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Harley-Davidson's Lost Past
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Original Harley-Davidson designs
Paul Garson
03/01/2006
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Photography by Scott C. Hall
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Suitable For Framing
Asked for his choice of milestone frame drawings,
Smith selected the 1915–16 Harley single cylinder racing frame (dated
10/20/1915). “This illuminates a bike of which very little documentation was
even made back then. Prior to 1914, H-D publicly denounced that they were
involved in racing in any shape and form, but then realized Henderson and
Excelsior were selling a lot of motorcycles by winning races. So, the factory
made a 180-degree flip-flip and announced that they were into full support
racing in 1914, and had hired William Ottoway away from Thor to oversee their
racing efforts. However, their brochures indicated they only offered twins.
However, photos from the period show they were making singles, but never
documented [them]. So the drawing is a significant piece of history.” While
Harley claimed in their catalogs that they produced the racer only from 1916 to
1918, photos exist in Smith’s archives from the Portland One-Mile Race of 1914
that show 1913 factory short-couple pushrod motor racers in the backend of a
trailer. It is no secret that the factory used these special racers to win
national races, but called them standard production bikes, obviously to improve
the company’s image and sales.
 A 1911 frame set to handle 6 1/2 horses. (Click image to enlarge)
Taming The Volatile
A stellar example of early H-D gas tank styling is that
of the 1915 design, rendered in both stock form (dated 10/16/1914) and racing
form. This was the last from Harley’s famous “Silent Gray Fellow” era.
Harley’s bikes were painted gray until 1916, when the factory switched to
the Harley Green that remained in fashion until 1930. As seen with these
drawings, gas tanks up to 1915 were very square-cornered affairs with flat tops
and sides. (The plunger device seen on the gas tank is a hand-operated oil
pump.) In contrast, the construction of the racing gas tank called for the use
of rivets, which helped the bikes survive the intense beating they took during
the grueling 200-mile races around the wooden boardtracks of the era. These were
bikes with no suspension, rigid front forks, rigid backs, and clincher tires
blown up rock hard to 90 psi. The jarring tended to break the gas tank soldering
and the loss of gas resulted in the loss of the race. While other manufacturers
employed straps and bracing around the gas tank, Harley addressed the problem by
both soldering and riveting their seams. As Smith explains, “This also kept the
gas tank clean and allowed Harley-Davidson to paint their name in larger letters
on the sides of the gas tank so people in the grandstands could see it.”
Drawing On The Future
Though we have sampled but a fraction of the treasure
trove of original Harley-Davidson designs, we can recognize their value as the
only surviving examples of unique works of art and a link to the epoch when men,
not computers, drew the future of American motorcycling with a steady and true
hand. The documents serve to resolve some of the questions that have bedeviled
restorers—the drawings themselves bearing the handwritten changes made over the
years, with many signed off by Arthur Davidson himself. As with the ancient
hieroglyphics and the Dead Sea Scrolls, it will take quite some time to mine all
the gold inherent in these images. While several leading museums will feature
special displays of the drawings, as to their final disposition, only time will
tell.
www.antiquemotorcycleworks.com
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