T H E H A R L E Y - D A V I D S O N S O U R C E B O O K All the Milestone Production Models Since 1903 | Mitch Bergeron Contents Introduction ........................... 4 Chapter 7 THE SHOVELHEAD ....................... 164 Chapter 1 THE BEGINNING: Chapter 8 EARLY SINGLES ............................. 8 THE EVOLUTION ......................... 186 Chapter 2 Chapter 9 THE FIRST TWINS: THE TWIN CAM F-HEAD TWIN-CYLINDER ENGINES .......................... 216 ...... 28 Chapter 10 Chapter 3 THE MILWAUKEE-EIGHT SIDE-VALVE ENGINES ................248 AKA THE FLATHEAD ....................... 54 Epilogue ..............................276 Chapter 4 THE KNUCKLEHEAD ....................... 86 Acknowledgments ..................280 Chapter 5 THE PANHEAD ........................... 100 Image Credits ....................... 281 Chapter 6 THE SPORTSTER .......................... 116 Index ...................................282 introduction Evolution: The gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form Most organizations strive to evolve, to make their company ever feelings that older generations have toward Harley and what it better not only in their products or services but also within their represents or represented. It’s a different game now. operations. They must. If a company doesn’t do well financially, Politics and the environment play a huge role in defining vehicle it will eventually fold—its product will disappear. Creating a trends. Just look at Harley-Davidson’s all-electric Livewire. Who motorcycle and managing a motorcycle company require two would have thought that Harley-Davidson would build an electric different talents, both equally important. It’s a tough balancing motorcycle? This is a huge directional change for a company rooted act, and one that many companies cannot accomplish. Consider in the internal-combustion tradition. But they have no choice; the number of American motorcycle companies that launched at it’s evolve or die. Yes, some smaller motorcycle companies have the beginning of the twentieth century. There were hundreds. How created a niche offering old-style tradition, but a huge company many of those early companies are left today? The answer is one. like Harley Davidson cannot remain stagnant. I can’t imagine that Only one survived . . . it is easy trying to maintain roots and traditions (which, as stated, The Harley-Davidson Motor Company is the one American are fossil-fuel driven) while at the same time working to become motorcycle company that has managed to stay alive continuously more fuel efficient, EPA compliant, dependable, fun to ride, and for almost 120 years. pleasant to look at. How well has Harley-Davidson done? In addition to staying But as you will learn in The Harley-Davidson Source Book, afloat through some challenging times over its history, Harley- nothing has really changed, challenge wise, since The Motor Davidson sold over 218,000 motorcycles in 2019 alone. That’s an Company’s early days. Even though today’s obstacles are more extremely respectable number. Sales rose steadily from 1986, with complex, technology has advanced exponentially as well. The almost 50,000 bikes sold that year to nearly 350,000 units in 2006! metallurgical challenges that Harley-Davidson faced in its early The motorcycle marketplace has never been an easy one, and it is years, which probably seemed nearly unsolvable, are now considered no different today. Harley-Davidson’s key customer base is getting child’s play. It’s all relative. I am certain that Harley-Davidson older. Motorcycle styles change, and new riding trends emerge. will provide its present and future riders with the motorcycles Riders change. And today’s younger riders don’t have the nostalgic that they need—the right bike at the right time. Have they always 4 5 that, one by one, slowly (though sometimes abruptly) moved The Motor Company ahead and secured its future. Each of the featured machines or engine platforms aesthetically or mechanically influenced the following models and even future bikes. These models were either planned in advance by the visionaries at Harley-Davidson or they were developed gradually over time. There are a few bikes that I would have liked to include, such as the V-Rod, which gave way to the now-defunct Street 750 and 500, and also the Destroyer, which is a 9-second quarter-mile dragstrip-only version of the V-Rod. However, I limited this book to air-cooled engines only and focused on the V-Twins as these are Harley-Davidson’s history and heritage. Harley’s racing history is also extremely interesting and influenced many of its street-legal bikes. But that, too, is another book unto itself. The book’s subtitle, All the Milestone Production Models Since 1903 plainly describes the content. From the very first 7.07ci, single-cylinder, bicycle-framed effort to the latest 117ci Milwaukee-Eight powered models, I’ll touch on all of the stepping- achieved this? Of course not. No company is perfect. But I think stone production bikes in between. that over the years Harley-Davidson has proven itself to be a There is so much history to this amazing company. No one can survivor and more than capable of building whatever it takes to deny that Harley-Davidson is king when it comes to cruisers. They stay in the game. have managed to preserve their traditional look while delivering Thinking again of evolution, let’s consider the purpose of modern performance and dependability from what is basically an this book. Throughout its history, Harley-Davidson has built archaic V-Twin design base. We all have our favorite bikes. Maybe thousands of different models. Seriously—thousands! Because so that model will be explored here, or maybe it was a derivative many models have been made, I could not include them all. If I did, from one of the other models included. All models across Harley’s this would be one of several phone book–sized tomes. And there history trace back to some source machine. And I am sure you will have been hundreds of books written on The Motor Company’s find some information on that source bike in this book. history, specific models, lifestyle, etc. This book is not about why It has been a great pleasure to gather this information for you. Harley-Davidson is so popular or why it has been around for so I hope it helps you to better understand and appreciate Harley- long. And it is not simply a bunch of randomly selected bikes for Davidson motorcycles and the company’s evolution across its your viewing pleasure. This book is a chronology of specific models countless models and fascinating history. 6 7