Harley Davidson

The neutrality of this article is disputed.Please see the discussion on the talk page.(January 2008)Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
Harley-Davidson Motor Company

Type
Public (NYSE: HOG)
Founded
1903
Founder
William S. HarleyArthur DavidsonWalter DavidsonWilliam A. Davidson
Headquarters
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Key people
James L. Ziemer (CEO)Thomas E. Bergmann (CFO)James A. McCaslin (div. President & div. COO)Sy Naqvi (President, Harley-Davidson Financial Services)
Industry
Recreational vehicles
Products
Motorcycles
Revenue
▲ 8.8 billion (USD) (2008)
Employees
9,700 (2006)[1]
Subsidiaries
Buell
Website
http://harley-davidson.com/
Harley-Davidson Motor Company (NYSE: HOG) is an American manufacturer of motorcycles based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company sells heavyweight (over 750 cc) motorcycles designed for cruising on the highway. Harley-Davidson motorcycles (popularly known as "Harleys") have a distinctive design and exhaust note. They are especially noted for the tradition of heavy customization that gave rise to the chopper-style of motorcycle.
Harley-Davidson attracts a loyal brand community,[2] with licensing of the Harley-Davidson logo accounting for almost 5% of the company's net revenue ($41 million in 2004).[3] In 2003, the Buell Motorcycle Company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harley-Davidson,[4] the same year that the Motor Company celebrated its 100th birthday. The Motor Company supplies many American police forces with their motorcycle fleets.[5]
Contents[hide]
1 History
1.1 The beginning
1.2 World War I
1.3 The 1920s
1.4 The Depression
1.5 World War II
1.6 Small Harleys - Hummers and Aermacchis
1.7 Tarnished reputation
1.8 Leadership regained
1.9 Claims of stock price manipulation
1.10 2007 workers' strike
1.11 Agreement in India
2 Harley-Davidson engines
2.1 The Big V-Twins
2.2 The Small V-Twins
2.3 The Revolution engine
3 Model designations
3.1 Current model designations
4 Model families
4.1 Touring
4.2 Softail
4.3 Dyna
4.4 Sportster
4.5 VRSC
5 Harley-Davidson culture
5.1 Origin of "Hog" nickname
5.2 Harley-Davidson Riders Club of Great Britain
5.3 Harley Owners Group
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links
//

[edit] History

[edit] The beginning
The company considers 1903 to be its year of founding, though the Harley-Davidson enterprise could be considered to have started in 1901 when William S. Harley, age 21, drew up plans for a small engine that displaced 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc) and had four-inch flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame.
Over the next two years Harley and his boyhood friend Arthur Davidson labored on their motor-bicycle using the northside machine shop at the home of their friend, Henry Melk. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur's brother, Walter Davidson. Upon completion the boys found their power-cycle unable to conquer Milwaukee's modest hills without pedal assistance. Will Harley and the Davidsons quickly wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment. [6]
Work was immediately begun on a new and improved second-generation machine. This first "real" Harley-Davidson motorcycle had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches (405 cc) with 9-3/4 inch flywheels weighing 28 pounds. The machine's advanced loop-frame pattern was similar to the 1903 Milwaukee Merkel motorcycle (designed by Joseph Merkel, later of Flying Merkel fame.) The bigger engine and loop-frame design took it out of the motorized-bicycle category and would help define what a modern motorcycle should contain in the years to come. The boys also received help with their bigger engine from outboard motor pioneer Ole Evinrude, who was then building gas engines of his own design for automotive use on Milwaukee's Lake Street.
The prototype of the new loop-frame Harley-Davidson was assembled in a 10- by 15-foot (3 by 5 meter) shed in the Davidson family backyard. Most of the major parts, however, were made elsewhere, including some probably fabricated at the West Milwaukee railshops where oldest brother William A. Davidson was then toolroom foreman. This prototype machine was functional by 8 September 1904 when it competed in a Milwaukee motorcycle race held at State Fair Park. It was ridden by Edward Hildebrand and placed fourth. This is the first documented appearance of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the historical record. [7]
In January 1905, small advertisements were placed in the "Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal" that offered bare Harley-Davidson engines to the do-it-yourself trade. By April, complete motorcycles were in production on a very limited basis. That year the first Harley-Davidson dealer, Carl H. Lang of Chicago, sold three bikes from the dozen or so built in the Davidson backyard shed. (Some years later the original shed was taken to the Juneau Avenue factory where it would stand for many decades as a tribute to the Motor Company's humble origins. Unfortunately, the first shed was accidentally destroyed by contractors in the early 1970s during a clean-up of the factory yard.)
In 1906, Harley and the Davidsons built their first factory on Chestnut Street (later Juneau Avenue). This location remains the Motor Company's corporate headquarters today. The first Juneau Avenue plant was a modest 40 by 60-foot single-story wooden structure. That year around 50 motorcycles were produced.

