American Iron Magazine Presents 1001 Harley-Davidson Facts. Tyler Greenblatt

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СКАЧАТЬ 1914, Dodge City 300. The H-Ds ran fast, but by the end of racing on the 2-mile track, only two of the six were still running. Nevertheless, Harley-Davidson had entered the world of professional racing, and Parkhurst went on to be one of its biggest stars.

      102 Harley-Davidson’s first recorded championship race win was on October 5, 1914 at the 1-hour Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) Birmingham race. Of course, riding a Bill Ottaway-prepped factory 11-K racer was none other than Red Parkhurst. On lap 33, Parkhurst entered the pits with a fuel problem. While there, he tried to clean the dirt and oil from his goggles, but his handkerchief was so dirty that he asked for help from a spectator with a clean hankie. Parkhurst reentered the race and won. An official protest was filed shortly after the race ended, claiming that Parkhurst received illegal aid from a spectator. In the interest of safety, the protest was denied, and Parkhurst was given the championship title.

      103 The first Harley-Davidson sold specifically for police use went to the Detroit Police Department in 1908. At the time, the United States had less than 200 miles of paved roads, and automobiles were still very expensive. The only logical solution to the horse was the iron horse, and Harley-Davidson was proving itself dependable, so it was an easy decision. Today, police bikes are separate models from civilian models and have a variety of different equipment. However, the first police bikes differed little from their civilian counterparts. They still offered incredible duty performance in terms of speed, longevity, and the cost of purchase and operation.

      104 Initially, three of the four founders wanted no part in racing their motorcycles. They were designed for practicality and durability, not speed and performance. Walter Davidson, the pro-racing founder, began campaigning his personal motorcycle in local events in 1905. He won a handful of Milwaukee-area races, including a hillclimb event over the next couple of years.

      105 In 1908, Walter decided that he and his motorcycle could handle much stiffer competition, and headed to New York to compete in the FAM Endurance and Reliability Contest, which covered 365 miles from the Catskills, around Long Island, and ended in New York City. And this was a challenge with very few roads. Unlike his competitors who had automobiles filled with mechanics and spare parts, Walter rode alone with no spare parts. When the dust settled, Walter won the race handily; he earned a perfect score on both days of the event, something never before achieved. In fact, he was awarded an additional five bonus points over his perfect 1,000 for the impeccable consistency of his riding abilities and his motorcycle.

       Walter Davidson stands beside his trusty 1908 single; this motorcycle earned him first-place awards at both endurance and fuel mileage events. It’s difficult to believe that this early contraption could be so reliable, but The Motor Company built them that way then, and now! (Photo Courtesy Harley-Davidson)

      106 Fresh off his win at the FAM Endurance Run, Walter competed in the FAM Economy Run a week later. Competitors were tested on how far they and their motorcycle could travel on 1 gallon of gas. Walter finished far ahead of the competition, achieving 188.234 mpg on his stock bike. With these back-to-back FAM wins, Harley-Davidson quickly became known as one of the premier motorcycle manufacturers in the country. And these two wins showed off the exact attributes of the H-D motorcycle that the founders wanted to portray to their buyers. Even so, Walter remained the only founder intent on pursuing factory racing.

      107 In 1914, Harley-Davidson could no longer sit on the sidelines as its rival Indian continued to win races around the country, including motordrome boardtrack races in Milwaukee. And so, Bill Harley, by now very much a proponent of racing, established a racing department at the company and hired William “Bill” Ottaway to take charge. Bill Ottaway had one of the greatest minds in racing, and he set to work developing a racer that could take on Indian and the rest.

      108 While it certainly wasn’t the first Harley-Davidson to go racing, or even the first racing V-twin, the 6E stock racer brought to market in 1910 was the first factory race bike from Harley-Davidson. This V-twin model retailed at $275, and was only sold to customers who were established racers. How many were produced is unknown, but it’s thought to be no more than four.

      109 A pair of privateer racers on 6Es took a 1-2 finish at the treacherous Denver to Greeley road race. The 60-mile route wasn’t paved, and with the speeds that twins were capable of at the time, the motorcycle itself had to be durable to take that kind of beating. The Harley-Davidson’s win in these conditions served as yet another example of the everyday value its motorcycles provided. In addition to their first and second finishes, the 6Es beat the next fastest twin-cylinder entry by almost 10 minutes.

      110 Police departments weren’t the only ones who discovered the numerous advantages of using a motorcycle in the line of duty; early motorcycles became popular among rural postal service employees. In 1907, rural mail delivery regulations were adapted to allow the use of motorcycles to deliver mail, as long as packages remained free from damage or loss, as they did with the standard horse-drawn carriage. By 1914, the U.S. Postal Service was using nearly 5,000 motorcycles for mail delivery. Harley-Davidson ran an ad describing how a rural postman could complete his route quickly in the morning and then go on trips with his wife in the afternoon. The ad quoted a rider who said he was able to complete his 25-1/2 mile route on poor rural roads in 1 hour 15 minutes.

       This 1916 Package Truck made the life of a rural mail carrier easier, more economical, and a whole lot more fun. A Harley-Davidson could do the same route as a horse and wagon in a third of the time at the cost of about ten cents a day.

      111 Bill Ottaway introduced his first factory racer in 1914, dubbed the 10-K. Based on the 1914 10E with a 61-ci chain-driven powertrain, it was meant to be a stopgap model designed mostly for testing. It was also a way to start competing with Indian immediately. Harley-Davidson sold only a handful of the untested K models in 1914, which was a good thing because they had some teething issues. Even though they were as fast as any of the competitors, the Ks suffered engine and other powertrain failures when they pushed for distance.

      112 The Motor Company proved its dedication to racing in 1915, when 8 of the 17 models available that year were factory race bikes. The 11-K racer, which was said to produce 20 hp, cost $250 in 1915. That was less than other street-going V-twins built that year and only $10 more than a magneto-equipped 60-ci twin.

      113 The first known order of a Harley-Davidson specifically for military duty was in 1912 when the Japanese Army ordered a small handful of machines.

      114 On July 3, 1915, Harley-Davidson factory racer Otto Walker broke the speed records at the Dodge City, Kansas, 200- and 300-mile races. He finished the 200 in 2 hours 32 minutes 58 seconds for an average speed of 78.4 mph. He ran the 300 in 3 hours 5 minutes 45 seconds with an average speed of 76.27 mph. Walker was the previous record holder for the Dodge City 300.

      115 One of Harley-Davidson’s first known race wins and records occurred on June 3, 1905, at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Perry Mack, one of the first men to race a Harley-Davidson, won the race. He set a new record in the process, completing 1 mile in 1 minute 16 seconds, for an average speed of 47.35 mph. Mack later developed his own brand of motorcycles, with a strong emphasis on racing.

      116 A. W. Stratton set the 90-mile road race world record on May 30, 1912, aboard a Model 8-E Harley-Davidson in the Colorado Springs to Pueblo to Colorado Springs race. Producing only about 7–8 hp, Stratton’s twin completed the trip in 1 hour 54 minutes with an average speed of 47.4 mph. He also reported reaching speeds of almost 65 mph in some sections. Only 5 of the original 13 machines in the twin class managed to finish that race. Moreover, Harley-Davidson also won the single-cylinder class, as well as third place in both classes, totaling СКАЧАТЬ