Davidson quit his job as tool foreman for the Milwaukee Road railroad and joined the Motor Company. They also began selling their motorcycles to police departments around this time, a market that has been important to them ever since. The company was officially incorporated that September. With the new facilities, production increased to 150 motorcycles in 1907. That year, they expanded the factory with a second floor and later with facings and additions of Milwaukee pale yellow ("cream") brick. Harley graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a degree in mechanical engineering.
The company produced about 50 motorcycles that year.
The first Juneau Avenue plant was a 40 ft × 60 ft (12 m × 18 m) single-story wooden structure. In 1906, Harley and the Davidson brothers built their first factory on Chestnut Street (later Juneau Avenue), at the current location of Harley-Davidson's corporate headquarters. Years later, the company moved the original shed to the Juneau Avenue factory where it stood for many decades as a tribute. Lang of Chicago sold three bikes from the five built in the Davidson backyard shed. That year, Harley-Davidson dealer Carl H. By April, they were producing complete motorcycles on a very limited basis. In January 1905, the company placed small advertisements in the Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal offering bare Harley-Davidson engines to the do-it-yourself trade. Edward Hildebrand rode it and placed fourth in the race. This prototype machine was functional by September 8, 1904, when it competed in a Milwaukee motorcycle race held at State Fair Park. Most of the major parts, however, were made elsewhere, including some probably fabricated at the West Milwaukee railshops where oldest brother William A.
The prototype of the new loop-frame Harley-Davidson was assembled in a 10 ft × 15 ft (3.0 m × 4.6 m) shed in the Davidson family backyard. They 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 bigger engine and loop-frame design took it out of the motorized bicycle category and marked the path to future motorcycle designs. Its advanced loop-frame pattern was similar to the 1903 Milwaukee Merkel motorcycle designed by Joseph Merkel, later of Flying Merkel fame. The three began work on a new and improved machine with an engine of 24.74 cubic inches (405 cc) with 9.75 in (24.8 cm) flywheels weighing 28 lb (13 kg). Upon testing their power-cycle, Harley and the Davidson brothers found it unable to climb the hills around Milwaukee without pedal assistance, and they wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur's brother Walter Davidson. Over the next two years, he and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson worked on their motor-bicycle using the northside Milwaukee machine shop at the home of their friend Henry Melk. Harley drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc) and four-inch (102 mm) flywheels designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame. Davidson, Walter Davidson Sr., Arthur Davidson and William S. The company markets its products worldwide, and also licenses and markets merchandise under the Harley-Davidson brand, among them apparel, home décor and ornaments, accessories, toys, scale models of its motorcycles, and video games based on its motorcycle line and the community.įrom left: William A. Harley-Davidson manufactures its motorcycles at factories in York, Pennsylvania Milwaukee, Wisconsin Manaus, Brazil Bawal, India and Pluak Daeng, Thailand. The company traditionally marketed heavyweight, air-cooled cruiser motorcycles with engine displacements greater than 700 cc, but it has broadened its offerings to include more contemporary VRSC (2002) and middle-weight Street (2015) platforms.
Harley-Davidson is noted for a style of customization that gave rise to the chopper motorcycle style. There are owner clubs and events worldwide, as well as a company-sponsored, brand-focused museum. The company has survived numerous ownership arrangements, subsidiary arrangements, periods of poor economic health and product quality, and intense global competition to become one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with its historical rival, Indian Motorcycles. ( H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
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