up with that of Indian, the global market leader of the day. Then in 1919/1920, Arthur, Bill, Walter and William disregarded their natural apprehension and borrowed $3-million smackers (a huge sum in the day) for expansion of their factory on Juneau Avenue (formerly Chestnut Street). When it was finished, the Juneau facility was the largest motorcycle plant in the world and phenomenally produced a record 28,000 machines in 1920. The Four Founders, now prospering in their middle age, made failure seem impossible.

A Rough Ride, 1920's

Harley-Davidson’s success at the close of the 1910’s was followed by setbacks in 1921. Sales declined by over half to 10,200 bikes from 28,000 in 1920. Harley had a considerable inventory of unsold bikes and a three million dollar loan to pay off for the expansion of the Juneau factory. The decade’s beginning was dismal at best and had to be met with strong business rigor. The fantastic four quickly applied survival measures by closing the Juneau facility for one month, abandoning the board-racing program and cutting back on salaries by a whopping 15%! The decision to cease their racing program had an immediate affect on their racing staff who were stranded at the State Fair in Phoenix. Most had to pawn their jewelry or borrow money from the local Harley-Davidson dealer in order to purchase transportation fare home.

Harley’s sudden cinching enabled them to sell their unsold inventory while production began to recover. However, recovery wavered and was anything but consistent. The motorcycle boom had definitely ended, primarily due to the availability of inexpensive cars. It took Harley-Davidson another 20 years to match their peak sales of 1920. The riding market wanted more power. Harley-Davidson responded with the Superpowered Twin in 1922 which was initially intended to be a sidecar machine. Its 74 cubic inch V-Twin was no larger than the original twin. It still had the overhead inlet valve, side exhaust, total-loss lubrication and came with magnetos and electric lights (FD & JD models respectively).

Harley-Davidson took pride in strengthening their business by building a strong dealer network. Picky-Picky-Picky was the name of their game. They were not only selective about who their dealers were, they imposed much control over their dealerships through franchise agreements which were for one year only. No dealer was allowed to sell any other make alongside a Harley. As a dealer, if you screwed up during the term, you would lose your franchise. However, if you abided by the rules there were benefits derived by being a Harley-Davidson dealer, specifically that the Harley-Davidson product had a superior reputation and sold very well.

Harley-Davidson and Indian were the only manufacturers of the day manufacturing motorcycles in large quantities. Competition between the two was very strong and sometimes bitter. However despite this rivalry and related illegality, they actually met periodically to fix prices! In 1922, Arthur Davidson met with Frank Weschler of Indian and agreed to sell at the same price the following year. This became an annual practice for some time to come. In spite of this, Harley-Davidson was actually better off than Indian by the mid 1920’s since they sold more product, produced more efficient product and maintained much tighter control over their dealerships.

Nonetheless, Indian sometimes appeared to be ahead in terms of model development. Indian had the first flat-twin (Remember, Harley countered with the Sport Twin) and produced the first single-cylinder 21 cubic-inch (350cc) Prince in 1925. Knowing this, Harley-Davidson had a Prince, 350cc BSA and New Imperial shipped to Milwaukee for ‘evaluation’. Shortly following, Harley’s 350cc single appeared in side-valve as well as overhead valve models. The ‘A’ version (side-valve) was primarily sold as a utilitarian bike and the ‘AA’ (OHV) did very well in racing and became known as the Peashooter. In a nutshell, Indian was invariably first introducing a new model, which Harley would soon counter with superiority. The Sport Twin, Peashooter, Two-Cam 45 and VL were all Harley-Davidson’s response to Indian products.

Indian’s edge was the side-valve twin, which was faster than the Harley’s older ioe (inlet-over-exhaust), even though it didn’t match up to the stamina of Harley’s ioe. The Two Cam was Harley’s answer to this by employing a separate cam for each valve, which provided higher compression, higher revs and more power. Available in 61ci (1000cc) and 74ci (1200cc) versions, the Two Cam was $50 more than the conventional J. Further; the 74ci could reach speeds of up to 100mph! The Indian Scout was a preverbal problem for Harley-Davidson. In 1927, Walter Davidson delivered his promise to the Shareholders and delivered the Model D (otherwise known as the 45) response to the Scout challenge. Similar to the Scout, the Model D included a 45ci side-valve V-twin. Unfortunately, the 45 lacked the Scout’s power and was unable to reach 60mph, while the Scout could top 75mph. Harley-Davidson rushed a carburetor kit into production in effort to improve the 45’s power. Shortly following, it became apparent that Harley’s vertically-mounted generator was prone to failure. The 45 had clearly been rammed through production without adequate testing before market introduction. In time though, the 45 became a reliable machine and was installed in the wartime WLA and the 3-wheeled Servicar.

