Harley-Davidson Bikes

About Harley-Davidson

In 1901, when proper bikes didn�t exist, William S. Harley, who was barely 22 at the time, conceived the idea of an engine and sketched it on paper; the engine was to be attached to a bicycle to make it motorized. In 1903, their efforts bore fruits when William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson produced the first ever Harley-Davidson motorcycle. It was more of a racing bike.

Harley-Davidson History

Similar to all great companies Harley-Davidson too had its humble beginning, when they started off from a small wooden shed which was smaller than a normal bedroom. Later on the �company� got a big boost when Arthur's brother Walter later joined them and one of their school friends bought around 1900 bikes from them. In a breakthrough development in 1904, they sold their first three bikes through their first ever dealer, C.H. Lang of Chicago.

Six years later, in 1909, Harley-Davidson Motor Company launched their debut V-twin powered bike. This seven hp and two cylinder bike was a trendsetter for Harley-Davidson. They also started producing the spare parts for their motorcycles. Almost a decade later, their dream came true when Harley-Davidson became the largest motorcycle producer in the world in 1920. By that time they were selling their bikes through a large network of 2,000 dealers around 67 countries globally.

When the Second World War broke out, they started making the bikes for the US military. In 1945, Harley Davidson achieved a milestone as it had produced around 60,000 WLA bikes for the military purpose alone. �W� in WLA stood for family of bikes; �L� meant high compression, and �A� stood for Army. They resumed the civil production soon after. In 1980, the AMA Grand National Championship in dirt track racing was won by a Harley-Davidson racer. Harley Davidson went public in 1986, when they were listed on NASDAQ.

In 2006, they introduced their first ever 6-speed transmissions bike called Dyna. Two year later, they came up with all new frame, a longer wheelbase and lower seating arrangement, which quickly became popular around the world. It had much better maneuverability. Harley Davidson announced their expansion into Indian market in 2009.

Harley-Davidson Bikes models

The famous Harley Davidson models are:

• CVO
• Sportster
• Forty Eight
• Dyna
• Touring Iron
• Softail
• VRSC
• SuperLow
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Last Updated on 6/15/2012