Gnarly 1942 Harley Model XA is One Innovative War Machine
While Harley never ran with the horizontal head design, this WWII bike was ahead of its time.
When you think of the MoCo and World War II, the first thing that pops into your head is likely the famous Harley-Davidson WLA, and that makes sense. The iconic machine is the bike you see in basically any movie or television show about the war, and if you make it to anything other than your local cruise in, you’ve probably seen a few in person. Heck, even if you only make it to your local show and shine, there’s still a decent chance you’ve seen one — because Harley cranked out tons of them!
But even if you’re a student of our favorite motorcycle manufacture, you’d be forgiven for not knowing about the Harley Model XA. According to our friends over at Wheels Through Time, only about 1000 of these were made, and given that the last examples left the line nearly 80 years ago, they’re not exactly the kind of bike you’re going to stumble across on Craigslist. They’re much more of a Mecum Auctions kind of deal.
Proto Design
One of the first things you’ll notice is layout of the cylinders, as the familiar V-twin isn’t reporting for duty here. Instead, power is provided by a horizontally opposed unit, similar to what BMW was using at the time, and still uses today.
The reason for the big design change was cooling, as the WLA bikes were having a hard time with heat during the legendary North African campaign, where our soldiers were battling Rommel in the desert. With both cylinders hanging out in the wind, these bikes were far better suited to handle crazy temperatures, even if by the time they were shipping out, that stage of the conflict was pretty much wrapped up.
Another design change which came from the demands of desert service was the shaft drive. Since the chains of the WLA were getting gunked up and ground down by all the sand, the military specifically asked for a shaft system, and Harley was happy to oblige.
For reasons that aren’t clear, Harley never ran with either the engine layout or the shaft drive. But the XA actually did foreshadow some important innovations — like a foot shift and rear suspension — which wouldn’t appear on Harley’s bikes until years later. That said, in addition to being a rare bird in general, the military example shown in the video is one of just 60 with disc wheels. Most had wire-spoke units, like the WLA.
Of course, as rare as they were, a few XAs did wind up in civilian hands, and Wheels Through Time actually has one of those too. While the host of the video thinks it’s a little weird, we happen to think that they the side-step kick start is pretty neat. Doesn’t it look easier to manage that the right-side kick we’re accustomed to on a Harley?
Given some advantages XA had to the WLA, we’re a little curious as to why we didn’t see more of these babies, and why the design was tossed after the war. Doesn’t it seem like something the MoCo could have explored for a separate line of bikes? While we don’t think they’re nearly as attractive as the venerable V-twin, the rugged, low-compression horizontal engines might have been useful in all kinds of applications where looks weren’t an issue.
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