Chapter activities are conducted
primarily for the benefit of H.O.G. chapter members. The
activity categories are:
Open events
are those Chapter
Events which are open to Chapter Members,
National H.O.G. Members and others guests as
desired.
Closed events
are those Chapter
Events which are open to the Antelope Valley HOG
Chapter Members and their guests.
Meetings
are restricted to Chapter Members only and their
guests. Prospective members are permitted to
attend two of the monthly Chapter meetings as
guests.
H.O.G. History
Highlights
1983
Harley Owner’s Group
was established. By
the close of the
year, there were
33,000 members in US
& Canada.
1984
HOG
conducted 2 National
Rallies: one in Reno
& the other in
Nashville with 3,000
in combined
attendance. ABCs of
Touring Contest was
introduced.
1985
Sauk
Trail HOG Chapter,
the first on record,
was formed. By the
end of 1985, 49
Chapters officially
existed.
1986
Ladies of Harley®
was established.
1988
HOG
celebrates its 5th
Anniversary while
Harley Davidson
celebrates its 85th
Anniversary.
1989
Original HOG Mileage
Merit Program kicks
off.
1991
The
first official
international HOG
event, The European
HOG Rally, is held
in Cheltenham
England with over
3,500 members
present.
1993
HOG
celebrates its 10th
year Anniversary in
Milwaukee with over
20,000 attending.
The Canadian
National HOG Rally
launches in Ottawa
with 600+ members.
1994
HOG’s 250,000th
member enrolls.
French National HOG
Rally is held in
Vannes, Brittany.
Over 1,200 members
attended
1995
HOG
Mileage Program is
kicked-off,
replacing The
Mileage Merit
Program. The 1st
German National HOG
Rally attracts over
2,000 members in
Loreley.
1996
The
1st cross-country
HOG Tour travels
from Milwaukee to LA
with 425 riders
along Route 66, the
fabled Mother Road
1997
HOG
conducts the
250-rider Posse Ride
from Portland,
Oregon to Portland,
Maine over a 12-day
period.
1998
Milwaukee celebrates
HOG’s 15-year
Anniversary with
over 53,000 members
from 42 countries.
1999
The
HOG Members Only
website goes
on-line.
2000
HOG’s
500,000th member
enrolls. The 1st
South American
Regional HOG Rally
is held in Iguaçu
Falls, Brazil.
2002
Milwaukee kick’s off
their 100
Anniversary with The
Harley-Davidson Open
Road Tour at the
19th Annual HOG
Rally in Atlanta.
2003
HOG
reaches its 750,000
membership
milestone. HOG
celebrates its 20th
Anniversary with
Club HOG XX Rally in
Bend, Wisconsin
2005
The 2nd leg of the
Posse Ride finishes
in Milwaukee, with
over 700 riders
2006
HOG
attains its
one-million member
milestone. The
Moscow HOG Chapter
is founded.
Harley Davidson - A History
The Early Days,
1900's
Silent Gray Fellow
In 1903, Mr. & Mrs. Davidson
rarely saw their three sons.
None had followed their father’s
footsteps into the carpentry
trade while they were
ambitiously pursuing engineering
jobs. William, the oldest, was a
foreman with the Milwaukee
Railroad Company while Walter,
second oldest, was a machinist
in Kansas. Arthur, the youngest,
became a patternmaker at the
Barth Manufacturing Company,
also in Milwaukee.
Arthur and his good friend,
William Harley, were soon
focused on the internal
combustion engine. Society was
poised in optimistic belief of
the fast-developing technology
as steam power began to
transform North America and
Europe. Electricity and the
petrol engine were emerging,
giving way to the promise of a
higher standard of life. Mankind
was now on the brink of a new
age in transportation and it is
no surprise that Arthur and
William were among the pioneers
in the development of such
technology.
Some said that the young Harley
and Davidson wanted to build a
petrol engine to pace cycle
races while others thought they
wanted to power a rowboat since
both were cycling and fishing
enthusiasts. Whatever the
reason, from the winter of 1900,
they began to spend their
spare time designing their
first engine. Their first
10-cubic inch engine wasn’t a
masterpiece since speed was
controlled by the spark setting.
However, it ran so the two young
men did the obvious and bolted
it onto a bicycle frame.
Meanwhile, Arthur had been
corresponding with his elder
brother, Walter, keeping him
abreast of their progress.
Walter was so interested that he
left his job in Kansas to take
another in Milwaukee so he could
partake in this new enterprise.
