Welcome to this week’s Throwback Thursday! This might be one of my favorites so far. An ode to Bad Grandpa, proof that sex sells, and masculinity at its finest all in one glorious advertisement.

Harley-Davidson is the number one seller of motorcycles to women. Why? Because they actually try to sell motorcycles to women. They built a rider training program for women, they have an extensive women’s clothing line, they have geared their machine to make sure women are included.

Harley Davidson has been building bikes since 1903 and side cars since 1915. Prior to that they used another manufacturers side car attached to the Harley. What gets us about this advertisement is the pitch. Selling the side car rig as a hunter and fisherman’s ride to get up the trails. Saving walking time and […] More »

Welcome to another Throwback Thursday with vintage HD advertising. I had to do a little research into who Jimmy Chann was. Jimmy Chann was a racer during the 50’s whose most notable accomplishments include winning the Springfield Mile 3 times in a row and earning the number 1 plate for 1948 to 1950. Earning his […] More »

Throwback Thursday! Talk about selling motorcycles and invariably the adage “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” will pop up. Today it means major teams with massive marketing machines behind them running in World Championship level racing. In the early days it was the local dealer, sometimes with a hired rider sometimes the owner, racing the […] More »

It’s always funny to me when people talk about Harley Davidson and how it’s mired in the past, doesn’t innovate, and makes archaic machinery. My answer is generally “So what?” Why are these so often considered a bad thing. Sure there are parts of the past that are not great, but there are parts of […] More »

In 1912 a stock Harley Davidson managed 68 MPH in a race while making just 8 HP. I found this in an old press release from an old advertisement in “Motorcycling” magazine. In the text of that release was another Harley that won the single class and finished over an hour ahead of the next […] More »