Harley Motorcycle: The Beginning
Jun 20th, 2009 | By admin | Category: Harley Davidson History
- Vintage Harley Motorcycle Toy Model
The history of the Harley-Davidson company is essentially a very vivid and eventful one. It all began when William S. Harley, one of the founders of the company, conceptualized a motorbike which had a small engine of only 116cc. the frame was that of a usual pedal-bicycle frame. Harley was only 21 when he first visualized the dream that was to become reality and rock the world for ages to come.
He was joined on his venture by his childhood friend, Arthur Davidson. Together these two created history. Other than this, they boys were also helped by the latter's brother, Walter Davidson. For the following couple of years, these two youngsters built on what they had visualized, in very humble settings. They had a friend called Henry Melk who lent them his north side machine shop in his house. So there is another name, which had, in his own small way, contributed to the making of the Harley dream. This bike was finally completed in 1903. However, there was a small technical glitch because the bike was unable to move up the mountains of Milwaukee without the help of a pedal. And these hills were not even of that great a height. However, with the true spirit of things that characterizes all successful entrepreneurs, the Harley and the Davidson's did not let the failure dampen their spirits and wrote it off as an experiment, which gave them a valuable amount of knowledge.
Immediately after this, they started working on another machine which can be called the first successful prototype of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. This had a 405 cc engine and 25 cm flywheels which weighed over 13 kilograms. This machine had a frame pattern which was remarkably like the 1903 Milwaukee Merkel bike designed by Joseph Merkel. Finally the making of this bigger engine was a turning point because now the Harley-Davidson was no longer a mechanized bicycle but an actual motorbike. Another man called Ole Evinrude lent the boys a helping hand with the bigger engine. Ole Evinrude was a designer of gas engines for use in automobiles.
This Harley-Davidson was put together in a tiny shed belonging to the Davidson family. The major motorcycle parts were all made in the West Milwaukee rail shops. But this is however not a certain piece of history. Finally, on the 8th of September, 1904, this machine came into use after it participated in a race held in the State Fair Park of Milwaukee. Edward Hildebrand rode it and it came fourth in that event. This is the first official record of a public appearance of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
By January 1905, there were advertisements in the "Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal", which offered the engines to the DIY or the do it yourself, bikers. By April, complete Harley-Davidson motorbikes went into production which was however, understandably limited. Check out all of the Harley Davidson history on this site http://thebikersemporium.com and add us to your favorites we have great news articles to come.
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