All retained their full-time
jobs until their first
proto-type putted its way onto
the streets of Milwaukee.
Contrary to many young
entrepreneurs of the day, Harley
and the Davidsons didn’t jump
into production until their
prototype worked reliably and
consistently.
This conservative and cautious
thinking typified the way they
ran their business for the next
four decades. The 10-ci engine
needed more power and was soon
discarded and replaced by a
larger 25-ci (410cc) motor. This
one had sufficient power but
soon vibrated the bicycle frame
to pieces. Their answer was a
special-purpose frame with
larger tubing, bigger brakes,
wider wheels and beefier
bearings. Yes it still had
pedals, which one had to work
like mad to start, but once
running it cruised around 25mph.
This coupled with the fact that
it had no gears or suspension,
was evidence that it was now
becoming a true motorcycle.
The 25-ci F-head worked and kept
on working. People began to take
notice and the first orders
started to trickle in. William
Davidson Sr. began building a 10
X 8’ shed in their back-yard
garden area, which became the
first Harley-Davidson factory.
During the winter of 1903/1904,
Arthur built two bikes for their
first paying customers. Bill
Harley then left Barth
Manufacturing to study for an
engineering degree and Walter
left his machinist job in Kansas
to participate in the new
venture full-time.
As word got around that the
Harley-Davidson was a reliable
machine, more orders flowed in.
To help support their
fast-growing business, an
affluent uncle, James Mc Lay
lent them sufficient money to
build a “proper” factory on
Chestnut Street (later renamed
Juneau Avenue), where in 1906
forty-nine bikes were produced.
For the next 70+ years,
Harley-Davidsons were produced
from this site and even now the
infamous V-Twin is still
produced there. Production grew
in leaps and bounds as orders
kept piling in. More staff was
taken on to keep up with the
increased production. Output
tripled to 152 bikes in 1907 and
then tripled again the following
year. Arthur, a born
salesperson, left his day job
and went out on the road to
demonstrate the bike and recruit
dealers. William Sr. then became
the “Works” Manager and
Harley-Davidson Incorporated was
born.
The Explosive 1910's
1914 V-Twin Racer
The Silent Gray Fellow
became the nickname for the 25ci
F-Head that had hardly changed
since 1903. It was dubbed Silent
Gray Fellow because it was quiet
and came in only one color,
Gray. However, it was much
improved over its predecessor
with the addition of sprung
leading-link forks designed
by Bill Harley while attending
college. In fact, this design
was used until 1947 and then
reintroduced in modernized form
in the late 1980’s. Soon after,
the 25ci (410cc) engine was
beefed up to 35ci (575cc) and
was installed in a longer
wheelbase frame. This model was
given public credibility by
Walter in the Long Island
Endurance Run, which he won in
1908. The 5-35, as it was
officially known, topped speeds
of 50 mph. However, it wasn’t
enough for the emergence of the
day’s motorcycle riders who
traveled great distances
throughout America. As was the
case with all of
Harley-Davidson’s rivals,
Harley-Davidson needed a bigger
bike.
Oddly enough, Bill Harley did
not invent the V-Twin when he
doubled the single cylinder onto
a beefier crankcase. Bill was
merely doing what his
competition was doing to improve
their product. Although the
V-Twin was fairly quick and easy
to manufacture using existing
engine components, it had its
problems in its early days.
Hampered by an atmospheric inlet
valve, which was actuated by
piston vacuum rather than a
camshaft & pushrod, it was
actually no faster than the 49ci
twin. As a result, the 803cc
49ci was quickly withdrawn from
Harley’s product line while Bill
Harley retreated to the drawing
board.
Then it reappeared in 1911 as
the F-type with a mechanical
inlet valve. This resulted in
high-rev output that yielded
considerably more power. Another
problem of the prototype was
drive belt slippage, which was
overcome with belt tensioning.
Through 1916, an insurgence of
innovation from American
manufacturers put American
motorcycles ahead of European
with Harley-Davidson in the
lead. A clutch in the rear hub
allowed the rider to stop and
start without having to stop and
restart the engine. That was
soon superceded by a multi-plate
clutch and chain drive with a
two-speed gear in the hub.
Harley-Davidson further enhanced
this breakthrough in 1915 with a
three-speed gearbox and
automatic engine oil pump. Also
that year Harley introduced the
J-model with optional electric
lighting powered by a
gear-driven magneto.
