HARLEY-DAVIDSON BIKES HISTORY

HARLEY_DAVIDSON FAMILY

How does HARLEY-DAVIDSON GOT ITS NAME

The Harley-Davidson Motor Company got its name from founders William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson. In time, Davidson's brothers, William and Walter, joined the company.

According to the Harley-Davidson Archives, Harley's name comes first because "it was his drafting, designing and testing that made the first motorcycles ever produced by the young company a possibility." The men included the hyphen in the name so that it would be clear that the company had two founding fathers, not just one.

THE FIRST MOTORBIKE OF HARLEY-DAVIDSON

The first production Harley-Davidson was a bicycle with a slightly modified frame to make the engine easier to mount. A leather belt carried the power from the engine to the rear wheel. This motorcycle had pedals, so you could pedal it like a bicycle if you wanted to. It also had a normal coaster brake in the rear hub that you could apply with the pedals (by pedaling backwards), just like you would on a normal one-speed bicycle today.

That original Harley-Davidson motorcycle had a 24.75 cubic inch (405 cc), single-cylinder, air-cooled engine with an F-head valve configuration. The engine weighed 49 pounds.