Qualla: Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. The first one couldn't make it up a hill. In 1903, twenty-one-year-old William S. Harley and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson finished their motor-bicycle in a Milwaukee machine shop, took it outside, and discovered it couldn't climb the hills around the city without pedal assistance. They called it a 'valuable learning experiment' and went back to the shed - literally, a ten-by-fifteen-foot wooden structure in the Davidson family backyard - to build something better. The next prototype had a bigger engine, help from outboard motor pioneer Ole Evinrude, and enough power to compete in a race at State Fair Park by September 1904. From that backyard shed, Harley-Davidson would grow into the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, survive every catastrophe the twentieth century could throw at it, and become synonymous with a particular American idea of freedom on two wheels.

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Harley-Davidson: The Shed on Juneau Avenue

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. William Harley drew up plans for his first small engine in 1901 - a 116cc unit with four-inch flywheels, designed for a pedal-bicycle frame. He and Arthur Davidson worked on it in their friend Henry Melk's machine shop, and Arthur's brother Walter joined to help finish the job. T...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Harley-Davidson: War Machines and Survival

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Auge=mit, CC BY-SA 3.0. Harley-Davidson has been a military supplier since the Pancho Villa Expedition, but the world wars defined the company's relationship with the American armed forces. The U.S. military purchased over 20,000 motorcycles from Harley-Davidson during World War I. In World War II, the ...

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Image: Auge=mit | CC BY-SA 3.0

Harley-Davidson: The Dark Years and the Buyback

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eliot Phillips, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1969, American Machine and Foundry bought Harley-Davidson, slashed the workforce, and streamlined production. Quality plummeted. Japanese manufacturers, led by Honda with its reliable, affordable machines, were revolutionizing the North American market. Harley-Davidson's bikes...

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Image: Eliot Phillips | CC BY-SA 2.0

Harley-Davidson: The Sound You Can't Trademark

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joachim Köhler, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1994, Harley-Davidson tried to trademark a sound. The company filed an application describing 'the exhaust sound of applicant's motorcycles, produced by V-twin, common crankpin motorcycle engines when the goods are in use.' That distinctive potato-potato-potato idle comes from...

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Image: Joachim Köhler | CC BY-SA 3.0

Harley-Davidson: Milwaukee's Museum on Two Wheels

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dori, CC BY-SA 3.0 us. The $75 million Harley-Davidson Museum opened in 2008 in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley, a 130,000-square-foot shrine to the company's history. Inside are hundreds of historic motorcycles, from the earliest singles to wartime WLAs to the bikes that defined American motorcycle cultu...

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Image: Dori | CC BY-SA 3.0 us