Daily Slideshow: A Look Back at the Bikes of Harley and the Davidsons

Massive Undertaking

Harley and the Davidsons was a miniseries on Discovery Channel, running three episodes in September 2016. The story follows the early days of the motor company from their shed build experiments, all the way to their sales and motorsports success before WWII. Making the show required a lot of antique bikes, as you can imagine, and they had to run and be reliable. If you follow the classic Cannonball ride for bikes of this era, you know what a tall order that is. Read on and we'll look back at some surprising facts about the bikes used in Harley and the Davidsons.

Approximately 80 Bikes Were Used

As mentioned, the story traces the shed-built roots in the 1900s all the way to the Great Depression era. The bikes involved range from a single cylinder motorized bicycle and the purpose-built early V-twins, all the way to the early flatheads. Contemporary bikes from Indian, Excelsior Hendersen, Thor, Cyclone, Merkle, and others were needed as well. These bikes are all pitted against each other on various race tracks, but more on that later.

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Almost None of Them are Real Antique Harley-Davidsons

That's right, as you can imagine antique bikes are expensive and fragile, so nearly every bike in the movie is a fully functional replica bike. The bike in the picture above may look like something from before WWI, but it is actually a freshly built, handmade replica.

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Alex Wheeler and Apocalypse Built Them All from Scratch

Except for some of the later scenes involving Harley-Davidson Flatheads and Knuckleheads, Alex Wheeler and his shop Apocalypse built all of the bikes from scratch. Starting with readily available 24" fat tire mountain bike wheels, Alex bent and welded custom frames up to mimic the styles of the early Harley, Indian and other motorcycles. Then, from aluminum billet, they machined crankcases, cylinders, heads, and everything else to make running motors. These aren't just Briggs and Stratton lawnmower motors playing dress up, these are very similar to the motors these bikes originally ran.

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They Did Not Cut Corners or Cheat

You occasionally see guys with beach cruiser based "board track" replicas, or such, often with a 50cc 2 stroke motor from eBay clamped in the frame. Discovery Channel, the producers, and Alex Wheeler did not cut corners on the bikes for this show. Modern carbs and ignition systems were used, but well hidden, and some engine internals like valves and pistons, are modern. But otherwise, these are brand new turn of the century motors. Crankcases were machined from aluminum and adapted for various single and twin cylinder configurations. Newly designed cylinders and heads were created with atmospheric intake valves and exhausts in an IoE pocket valve configuration.

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Even with Modern Tech and Research, It Wasn't Easy

At the turn of the century, internal combustion motors barely ran. Carburetors were jetted for basically full throttle, and many did not even have butterflies in them to control the speed. Much like early airplanes, you killed or retarded the ignition when you wanted the motor to run slower. These replicas had the advantage of Mikuni carbs and hot electronic ignition, yet it still took days of fiddling to make the first one run. Nobody familiar with tuning pocket valve motors is still around. Once they got them running, the toll of riding the bikes hard with no suspension, and the vibrations from the motors themselves tried to shake them apart.

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Accurate Indian Replicas, Too

In the picture on the left is an actual Thor/Indian from about 1903, as seen at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles, where the premiere party was held. On the right are six replicas of that era's Indian as built for the show. The tires are wider, and the chain drive is a little different, but you can see how accurately they tried to copy it.

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Plenty of Spares

Time is money, and this miniseries had a big budget and a large crew, so any minute wasted because a bike malfunctioned was expensive. Several copies of each bike were built, so a fresh one could be substituted for broken one. Many spare parts were made too like the crankcases, cylinders, and heads showed in these pictures. In the end, some of the bikes were docile and trustworthy enough to allow even the actors to ride them on camera.

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They Really Raced Them

Part of the reason for the investment in so many running, riding bikes was so that there would be no compromises when it came to filming the racing scenes. Of course, things had to work out on film the way it was written in the script, but that did not stop the stunt people from testing the limits of bike and rider. There are off-road races, dirt oval races, board track races, and more in the course of the story, and they are probably the best part of the whole project. Very little CGI was needed to make it look convincing, because it was real riders, on real bikes, at speed.

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Eight Valve Racers, Too

You may think the new Harley Milwaukee-Eight is big news for 2017, but in 1917 Harley already had an 8-valve V-twin they sold to select racers. These bikes were the fastest of the fast, able to go more than 100 mph on the track when the average bike or car could barely go 60 mph. Indian had a similar 8-valve racing model, and so Alex Wheeler made one too. Considering the lack of brakes or suspension, the speed the replica is capable of must be truly frightening.

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Not Just Motors, Whole Bikes

The earlier bikes are simpler so there is less to duplicate. The race bikes are rare, so it is more important that they look convincing than be accurate replicas, as long as they are fast. The consumer bikes though, are much harder to get right. By the teens, Harley-Davidson was selling lots of bikes, and they were reliable enough to still be occasionally seen today. The 1917-ish bike (pictured above) is not a real bike, but one of the most modern replicas the team created for the movie. The biggest giveaway is probably the more modern tires on dirt bike rims, but otherwise, it is a dead ringer for the type of bikes that helped us win WWI.

The miniseries, along with lots of behind the scenes and extra content, is available on Amazon now. Although it got mixed reactions at the time, we think Harley and the Davidsons is a fun dramatization of a true story. It's definitely worth checking out if you haven't watched it yet.

>>Join the conversation about the bikes of Harley and the Davidsons right here in HDForums.

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