issue 180

When was the “HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTOR CO.” Sign added to the Shed? And … who added it? 

In the previous issue I wrote about the history of the Low Rider. I enjoyed that so much that I thought why not learn and write about some of the lesser-known stories bout the rise of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. 

If you want the most concise melding of all the insider Harley-Davidson archives, then there is no one placed better to start than the man himself, Willie G Davidson and his 100 Years of Harley-Davidson. 

That said I have scanned the web for info about the first few years. Not just William S Harley and the Davidson brothers but a tidbit of the influencers around them. 

My goal is to get you to wonder and find out even more from the early days.

1901 Bicycle Motor Drawing #2

We all know the story: two teenage school mates Bill Harley and Arthur Davidson lived in Milwaukee, the heart of the American outdoors. 

Their love of cycling in the woods led them to become apprentices at Barth Manufacturing Company.

A French single-cylinder engine, the de Dion-Bouton, had been around for a long time and copied by many. In fact, it had a striking resemblance to Bill Harley’s 1901 engineering drawing of his seven cubic-inch engine he named the Bicycle Motor Drawing #2.

1902: Spinning Wheels
The next two years were spent trying to build this small block engine. That was probably done in friend Henry Melk’s garage using his dad’s lathe. Older brother Big Bill (William A Davidson) surely helped as he was the tool room foreman at the West Milwaukee rail shops.

1903: The Walter Davidson Bicycle Motor

Come early 1903, older brother Big Bill is getting married and middle brother Walter is coming home to Milwaukee from Kansas where he is working for the railroad. And the boys still haven’t got the #2 bicycle motor up and running on the road. So, in desperation the boys make Walter an offer he did not refuse which was to be the first to ride the motorcycle if he helped fund its construction. They didn’t tell Walter it was just bits and pieces that he would have to assemble himself.

Not to worry, that is what brothers are for. He was so intrigued with the idea that he soon had it up and running on a bicycle frame. When he rode it for the first time he fell in love with it so much that he ran it out of gas three times. All that Walter asked for was for Bill Harley to make it tougher and faster.

Note: there are no photos or even complete drawings of the early 1903 Walter prototype. It is depicted only in the Discovery Channel mini-series Harley and the Davidsons as the best-guess bicycle/motorcycle. The only accurate clue to the first prototype is Bill Harley’s engineering drawing that was found and then published in the HOG Magazine, Winter 2016.

1903: Serial No. 1

Because of the hills around Milwaukee, Bill Harley already knew in early 1903 that a bigger engine was desperately needed. Now with the help of friend Ole Evinrude of motorboat engine fame, Harley tripled the size of his new 1903 big block engine to 24 cubic inches and gave it a heavier 28-pound crankshaft. With the bigger engine Harley knew the second prototype had to also have a stronger frame like Joe Merkel had realised in 1902. 

Merkel came up with what turned out to be the world standard, a loop frame. A third device that made a powerful bike rideable was Harley’s own drive-belt disengagement lever, effectively creating the first neutral gear. 

The world’s first Superbike aka Serial No. 1 was created. In fact, there were three 1903 Harleys constructed: No. 1 as a racer, the bike that is now on display at the Harley-Davidson Museum; the second was sold to a friend; and the third one is yet to be found.

1904: Serial No. 1’s First Race

The Serial No. 1 prototype was finished on 8 September 1904, and immediately entered in a race with famed rider Edward Hildebrand who came in fourth behind the winner on a 36 cubic inch Mitchell. Bigger is faster! This was also the first time that the Motor Company’s appearance was documented. Which begs the questions, when did Harley get first billing? And why Harley-Davidson “Motor” Company? Some say it was Janet Davidson who painted the name on the front door of the 1903 shed. The earliest known “Harley-Davidson advertisement was in the Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal, of January 1905.

1903-1907: Fork in the Road 

What is not entirely clear but soon after Walter built the small block pushbike, Bill Harley was accepted and went off to the University of Wisconsin in Madison for four years, some 130km away. 

It is obvious that the Davidsons were left holding down the fort. In the miniseries it is depicted that Arthur and Walter went to the Uni and had a conversation with Harley and two of his rich Uni mates that all wanted Harley to work for them at a company called Mason. Everyone wanted him.

THE SHED, NAME & FACTORIES

First, Harley is named the “Motor” Company because in 1901 the boys started off designing and wanting to sell a motor for not only bicycles but buggies and do-it-yourself enthusiasts. Remember, the original engine drawing is named bicycle motor. So it’s the Motor Company versus Motorcycle Company.

Next, which name is first – Davidson or Harley? My guess and the best chronological evidence is found in photos since 1904 and the first Harley-Davidson ad in 1905. Also, the name Harley-Davidson Motor Company was incorporated in 1907 and the first patent was 1910.

The official “Hollywood” version of the name is a 1903 photo of the 10 by 15-foot shed with the name Harley-Davidson Motor Co crudely painted on the door by a young Janet Davidson. Obviously to me, both Bill Harley who was a qualified draftsman and Arthur Davidson a pattern maker didn’t paint that crude sign. But that 1903 photo and its door and windows don’t match photos of the same shed taken in 1904 and onwards. Nor in the 1970s photo of the shed at the company headquarters, there is only the sign reading “First home of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. 1903.”

In 1906 the shed was replaced by the new 28 by 80-foot single-storey factory. Even in a picture taken in 1907 with workers out front, it did not have a name on it. In September 1907, the “Harley-Davidson Motor Company” was officially incorporated. 

And in 1908, when a second story was added to the ’06 factory the name “Harley-Davidson Motor C” appears (with an O inserted inside the C not the word Company). The Harley-Davidson Bar & Shield logo wasn’t used until 1908 as a transfer on tool boxes and patented in 1911.

So you say, but Serial No. 1 has Harley-Davidson logo on its tank. Well maybe not. The very first picture of a 1903 was taken in about 1912. That picture is in Willie G’s book and it doesn’t have the name on the tank. I suspect that at some point all the old Harleys in the Archive Collection had the logo added.

Again, I am lead to believe that the name Harley didn’t come first until after Bill Harley returned to the Motor Company fold sometime between 1904 and 1907. My guess is that Bill Harley got his name first because without his original 1901 design of the bicycle motor, that there would have never been any Motor Company at all. He was the designer and all the others took care of business. Without the Davidsons and the motorcycle enthusiasts in Milwaukee there may have never been any inspiration for the four founders to create the Motor Company.

Ed: I reckon the order of names was purely because of the ease of pronunciation. Try saying Davidson-Harley. Doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as Harley-Davidson.