Production soared from these
technical enhancements to over
3,000 bikes in 1910, 5,000+ in
1911, 9,000+ in 1912 to more
than 16,000 units the following
year. As the decade closed,
Harley-Davidson sales soared
over 22,000. With only 10 years
after Harley produced their
first prototype, they had become
#2 in the American motorcycle
market. The longer-established
Indian was still in the lead and
Excelsior was #3. A bitter and
intense rivalry ensued between
Harley-Davidson and Indian for
the next 25 years. However in a
fit of patriotic fervor, Indian
unleashed its entire production
line to the military during the
First World War. The result was
many disgruntled Indian dealers
with no product to sell who, at
the hands of Arthur Davidson,
transitioned to Harley-Davidson
sales.
The Harley-Davidson/Indian
rivalry was never more apparent
than at the racetracks. Although
the Harleys and the Davidsons
were not racing aficionados,
they shrewdly realized that
board-racing success would
translate to increased sales.
So, William Ottaway, an engineer
at Harley-Davidson, developed
the short wheelbase II-K racer
which topped speeds of 90 mph.
It’s racing success was so
profound that he was given
approval to develop an
Eight-valve V-twin racer,
producing 55 hp. The infamous
Harley-Davidson “Wrecking Crew”,
the official factory V-twin
racing team headed by Harry
Ricardo, swept up the racing
victories all over America until
the motorcycle market collapsed
in 1920.
With the emergence of
inexpensive cars (including
Henry Ford’s Model T),
motorcycles were increasingly
perceived as leisure toys for
adventurous young men & women.
However, motorcycle
manufacturers optimistically
believed that a quiet, efficient
and inexpensive machine would
entice their market back to
riding motorcycles.
Harley-Davidson’s panacea for
the market’s declination was the
Sport Twin of 1919, a semi-bland
flat-twin, which could barely
reach speeds of 50 mph.However,
it was quiet and easily ridden
with a three-speed gearbox,
enclosed drive chain and
optional lights.
Unfortunately, the Sport Twin
failed to draw back the
motorcycling market and was
mothballed only a few years
later. Although it was well
received in Europe, it was
regarded as Harley-Davidson’s
first flop. The Sport Twin
was a loan-funded revival
initiative for Harley-Davidson.
This was very bad news!
Since 1903, Harley-Davidson
sales grew in leaps and bounds
year after year and nearly
caught up with that of Indian,
the global market leader of the
day. Then in 1919/1920, Arthur,
Bill, Walter and William
disregarded their natural
apprehension and borrowed
$3-million smackers (a huge sum
in the day) for expansion of
their factory on Juneau Avenue
(formerly Chestnut Street). When
it was finished, the Juneau
facility was the largest
motorcycle plant in the world
and phenomenally produced a
record 28,000 machines in 1920.
The Four Founders, now
prospering in their middle age,
made failure seem impossible.
A Rough Ride, 1920's
1922 Sport Twin
Harley-Davidson’s success at the
close of the 1910’s was followed
by setbacks in 1921. Sales
declined by over half to 10,200
bikes from 28,000 in 1920.
Harley had a considerable
inventory of unsold bikes and a
three million dollar loan
to pay off for the expansion of
the Juneau factory. The decade’s
beginning was dismal at best and
had to be met with strong
business rigor. The fantastic
four quickly applied
survival measures by closing the
Juneau facility for one month,
abandoning the board-racing
program and cutting back on
salaries by a whopping 15%! The
decision to cease their racing
program had an immediate affect
on their racing staff who were
stranded at the State Fair in
Phoenix. Most had to pawn their
jewelry or borrow money from the
local Harley-Davidson dealer in
order to purchase transportation
fare home.
Harley’s sudden cinching
enabled them to sell their
unsold inventory while
production began to recover.
However, recovery waivered and
was anything but consistent. The
motorcycle boom had definitely
ended, primarily due to the
availability of inexpensive
cars. It took Harley-Davidson
another 20 years to match their
peak sales of 1920. The riding
market wanted more power.
Harley-Davidson responded with
the Superpowered Twin in 1922
which was initially intended to
be a sidecar machine. Its 74
cubic inch V-Twin was no larger
than the original twin. It still
had the overhead inlet valve,
side exhaust, total-loss
lubrication and came with
magnetos and electric lights (FD
& JD models respectively).
Harley-Davidson took pride in
strengthening their business by
building a strong dealer
network. Picky-Picky-Picky was
the name of their game. They
were not only selective about
who their dealers were, they
imposed much control over their
dealerships through franchise
agreements which were for one
year only. No dealer was allowed
to sell any other make alongside
a Harley. As a dealer, if you
screwed up during the term, you
would lose your franchise.