Was Harley-Davidson losing steam? It might have seemed so to the time-honored riders and dealers when they introduced the VL in 1929. The VL was a replacement for the long-standing F/J models. The bore, stroke and capacity was all that remained the same on this side-valve V-twin which the Milwaukee claimed had up to a 20% power improvement. Surprisingly, the net increase was one single horsepower. Adding salt to an open wound, the VL weighed 120lbs more than the F/J. In a final bid to mitigate the situation, the flywheels were made smaller/lighter. This provided for better acceleration up to 50mph, but that was all it did. Top speed and climbing capability were brazenly lacking, not to mention the fact that the lighter flywheels caused a great deal of vibration. It’s not a surprise that some customers wanted the F/J & Two Cam reinstalled while others wanted their money back.

Milwaukee had to come up with the answers, and quick. After spending boo-coo hours redesigning, the answer came in larger & heavier flywheels, as well as modified cams. However, bigger flywheels needed bigger crankcases which called for larger frames. At the end of the day, all 1,300 VL’s made to that point had to be totally rebuilt to the tune of over $100,000. This obviously caused the dealers a great deal of heartburn, especially when they were expected to do the rebuilding at their own expense! It also served to present quite a blow on Harley-Davidson’s reputation for reliability. Things did obviously improve in the years ahead, but not without overcoming more 'difficult' times first.

A Rocky Recovery, 1930's

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 hit motorcycle sales with a devastating blow. Ironically though, Harley Davidson sold 21,000 that year followed by more than 17,000 in 1930. Oddly enough, the full impetus of the stock market crash hit Harley Davidson in 1933 when sales declined to 3,700 motorcycles.

The Four Founders were nearing retirement age by that time and were financially secure. Why bother to carry on? Well fortunately for all of us they did. Whether it was loyalty to their employees, some whom had been with them since the beginning, or simply their refusal to pitch away 30 years of hard work & innovation, they decided to stick with it. They invested a lot of time and money into an all-new bike that, for them, was a giant leap into the unknown. The Knucklehead was a real milestone for Harley-Davidson that ultimately enabled them to put Indian behind the eight ball. However until Knucklehead sales matured, employees were laid off and, for those that remained, salaries were cut by 10% while the Founders slashed their own compensation by half!

The 45ci and side-valve VL were improved. The 45’s frame was redesigned, doing away with the vertical generator that was the source of the derogatory nickname “Three-cylinder Harley”. Renamed the “R-Series” its sales were given a big boost when Indian temporarily ceased to manufacture the Scout, which was taken over by Du Pont. This yielded the mid-weight market to Harley-Davidson. Along came the innovative introduction of a range of bright new colors, taking their product away from dark & drab colors. Eye-catching reds, beiges, oranges and two-tones were given to the Harley product line, with tank logos having stylish art-deco motifs. Once again, Indian was the catalyst to Harley’s actions. Du Pont’s chemical mainstream gave Indian access to a wide range of colors and Harley-Davidson had no choice but to follow suit. Further, Indian’s big engine 80ci (1300cc) V-twin (The Big Chief) gave way to the VLH having its crankpin moved outward to provide a 4-1/2” stroke and the biggest Harley-Davidson engine yet.

While all of this was going on, Harley’s Engineering Department was hard at work designing the Knucklehead. After nearly 5 years of development, the Knucklehead reached production. Several challenges led to the lengthy Knucklehead development including; depleted engineering resources resulting from budget cuts, pesky engine-oil leaks coupled with the advent of a new dry sump lubrication system. The Knucklehead was finally unveiled & received well at the annual Dealer Conference in 1936. The 61ci (1000cc) overhead V-twin had a shorter stroke, giving it higher rev-ability than all previous models. The recirculating oil system replaced the outdated total-loss system, giving fresh and cool oil delivery that helped cope with long high-speed runs. It incorporated a new four-speed constant-mesh gearbox, new clutch and a new stylish frame, all of which led to an almost immediate success of the ’61-E’, nicknamed ‘Knucklehead’ because of the shape of its rocker boxes.

The Founders insisted that the 61-E was for limited production only. Dealers were not allowed to order them as demo bikes. As always, the Founders’ knowledge proved to beneficial because the Knucklehead’s first year wasn’t trouble-free. It continued to leak oil until valve-spring covers were employed. Even the springs themselves broke but these were only tooth-cutting problems and quickly overcome. Joe Petrali set a new speed record at 136+ mph. Police Officer Fred Hamm broke the distance record on a standard Knucklehead riding 1,825 miles at an average 76mph in a 24-hour period (including stops!). The successful Knucklehead led to successes of the 1937 45ci, the 74ci and 80ci (750cc, 1200cc & 1300cc respectively) side-valve engines, all of which were recipients of the new lubrication system and streamlined styling.

While the Knucklehead dominated the Headlines, the Servicar came alive with the front end of a 45 coupled with a two-wheel rear end and a load-carrying box. Initially intended for garage mechanics to retrieve cars needing repair, it also proved ideal for meter maids & police and remained in production until 1973.

After the start of the decade’s near closure of Harley-Davidson and multiple challenges that followed, Harley-Davidson was back to riding the wave’s crest. They had survived now two major slumps with difficult competitive challenges between them. Harley-Davidson had overtaken its Indian arch-rivalry and graduated to the #1 maker of high performance machines!