1907 model.
In 1907, William S. Harley graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in mechanical engineering. That year additional factory expansion came with a second floor and later with facings and additions of Milwaukee pale yellow ("cream") brick. With the new facilities production increased to 150 motorcycles in 1907. That September a milestone was reached when the fledgling company was officially incorporated. They also began selling their motorcycles to police departments around this time, a tradition that continues today. [8]
Production in 1905 and 1906 were all single-cylinder models with 26.84 cubic inch (440 cc) engines but as early as February of 1907 a prototype model with a 45-degree V-Twin engine was displayed at the Chicago Automobile Show. Although shown and advertised, very few dual cylinder V-Twin models were built between 1907 and 1910. These first V-Twins displaced 53.68 cubic inches (880 cc) and produced about 7 horsepower (5 kW). This gave about double the hill-climbing power of the first singles. Top speed was about 60 mph (97 km/h). Production jumped from 450 motorcycles in 1908 to 1,149 machines in 1909. [9]
The success of Harley-Davidson (along with Indian's success) had attracted many imitators. By 1911 some 150 makes of motorcycles had already been built in the United States -- although just a handful would survive the 1910s.
In 1911, an improved V-Twin model with mechanically operated intake valves was introduced. (Earlier V-Twins had used "automatic" intake valves that opened by engine vacuum). Displacing 49.48 cubic inches (810 cc), the 1911 V-Twin was actually smaller than earlier twins, but gave better performance. After 1913 the majority of bikes produced by Harley-Davidson would be V-Twin models.
By 1913, the yellow brick factory had been demolished and on the site a new 5-story structure of reinforced concrete and red brick had been built. Begun in 1910, the red brick factory with its many additions would take up two blocks along Juneau Avenue and around the corner on 38th Street. Despite the competition, Harley-Davidson was already pulling ahead of Indian and would dominate motorcycle racing after 1914. Production that year swelled to 16,284 machines.

Ralph Hepburn on his Harley racing bike in this 1919 photo.

[edit] World War I
In 1917, the United States entered World War I and the military demanded motorcycles for the war effort. Harleys had already been used by the military in border skirmishes with Pancho Villa but World War I was the first time the motorcycle had been adopted for combat service. Harley-Davidson provided over 20,000 machines to the military forces during World War I.

[edit] The 1920s
By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. Their motorcycles were sold by dealers in 67 countries. Production was 28,189 machines.
In 1921, a milestone was reached in motorcycle racing. A Harley-Davidson was the first to win a race at an average speed of over 100 mph (160 km/h).
During the 1920s, several improvements were put in place, such as a new 74 cubic inch (1200cc) V-Twin, introduced in 1922, and the "Teardrop" gas tank, still seen today, in 1925. A front brake was added in 1928.
In the late summer of 1929, Harley-Davidson introduced its 45 cubic inch flathead V-Twin to compete with the Indian 101 Scout and the Excelsior Super X.[10]

[edit] The Depression

Harley-Davidson WL
The Great Depression began a few months after the introduction of their 45 cubic inch model. Harley-Davidson's sales plummeted from 21,000 in 1929 to less than 4,000 in 1933. In order to survive, the company manufactured industrial powerplants based on their motorcycle engines. They also designed and built a three-wheeled delivery vehicle called the Servi-Car, which remained in production until 1973.[10]
In the mid-'30s, Alfred Child opened a production line in Japan with the 74ci VL, which became Rikuo after Harley employees were expelled.[citation needed]
An 80 cubic inch flathead engine was added to the line in 1935, by which time the single cylinder motorcycles had been discontinued.[11]
By 1937, all the flathead engines were equipped with the dry-sump oil recirculation system that had been introduced with the 61E and 61EL "Knucklehead" OHV models. This caused the 74 cubic inch V and VL models to be renamed U and UL, the 80 cubic inch VH and VLH to be renamed UL and ULH, and the 45 cubic inch RL to be renamed WL.[12]
In 1941, the 74 cubic inch "Knucklehead" was introduced as the F and the FL, replacing the 80 cubic inch flathead UH and ULH models.[citation neede