109 A pair of privateer racers on 6Es took a 1-2 finish at the treacherous Denver to Greeley road race. The 60-mile route wasn’t paved, and with the speeds that twins were capable of at the time, the motorcycle itself had to be durable to take that kind of beating. The Harley-Davidson’s win in these conditions served as yet another example of the everyday value its motorcycles provided. In addition to their first and second finishes, the 6Es beat the next fastest twin-cylinder entry by almost 10 minutes.
110 Police departments weren’t the only ones who discovered the numerous advantages of using a motorcycle in the line of duty; early motorcycles became popular among rural postal service employees. In 1907, rural mail delivery regulations were adapted to allow the use of motorcycles to deliver mail, as long as packages remained free from damage or loss, as they did with the standard horse-drawn carriage. By 1914, the U.S. Postal Service was using nearly 5,000 motorcycles for mail delivery. Harley-Davidson ran an ad describing how a rural postman could complete his route quickly in the morning and then go on trips with his wife in the afternoon. The ad quoted a rider who said he was able to complete his 25-1/2 mile route on poor rural roads in 1 hour 15 minutes.
This 1916 Package Truck made the life of a rural mail carrier easier, more economical, and a whole lot more fun. A Harley-Davidson could do the same route as a horse and wagon in a third of the time at the cost of about ten cents a day.
111 Bill Ottaway introduced his first factory racer in 1914, dubbed the 10-K. Based on the 1914 10E with a 61-ci chain-driven powertrain, it was meant to be a stopgap model designed mostly for testing. It was also a way to start competing with Indian immediately. Harley-Davidson sold only a handful of the untested K models in 1914, which was a good thing because they had some teething issues. Even though they were as fast as any of the competitors, the Ks suffered engine and other powertrain failures when they pushed for distance.
112 The Motor Company proved its dedication to racing in 1915, when 8 of the 17 models available that year were factory race bikes. The 11-K racer, which was said to produce 20 hp, cost $250 in 1915. That was less than other street-going V-twins built that year and only $10 more than a magneto-equipped 60-ci twin.
113 The first known order of a Harley-Davidson specifically for military duty was in 1912 when the Japanese Army ordered a small handful of machines.
114 On July 3, 1915, Harley-Davidson factory racer Otto Walker broke the speed records at the Dodge City, Kansas, 200- and 300-mile races. He finished the 200 in 2 hours 32 minutes 58 seconds for an average speed of 78.4 mph. He ran the 300 in 3 hours 5 minutes 45 seconds with an average speed of 76.27 mph. Walker was the previous record holder for the Dodge City 300.
115 One of Harley-Davidson’s first known race wins and records occurred on June 3, 1905, at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Perry Mack, one of the first men to race a Harley-Davidson, won the race. He set a new record in the process, completing 1 mile in 1 minute 16 seconds, for an average speed of 47.35 mph. Mack later developed his own brand of motorcycles, with a strong emphasis on racing.
116 A. W. Stratton set the 90-mile road race world record on May 30, 1912, aboard a Model 8-E Harley-Davidson in the Colorado Springs to Pueblo to Colorado Springs race. Producing only about 7–8 hp, Stratton’s twin completed the trip in 1 hour 54 minutes with an average speed of 47.4 mph. He also reported reaching speeds of almost 65 mph in some sections. Only 5 of the original 13 machines in the twin class managed to finish that race. Moreover, Harley-Davidson also won the single-cylinder class, as well as third place in both classes, totaling four of the six podium spots.
117 1915 is considered the end of The Motor Company’s early era. By this time, Harley-Davidsons were achieving consistent speeds that were only dreams just 10 years earlier. On April 12, 1915, Roy Artley piloted his Harley to a win at the 1-hour Bakersfield, California, race, and managed a top speed of 68.7 miles in that hour. He averaged speeds that, even just a few years earlier, could only be hit at maximum throttle, on a smooth road, and with a tail wind. Artley, naturally, set the track record that day.
118 One year before Harley-Davidson began its official race program, Ben Torres and Ray Watkins set a world record on their H-D by riding 346 dirt-track miles in just 7 hours on December 8, 1913. Their 8-hp, single-speed twin ran open headers for exhaust and used a low seat with dropped handlebars for speed and rider aerodynamics. For the entire record-setting run in San Jose, California, they didn’t have to make a single repair or adjustment on the bike. They finished 17 miles ahead of the second-place competitor, proving outright Harley-Davidson’s dominance as a durable and powerful motorcycle.
119 In September 1907, Walter Davidson competed in a two-day, 414-mile endurance race from Chicago to Kokomo, Indiana. Of the 23 riders to start, Walter was one of only three to finish the event with perfect scores. This race was before his better-known endurance races in 1908, which launched The Motor Company’s motorcycles into their position among the country’s best machines.
120 Walter Davidson, who pushed for racing involvement in the earliest days of The Motor Company, competed in his first recorded race of any kind in 1896 at age 20. The race was the first annual bicycle road race put on by railroad shop employees where his father and brother Walter worked. The thrill of two-wheeled competition certainly stuck with him and fueled his desire to build a faster two-wheeler.
121 A September 8, 1904, Milwaukee Daily News article listed the names of riders expected to race in an upcoming event that month at the Wisconsin State Fair. Among the names listed was A. Davidson; no makes were listed, and it’s unknown if this is actually the Arthur Davidson. In the September 9 edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel, Walter Davidson’s name is listed as a rider in the upcoming event. This race was the first known instance of a Harley-Davidson being used in competition.
122 September 9, 1904, not only marked the first recorded race of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, but also the first undisputed evidence of one actually running. Motorcycle racing was quite uncertain back then and no one was ever sure who would actually show up to compete with a running machine. The most reliable information I have that the Harley-Davidson on September 9 actually ran is from a Milwaukee Journal article that lists the identities of the racers and the make of their motorcycle. That article lists Edward Hildebrand as the rider. This seems to make the company’s early history even more confusing because neither a Harley nor a Davidson is listed as a racer. Hildebrand finished sixth in the 2-mile race and fifth in the 5-mile race. It’s not clear if the machine was supplied by the young factory or simply brought out by Hildebrand, one of its earliest customers.
123 Peter Olson of Cambridge, Wisconsin, received a 1905 Harley-Davidson delivered directly from Arthur Davidson, and became the first postal carrier to use a Harley-Davidson. Upon delivery of his motorcycle, Olson mounted baskets to the front end and rear frame to carry mail on his deliveries. If he wasn’t the fastest man in Cambridge, he was certainly the fastest mail carrier.
124 Walter Davidson’s first motorcycle race win came at the Wisconsin State Fair on June 2, 1905. He beat Henry Zerbel, who rode a Merkel, by an eighth of a mile. The Milwaukee Sentinel wrote, “Walter Davidson demonstrated the superiority of the larger motor. Davidson led all the way.” The following day, he finished second to Perry Mack, also aboard a Harley-Davidson.
125 Walter Davidson and Perry Mack swept another race weekend, this time in the nationally recognized Fourth of July races in Chicago. In the 15-mile race, Mack took the checkered flag in the heavyweights class followed closely by Walter, who placed second. In the 10-mile race held next, Walter won after Mack hit a dog that had roamed onto the track and was hurt badly in the ensuing crash. This race was a turning point in The Motor Company’s history. It had become clear that a profitable business could be built around motorcycles and that the machines themselves were top notch when compared to the competition.