Harley-Davidson #1 logo
Unofficial HDF Chaplain
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 21,120
Likes: 17,976
From: san diego
saw this post and had to post some pics, as I have used the #1 logo as the theme to my bike. taillight, speedp face, on the front gooseneck and one on the motor itself, this goes way back to a bike I had in which I made a console off the side of the motor in the #1 shape and held all my electric's and tach, speedo, and ignition switch
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 9,320
Likes: 3,860
From: Upstate New York
Unfortunately, the "Number One" logo was doomed to be forever linked in many minds with the AMF years, and was officially replaced with the orange and black "bar and shield" when the buyback from AMF occurred in 1981. For many years after, the "#1" logo was officially "out of favor" with the MoCo.
I always loved that logo, because that's what Harley was using when I was a young fellow dreaming about owning a Harley of my own. Even when it was out of style, I continued to wear one on my cutoff vest.
I always loved that logo, because that's what Harley was using when I was a young fellow dreaming about owning a Harley of my own. Even when it was out of style, I continued to wear one on my cutoff vest.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,778
Likes: 69
From: Badlands of ND
Unfortunately, the "Number One" logo was doomed to be forever linked in many minds with the AMF years, and was officially replaced with the orange and black "bar and shield" when the buyback from AMF occurred in 1981. For many years after, the "#1" logo was officially "out of favor" with the MoCo.
I always loved that logo, because that's what Harley was using when I was a young fellow dreaming about owning a Harley of my own. Even when it was out of style, I continued to wear one on my cutoff vest.
I always loved that logo, because that's what Harley was using when I was a young fellow dreaming about owning a Harley of my own. Even when it was out of style, I continued to wear one on my cutoff vest.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 157,110
Likes: 56,613
From: Michigan 15 Minutes East Of Hell
I can find absolutely nothing on the history of the logo itself. I do remember seeing it for the first time on the 1971 Superglide.
This is just speculation, on my part, but this also occurred during a time when Harley was trying to get more restrictions placed on japanese motorcycle imports. And, H-D at the time was the leading seller of large motorcycles in the world. So, I believe that the #1 logo represents that, and the red/white/blue scheme represents the USA, all due to the reasons I mentioned above. This was a big period in time where "buy American" was the rallying call of the day.
Evel Knievel jumped on the bandwagon because he loved the USA. But the #1 logo already existed on the bikes and clothing.
Also, don't forget, the bicentennial was just around the corner also.
This is just speculation, on my part, but this also occurred during a time when Harley was trying to get more restrictions placed on japanese motorcycle imports. And, H-D at the time was the leading seller of large motorcycles in the world. So, I believe that the #1 logo represents that, and the red/white/blue scheme represents the USA, all due to the reasons I mentioned above. This was a big period in time where "buy American" was the rallying call of the day.
Evel Knievel jumped on the bandwagon because he loved the USA. But the #1 logo already existed on the bikes and clothing.
Also, don't forget, the bicentennial was just around the corner also.
In 1985, Yamaha faced an interesting challenge regarding an American trade embargo. Fuel efficiency had made the motorbike market quite lucrative for many companies, but one exception was Harley-Davidson. The large (and thirsty) bikes produced by the American company could not compete in fuel-efficiency with smaller bikes from Japan. The Reagan administration bowed to pressure from Harley-Davidson to levy a trade embargo against imported motorbikes that had more than a 700cc engine. Yamaha responded by downsizing the XJ750 to the XJ700 to narrowly avoid the Maxim being subject to the embargo.
During the time that the embargo was in effect Harley was able to resurrect itself and thus began the rise of the modern day models which are now quite a step above the quality and dependability that was available before the event. It should also be noted that once the American market was stabilized Harley actually took measures to have the embargo rescinded!
