Highlights Archives
Harleys Come Home for the Milwaukee Rally
Milwaukee has given the world many things (think beer, custard, typewriters), one of which brings thousands of devoted fans and enthusiasts to Wisconsin State Fair Park each year — Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The annual Milwaukee Rally (July 27-30) features four days of music, games, contests and, of course, lots of engine-revving burnouts. It's hard to believe that what began as an experiment in a tiny Milwaukee shed in 1903 would become an American icon.
William S. Harley completed his first plan for an engine designed to fit into a bicycle in 1901. Partnering with his friends, Arthur and Walter Davidson, the Harley-Davidson Motor Company began selling its first motorcycles out of a 10-by-15-foot wooden shed in 1903. The following year, the first Harley-Davidson dealership opened in Chicago. Although production was initially slow, by 1908 the company was mass-producing 450 bikes a year and broke ground on an expanded five-story production facility in 1910.
Harley-Davidson motorcycles began winning races and setting records almost from day one. A Harley rider won a 15-mile race in Chicago on July 4, 1905. In 1908, Walter Davidson set a fuel efficiency record, achieving 188.234 miles to the gallon. Harley riders won first place in seven motorcycle races in 1910, won the first annual Pike's Peak race in 1916, and claimed first in the Adelaide to Melbourne South Australia race in 1922. During World War I, Harley-Davidson provided more than 20,000 motorcycles to the U.S. military, the first time that motorcycles had been used in combat.
Harley-Davidson introduced what many consider to be its best-looking bike — the FL — in 1941. Sporting an engine nicknamed the "Knucklehead" for the shape of its rocker boxes, which resemble the knuckles on a closed fist, the FL's increased horsepower and durability formed the basis for the Panheads, Shovelheads, even the Evolution and Twin Cam motors that followed, taking the company all the way into the 21st century.
The nickname "hog" came to be applied to Harleys in the 1920s when the racing team adopted a pig as its mascot. Taking advantage of the longstanding name, Harley-Davidson turned it into an acronym for the Harley Owners Group. Organized in 1983, it is largest factory-sponsored ownership group in the world, with more than half a million members.
Today, Harley-Davidson is one of two remaining American producers of motorcycles. A museum devoted to all things Harley is scheduled to open in Milwaukee in 2008. You can learn more about Harley-Davidson, particularly the company's early years, often described as the "era of mystery," in At the Creation: Myth, Reality, and the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, 1901-1909 by Wisconsin Historical Society Press author Herbert Wagner.
:: Posted July 28, 2006
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