However, if you abided by the
rules there were benefits
derived by being a
Harley-Davidson dealer,
specifically that the
Harley-Davidson product had a
superior reputation and sold
very well.
Harley-Davidson and Indian were
the only manufacturers of the
day manufacturing motorcycles in
large quantities. Competition
between the two was very strong
and sometimes bitter. However
despite this rivalry and related
illegality, they actually met
periodically to fix prices! In
1922, Arthur Davidson met with
Frank Weschler of Indian and
agreed to sell at the same price
the following year. This became
an annual practice for some time
to come. In spite of this,
Harley-Davidson was actually
better off than Indian by the
mid 1920’s since they sold more
product, produced more efficient
product and maintained much
tighter control over their
dealerships.
Nonetheless, Indian sometimes
appeared to be ahead in
terms of model development.
Indian had the first flat-twin
(Remember, Harley countered with
the Sport Twin) and produced the
first single-cylinder 21
cubic-inch (350cc) Prince in
1925. Knowing this,
Harley-Davidson had a Prince,
350cc BSA and New Imperial
shipped to Milwaukee for
‘evaluation’. Shortly following,
Harley’s 350cc single appeared
in side-valve as well as
overhead valve models. The ‘A’
version (side-valve) was
primarily sold as a utilitarian
bike and the ‘AA’ (OHV) did very
well in racing and became known
as the Peashooter. In a
nutshell, Indian was invariably
first introducing a new model,
which Harley would soon counter
with superiority. The Sport
Twin, Peashooter, Two-Cam 45 and
VL were all Harley-Davidson’s
responses to Indian products.
Indian’s edge was the side-valve
twin, which was faster than the
Harley’s older ioe
(inlet-over-exhaust), even
though it didn’t match up to the
stamina of Harley’s ioe. The Two
Cam was Harley’s answer to this
by employing a separate cam for
each valve, which provided
higher compression, higher revs
and more power. Available in
61ci (1000cc) and 74ci (1200cc)
versions, the Two Cam was $50
more than the conventional J.
Further; the 74ci could reach
speeds of up to 100mph! The
Indian Scout was a preverbal
problem for Harley-Davidson. In
1927, Walter Davidson delivered
his promise to the Shareholders
and delivered the Model D
(otherwise known as the 45)
response to the Scout challenge.
Similar to the Scout, the Model
D included a 45ci side-valve
V-twin. Unfortunately, the 45
lacked the Scout’s power and was
unable to reach 60mph, while the
Scout could top 75mph.
Harley-Davidson rushed a
carburetor kit into production
in effort to improve the 45’s
power. Shortly following, it
became apparent that Harley’s
vertically-mounted generator was
prone to failure. The 45 had
clearly been rammed through
production without adequate
testing before market
introduction. In time though,
the 45 became a reliable machine
and was installed in the wartime
WLA and the 3-wheeled Servicar.
Was Harley-Davidson losing
steam? It might have seemed so
to the time-honored riders and
dealers when they introduced the
VL in 1929. The VL was a
replacement for the
long-standing F/J models. The
bore, stroke and capacity was
all that remained the same on
this side-valve V-twin which
Milwaukee claimed had up to a
20% power improvement.
Surprisingly, the net increase
was one single horsepower.
Adding salt to an open wound,
the VL weighed 120lbs more than
the F/J. In a final bid to
mitigate the situation, the
flywheels were made
smaller/lighter. This provided
for better acceleration up to
50mph, but that was all it did.
Top speed and climbing
capability were brazenly
lacking, not to mention the fact
that the lighter flywheels
caused a great deal of
vibration. It’s not a surprise
that some customers wanted the
F/J & Two Cam reinstalled while
others wanted their money back.
Milwaukee had to come up with
the answers, and quick. After
spending boo-coo hours
redesigning, the answer came in
larger & heavier flywheels, as
well as modified cams. However,
bigger flywheels needed bigger
crankcases which called for
larger frames. At the end of the
day, all 1,300 VL’s made to that
point had to be totally rebuilt
to the tune of over $100,000.
This obviously caused the
dealers a great deal of
heartburn, especially when they
were expected to do the
rebuilding at their own expense!
It also served to present quite
a blow on Harley-Davidson’s
reputation for reliability.
