In 1901, William S. Harley, age 20, drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc) and four-inch (102 mm) flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame. Over the next two years, Harley 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. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur's brother, Walter Davidson. Upon testing their power-cycle, Harley and the Davidson brothers found it unable to climb the hills around Milwaukee without pedal assistance. They quickly wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment.
Work immediately began on a new and improved second-generation machine. This first "real" Harley-Davidson motorcycle had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches (405 cc) with 9.75 inches (25 cm) flywheels weighing 28 lb (13 kg). The machine's advanced loop-frame pattern was similar to the 1903 Milwaukee Merkel motorcycle (designed by Joseph Merkel, later of Flying Merkel fame). The bigger engine and loop-frame design took it out of the motorized bicycle category and marked the path to future motorcycle designs. The boys 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.
Harley-Davidson launched its Street 750 at a price of Rs. 4.1 lakh on the first day of the 12th Auto Expo in Greater Noida on Wednesday. The bike will go on sale in India from March and will be available at all 13 distributors across the country. The company is coming out with a bike in the Street platform after 14 years. It will launch the 500cc version of the bike in a few months. The Street 750 was designed with the help of inputs from around 3,000 bikers from 10 different countries including Mumbai and Delhi. The Harley-Davidson Street 750 is India-made bike and is powered by a V-Twin 749cc liquid-cooled engine. This engine has a six-speed manual gearbox.
The Milwaukee Business Journal reports Harley-Davidson plans to bring back its Road Glide model — but it’s unclear when that will happen. During a recent earnings report call, Harley-Davidson Inc. chief financial officer and senior vice president John Olin said Harley will bring back the Road Glide, a tour bike that Milwaukee Harley-Davidson dealership owner Chaz Hastings is anxious to have back on his showroom floor. Olin said last July that the decision to discontinue the Road Glide was part of the company’s typical process of bringing models in and out of the lineup each year as it introduces new bikes. But, Olin explained during the call last week that the Road Glide represented 9 percent of its sales volume, and its customers are “incredibly loyal.”
Modern Harley-branded motorcycles fall into one of six model families: Touring, Softail, Dyna, Sportster, Vrod and Street. These model families are distinguished by the frame, engine, suspension, and other characteristics.
Harley-Davidson - Official Page
Harley-Davidson - Wikipedia
Harley-Davidson - Twitter
Harley-Davidson - Facebook
0 comments:
Post a Comment