heir creation commercially, but the next year, two motorcycles left their small factory. On the fuel tanks read Harley-Davidson Motor Company. In 1905 eight cycles were produced and sold, in 1906 the number jumped to fifty. The bikes, as the cars, were all hand made which kept production down. Seeing this new rage as more than just a passing fad, William A Davidson joins the company in 1907. With his help and that of 20 employees, production grew to 150 cycles that year, and so the business was incorporated. In a late 1907 motorcycle show, the first edition of the engine that made Milwaukee famous was not all that successful. It had inefficient valves in the vacuum intake, and belt slippage problems. In 1911 the model returned with mechanically actuated intake over exhaust (IOE) valves and a belt tensioning system. Thus the legend was born. With that one step, Harleys technology advanced at a rapid pace. In 1912 Harley introduced one of the industrys first clutches, chain drive also became available by 1913, and a two-speed rear hub introduced in 1914. Following this was a proper three-speed sliding-gear transmission the next year. Singles and V-twins were still offered, but the singles, which were more popular at first, would eventually be phased out. The Milwaukee company grew, so did the interest in motorcycles. At one point there were over 300 different makes being produced in the U.S., not many lasted, but the few that did, struggled for supremacy. While Harley-Davidson had made a name for itself by making strong, reliable motorcycles, Henry Fords 1917 implementation of the assembly line, for production, dropped the cost of a Model T. In most cases lower than that of a Harley. This one jump in technology almost wiped out Harley-Davidson completely. The one outstanding point that sold Harleys w...
