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| A Legend Is Born | |||
| 1901 - A 10' x 15' shed in the Davidson family’s Milwaukee backyard serves as the birthplace to an American icon. Arthur Davidson, 20, and William Harley, 21, began experiments on "taking the work out of bicycling." Now if you doubt that bicycling was any work, try and remember what people were riding 100 years ago and you soon get the picture. In all honesty, they were mechanics and inventors who came upon the idea to motorize a bike rather easily. At that time in history there was a new invention called the horseless carriage so it was a logical progression to come up with the idea to fit a smaller combustion engine to a bicycle. Soon after, the duo were joined by Arthur's two brothers Walter and William. In two years they produced 3 motorcycles and the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Co. was born. I wonder which one didn't get a bike that year? | |||
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Arthur Davidson |
William Harley |
Walter Davidson |
William Davidson |
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| 1903 Many changes were made to the engine design before its builders were satisfied. After the new looped frame was finalized, they were ready to begin production. 1903 production: 3 motorcycles. | |||
| 1906-07 Harley-Davidson erected its first building at the current Juneau Avenue site in 1906 and they incorporated in 1907. 1907 production: 150 motorcycles. It's also notable that in 1907 Police forces began buying the Harley Davidson motorcycle and enjoyed the speed and freedom they needed to apprehend criminal types. To date, it is the number one choice of law enforcement agencies around the globe including Asian countries. | |||
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