Panhead Jim, Author at Harley Davidson Forums - Page 5 of 9

When Harley-Davidson introduced the package truck in 1915, they had no idea how the commercial market would react.  Their previous attempt at a commercial vehicle, the motorcycle truck, had been far from successful, so there were high hopes at the Motor Company for the package truck.  In it’s stock form, it was basically just a cargo […] More »

When Harley-Davidson first came on the scene in 1903 they faced  a lot of competition in the transportation sector.  There were the obvious competitors, like Indian who would be Harley’s main rival for many years to come, but there were also bicycle companies and soon there would be the automobile companies.  Besides all these mechanized means […] More »

In the winter of 1920, Harley-Davidson packed up their race team and headed south to Daytona Beach, FL for a week of experimental speed trials.  Although people had already started doing speed trials out on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Daytona Beach was still the venue of choice for high speed testing back in the 1920’s. […] More »

With the start of Speed Week just two days away, let’s take a look back at one of Harley’s record breaking machines.  Back in 1970, Harley-Davidson was in bad shape.  They had been bought out by AMF and the Japanese motorcycle companies were beating them on the tracks and on the sales floors.  Harley needed […] More »

It’s amazing the amount of ingenuity that the first generation of motorcycle riders possessed.  Early riders often depended on their motorcycles for transportation all year long and didn’t have the luxury of driving a car when the weather got bad.  In order to make it through the winter, they modified their Harley-Davidsons to conquer whatever Mother […] More »

Since the days when packs of bloodhounds tracked fugitives and searched for missing persons, the dog has been an important tool for police departments across the country.  Unfortunately with the invention of the motorcycle and it’s adoption by many police forces, many officers found themselves having to choose between driving a car with their K-9 […] More »

For those of you who ride vintage iron, you understand just how filthy these motorcycles can get after a few hundred miles of riding.  Besides being subject to the usual amount of bugs and road grime, old motorcycles also produce a good bit of grease and grime on their own.  I’m not saying that my […] More »