Things did obviously improve in
the years ahead, but not without
overcoming more 'difficult'
times first.
A Rocky
Recovery, 1930's
1934 VL
The Wall Street Crash of 1929
hit motorcycle sales with a
devastating blow. Ironically
though, Harley Davidson sold
21,000 that year followed by
more than 17,000 in 1930. Oddly
enough, the full impetus of the
stock market crash hit Harley
Davidson in 1933 when sales
declined to 3,700 motorcycles.
The Four Founders were
nearing retirement age by that
time and were financially
secure. Why bother to carry on?
Well fortunately for all of us
they did. Whether it was loyalty
to their employees, some whom
had been with them since the
beginning, or simply their
refusal to pitch away 30 years
of hard work & innovation, they
decided to stick with it. They
invested a lot of time and money
into an all-new bike that, for
them, was a giant leap into the
unknown. The Knucklehead was a
real milestone for
Harley-Davidson that ultimately
enabled them to leave Indian in
the dust. However until
Knucklehead sales matured,
employees were laid off and, for
those that remained, salaries
were cut by 10% while the
Founders slashed their own
compensation by half!
The 45ci and side-valve VL were
improved. The 45’s frame was
redesigned, doing away with the
vertical generator that was the
source of the derogatory
nickname “Three-cylinder
Harley”. Renamed the “R-Series”
its sales were given a big boost
when Indian temporarily ceased
to manufacture the Scout, which
was taken over by Du Pont. This
yielded the mid-weight market to
Harley-Davidson. Along came the
innovative introduction of a
range of bright new colors,
taking their product away from
dark & drab colors. Eye-catching
reds, beiges, oranges and
two-tones were given to the
Harley product line, with tank
logos having stylish art-deco
motifs. Once again, Indian was
the catalyst to Harley’s
actions. Du Pont’s chemical
mainstream gave Indian access to
a wide range of colors and
Harley-Davidson had no choice
but to follow suit. Further,
Indian’s big engine 80ci
(1300cc) V-twin (The Big Chief)
gave way to the VLH having its
crankpin moved outward to
provide a 4-1/2” stroke and the
biggest Harley-Davidson engine
yet.
While all of this was going on,
Harley’s Engineering Department
was hard at work designing the
Knucklehead. After nearly 5
years of development, the
Knucklehead reached production.
Several challenges led to the
lengthy Knucklehead development
including; depleted engineering
resources resulting from budget
cuts, pesky engine-oil leaks
coupled with the advent of a new
dry sump lubrication system. The
Knucklehead was finally unveiled
& received well at the annual
Dealer Conference in 1936. The
61ci (1000cc) overhead V-twin
had a shorter stroke, giving it
higher rev-ability than all
previous models. The
recirculating oil system
replaced the outdated total-loss
system, giving fresh and cool
oil delivery that helped cope
with long high-speed runs. It
incorporated a new four-speed
constant-mesh gearbox, new
clutch and a new stylish frame,
all of which led to an almost
immediate success of the ’61-E’,
nicknamed ‘Knucklehead’ because
of the shape of its rocker
boxes.
The Founders insisted that the
61-E was for limited production
only. Dealers were not allowed
to order them as demo bikes. As
always, the Founders’ knowledge
proved to beneficial because the
Knucklehead’s first year wasn’t
trouble-free. It continued to
leak oil until valve-spring
covers were employed. Even the
springs themselves broke but
these were only tooth-cutting
problems and quickly overcome.
Joe Petrali set a new speed
record at 136+ mph. Police
Officer Fred Hamm broke the
distance record on a standard
Knucklehead riding 1,825 miles
at an average 76mph in a 24-hour
period (including stops!). The
successful Knucklehead led to
successes of the 1937 45ci, the
74ci and 80ci (750cc, 1200cc &
1300cc respectively) side-valve
engines, all of which were
recipients of the new
lubrication system and
streamlined styling.
While the Knucklehead dominated
the Headlines, the Servicar came
alive with the front end of a 45
coupled with a two-wheel rear
end and a load-carrying box.
Initially intended for garage
mechanics to retrieve cars
needing repair, it also proved
ideal for meter maids & police
and remained in production until
1973.
After the start of the decade’s
near closure of Harley-Davidson
and multiple challenges that
followed, Harley-Davidson was
back to riding the wave’s crest.
They had survived now two major
slumps with difficult
competitive challenges between
them. Harley-Davidson had
overtaken its Indian
arch-rivalry and graduated to
the #1 maker of high performance
machines!
