[BloggerMathai]

This is one of those posts that stayed in “Draft Limbo” till a catalyst in the form of “HD Exits India” shot it back into the land of the living. Since HD has been in the Indian auto news limelight the past week, I figured now would be a good time to dust off this work-in-progress post and finally finish it.

It was the start of summer of 2017. The snow had finally melted and the sun was out again. Living and working in the city of Milwaukee, the home of the Bucks, Packers, Miller Beer and Harley Davidson, it never occurred to me to visit the HQ of HD and HD Museum which was only 15 minutes away from where we lived. I initially thought of going alone as both our kids were only just out of Kindergarten and I felt it would be boring for them to visit a museum exclusively for motorcycles.

Luckily, I did some research on their website and was surprised to find that the museum has attractions for all ages and even for Japanese bike nuts like me. You can find details of the various exhibits at the museum website at this link

The Headquarters of Harley Davidson America and the museum are located in downtown Milwaukee at this location

Disclaimer: While going through my post, some of you who have been there before or hard-core HD fans might ask me why I've missed some areas or didn't take photos of some particular models. I'm not very fond of HDs nor am I familiar with all the models in their portfolio so I may have missed a few. The only experience I've had on a Harley was a very brief ride with a family member on his XL1200 Sportster and it was a bone jarring experience compared to my friend's Ninja 650 which I later tried. No offense to HD fans but I guess large heavy V-twins aren't meant for me.
Also, I apologize for many of the pictures where there’s glare from overhead lights and reflections from the glass shelves as I didn’t carry my lens polarizer on this trip.
Let’s start the tour!

The Shed

Many American success stories often involve a garage, a basement or a shed and HD isn't any different. Right when you enter the museum grounds, you'll see a tiny wooden shed with "Harley Davidson Motor Co" crudely painted on the door. This isn't the actual shed though, it was faithfully replicated from archived photographs of the original from 1903. There's a plaque on the side that has the story behind the shed. "Respect the shed!".

Harley Culture and HOG Chapters from around the world.

Some of my colleagues in Kuwait and Saudi are Harley riders and being a member of your local HOG is a good way to participate in group rides and public events. My colleague in Riyadh used to ride to Bahrain and Dubai with the local chapter until he moved to another motorcycle brand. There’s safety in riding in numbers, especially when you’re riding non-stop for hundreds of kilometers through deserts.

Having said that; there’s no surprise that HOG chapters are an integral part of the HD experience and hence this is one of the first displays in the museum. HOG patches from Harley Owners Group chapters representing 315 out of more than 1400 chapters from 70 countries worldwide are displayed in glass cases. I have slight ADD so gave up looking for any Indian chapters after my eyes lost focus after the 20th or so patch.

The Shriners and Tripoli Milwaukee Shriners scooter

Apparently, the Shriners are some sort of Masonic Brotherhood similar to the Freemasons and there's some memorabilia from the Tripoli Shrine Motor Corps of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have an outfit similar to the Moroccan traditional outfit, including the fez, all of which are proudly displayed at the entrance.

Ever heard of a Harley scooter? Here’s the HD Topper! The HD AH Topper scooter uses a variable-speed Scootaway belt-drive transmission that sends power to the wheel via a roller-chain drive. With a top speed of 60 Mph and range of 100 miles from its 1.7-gallon tank, this was a serious scooter!
You can see more pictures from a fellow BHPian’s post on the AH Topper (Harley Davidson Scooter - The Topper)

THE HARLEY-DAVIDSON JOURNEY

The museum has painstakingly curated all the significant memorabilia and documented all the major milestones in the bike maker’s journey from a simple cycle fitted with an engine clamped on, all the way to the iconic big block v twins in a low-slung frame.

The displays included artifacts such as the first drawings of a Harley cycle fitted with a motor, minutes of meeting of the first board meeting, patents, catalogs and brochures from the initial days of the brand.

[BloggerMathai]

THE HARLEY-DAVIDSON JOURNEY contd...
The interesting part of this section were all the original HD cycles and how similar they looked to our BSA SLR cycles!
Here are some more pictures from the journey.

Advertisement for an HD cycle and check out the front sprocket!

Another advert from this era;

A model from 1907 that's basically a cycle with an engine bolted on!

A Harley Davidson Bullet!

Some metal toys from HD

This one is an HD police bike and from the looks of the uniform and the wind shield, might have been used here locally or in Chicago to protect them from the cold winter winds.

THE ENGINE ROOM

This is a large hall that has a huge display of HD engines from different time periods and you can see them on the wall next to a plaque with the details.

The Milwaukee Eight

Since Harley had just debuted the 2017 Milwaukee Eight series of engines, they were proudly on display at the entrance of the hall. There are a few cutaway sections in the cylinder and crank case which allows you to see the inner workings of the new engines.

Traditionally Harley engines were known by the shape of the cylinder heads so you’ll see models such as Panheads, Knuckleheads and Shovelheads to name a few. The surprising thing was seeing engines that generally don’t fit the image of Harley, like a horizontal single or a two-stroke vertical single.

The HD Sprint was interesting in particular. I did some ‘Googling’ on the model once I got home and found out it originated from Italy as the Aermacchi Sprint 350 and in in 1960, HD bought a 50% stake in Aermacchi's motorcycle division. Wiki link

You can read more about the Sprint 350 on a more recent article here:


Another interesting Aermacchi model that I found is this one. Looks like the predecessor to the HD and Buell racing line, which you'll see in my Racing and Competition post.


Next is a 3D exploded view of the classic Harley-Davidson® Knucklehead motorbike. From the side it looks like random bike parts suspended on sticks but take a walk to the far end of the display where you see it come together and form a bike. I took a short clip which you can see in the video link.

The interactive engine wall is an interesting part of the hall where you can move dials, push buttons or turn wheels to move the HD engine and see things such as cylinders firing or how the crank moves with each cycle. This was interesting for my kids as well as me coz who doesn’t like moving parts, flashing lights and sound effects?

Continuing to the next section... THE GALLERY

[BloggerMathai]

THE MOTORCYCLE GALLERY

The gallery is literally a parade of many HDs through the years. Some of the earlier models appear so crude now when you see it from a modern perspective. It was interesting to see the “Suicide gear shift” on some of the models from the 20s and 30s. I went in for a closer look on some of them and looks like they were 3-speed transmissions and the third gear was like an overdrive ratio.

Here's a closeup of the Police trike you saw in the preview;

A couple of bikes with the Suicide Shift configuration. You can see the clutch pedal on the left of the bike. The kick starter pedal looks like it was lifted from a bicycle

Next are a few US Military models which included rifle holsters;

This next one had heavy duty off-road tires and a seat that you would mistake for one from a Willys jeep from the early days.

The next one could either be an armed forces model or a law enforcement one coz I noticed the Klaxon siren in the front. Or maybe that was the choice of horn at the time.

A few more classics;

I love the next two as they remind me of classic Cadillacs with their flared rear wings and fenders. Here are some close-ups.

A race bike with a cylinder head that looks very familiar, almost like a two stroke but there are valves on the side so it must be a four-stroke.

Here's one that caught me by surprise; a boxer twin Harley! This one was specifically designed to match the Germans with their BMWs.

Now on to the next section...

[BloggerMathai]

THE TANK WALL

The Tank Wall is literally a huge wall of HD tanks from different periods. You can walk from one end to another admiring the various paint schemes and tank logs that adorned HD tanks through the years.

If you’ve ever watched an episode of Biker Build Off or American Chopper, you’ll know that the tank has always been a canvas for American bikes, be it factory bikes or custom ones.

[BloggerMathai]

CLUBS & COMPETITION

The Competition and Racing section starts off with a replica of Evil Knievel’s stunt bike suspended in the air and a plaque with the details of his feats.

I couldn't resist

Once again, your impression of HDs being oversized lumbering giants goes out the window as HD has been present in dirt/motocross races, flat tracking, drag racing and even circuit racing especially with the Beull line.

This next one reminds me of an Enfield/Zundap Fury from back in the day. Must be the fairing and the overall look of the bike (minus the engine of course)

The next display is this huge, almost vertical, wall with a twin v-twin dragster and a collection of race bikes going all the way up.

Check out the engine and fat rear tire on this bad boy!

A closeup of the wall;

A few more racers, including a 250cc two stroke dirt bike.

[BloggerMathai]

CUSTOM & POP CULTURE

This was one of my favorite exhibits as I instantly recognized a couple of the models on display. HD bikes from movies, comics and popular culture are on display. There were even some crazy customs like a fully chromed one and the one they call “King Kong”. Appropriately named, King Kong is this massive bike with two V-twins stuck together in-line so its long and is probably one of the craziest bikes I’ve seen up close.

Elvis Presley's HD

Peter Fonda's Captain America from Easy Rider

Captain America's bike from the comics and MCEU movie

Playboy Bike

King Kong

This is literally a KING KONG of a bike! Two V-twins mashed together in a long chassis and the rear lights and exhaust setup on this thing is insane!

50th Anniversary Harley

A blinged out bike that similar in style to the rickshaws and interstate trucks from the Philippines and East.

A few more customs, including a fully chromed bike.

[BloggerMathai]

IMAGINATION STATION

This was something the kids really enjoyed! There are scale models of a couple of bikes in the play area and HD kids wear available for both boys and girls. Our kids put on a pair of jackets and matching hats to pose with the bikes. They bikes are stationary but play the rumble of the twin engines when you twist the throttle or press a button on the tank.

EXPERIENCE GALLERY

The experience gallery consists of bikes, scooters and trikes securely bolted to the floor and you can hop on any model that catches your fancy and play around with them. My wife and I tried a few models and it seemed like a great bike to be on if you’re planning an interstate ride. Heated grips, GPS, weather-proof loudspeakers and lots of storage options were the main features on some of the Glide models that we experienced here.

And finally, here's a short video clip I've put together of our trip.

https://youtu.be/rliUhSS4MsQ

Hope you've enjoyed this post.

[Haroon]

Nice thread with beautiful pictures to go with it. Me too not a super fan of HD, but yeah HD has its special place in the world of motorcycling. Back in 2005 I missed the opportunity to visit the place due to some last minute unexpected work commitments on my visit.

Thanks for sharing

[maddy42]

Big fan of the brand. Thanks for sharing. The detailing and presentation of the museum is something to learn from.

The fan club and the customization available for these machines are just mind boggling. Seriously hope the execs visit this museum and come up with designs which the younger gen will buy as there is so much that can be done.

Maddy

[ManneAtWheelz]

I'm a HD bike admirer, thank you for this post. Loved it all the way but sadly not going to buy a HD bike anytime in my life as the HD dealership india is soon going to be history.