221 In May 1923, record-setting aviator Charles Lindbergh bought his first airplane, a Curtis JN-4 “Jenny,” for $500 and, one week later, took his first solo flight in it. Guess what he rode to Southern Field, near Americus, Georgia? That’s right, a Harley-Davidson. Unfortunately, it’s believed that he traded that bike for part of the plane, in which he left the airfield.
222 Disabilities rarely stop a Harley rider from saddling up. In fact, history has shown that some of the toughest, most enthusiastic riders out there are disabled. One of the earliest examples of someone modifying an H-D to work for his specific needs is Alfred LeRoy, who lost both of his legs and half of his left arm when he was struck by a train at age 15. So, he built a Harley-Davidson with a left-side sidecar. The leather-padded sidecar was built to be comfortable for him, and he made a series of modifications to the motorcycle to allow him to operate it from there. He modified the handlebar to include a long tiller with a throttle on the end so he could steer and control speed. He affixed a speedometer to the sidecar and it’s believed that the bike’s brake was controlled by a lever located where the seat would otherwise be. The best part about his rig might just be the miniature sidecar that hung off the left side of his sidecar for his dog to ride in.
Did you think that custom Harleys weren’t available until the 1960s? Well, think again. Riders have been customizing these motorcycles since the very beginning for a variety of reasons. Alfred LeRoy was no different, and proved that anyone can ride a Harley-Davidson. (Photo Courtesy Harley-Davidson)
223 In episode 111 of The Andy Griffith Show (appropriately titled “Barney’s Sidecar”) Barney Fife buys a military surplus H-D sidecar rig. Even though the motorcycle was supposed to be from World War I, it’s actually a 1927 JD painted in the familiar Olive Drab. Stuntman and actor George Dockstader owned the bike and modified it to fit in with the required theme. Dockstader did not actually serve as Barney’s stunt double for the episode because of their different body sizes. Jerry Brutsche, another famous stunt double, did the riding scenes.
224 Easter Walters was an early 1920s silent film actress who rode her Harley-Davidson Model W all around Hollywood, and was a well-known sight. She performed all of her own stunts in her movies, which included 1919’s The Tiger’s Trail and 1920’s The Devil’s Riddle. Many today consider her early and very public use of a motorcycle to have had a pioneering effect for other women motorcyclists. Cris Sommer Simmons mentions Walters in her book, The American Motorcycle Girls: 1900 to 1950.
225 In 1928, legendary aviation stuntman and racer Charles W. “Speed” Holman bought a Harley-Davidson from his local Minneapolis, Minnesota, dealer, George Faulders. Speed won the 1927 National Air Races, and apparently wanted a machine that felt just as fast on the ground as what he was used to in the air. The bike itself is a 1928 single-cam JD, as evidenced by an image showing a front brake, single headlight, and straight cam cover. Speed gained fame in a variety of air races, and by doing a number of wing-walking and parachuting displays for spectators. Orville Wright signed his first pilot’s license, and he later became the first commercial pilot for Northwest Airlines. Holman Field at the St. Paul Downtown Airport is named after him, as is Holman St. in St. Paul.
226 Harley-Davidson introduced its eight-valve racer in 1916 to compete with eight-valve Indians and Excelsiors. The potent engine originally used a 1915 11-K bottom end with redesigned cylinders and hemispherical heads with high-domed pistons. The biggest change is immediately visible on the outside in that instead of the standard pocket-valve design for which the F-heads are known, the eight-valve uses four overhead valves per cylinder. The same two pushrods per cylinder are used, and a linkage connects the rockers that operate two valves at the same time. The other defining feature of the engine is the dual exhaust pipes coming out of each cylinder head. It’s believed that about 30 eight-valve racers were built and that less than 10 exist today.
227 Many people are familiar with the widespread use of Harley-Davidsons in World War I, but that was actually the second time that the military approached The Motor Company for a purpose-built motorcycle. The first official U.S. military order was in 1916 when General John “Blackjack” Pershing requested 12 units to join his modern, mechanized brigade in the fight against Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The total number of motorcycles built for the expedition doubled to 24. The most notable of these motorcycles have to be those equipped with a sidecar gun carriage, which was developed by William S. Harley personally.
228 The United States officially entered WWI in 1917. During 1917 and 1918, the army took approximately 15,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycles to Europe, one-third of The Motor Company’s total production for those two years. Early military versions were simply civilian model Js painted Olive Drab, which led to all motorcycles being delivered with the standard Olive paint until 1932. Later, H-D developed the FUS and LUS military-specific models, which were more effective in off-road, combat use thanks to their high, flat fenders. All military motorcycles from all brands used an Army-required gas headlamp instead of the standard electric lamps with which they were originally fitted. Military motorcycles were largely used as messengers, but many of them also saw front line action with sidecar-mounted machine guns or stretchers to ferry one or two wounded soldiers off the battlefield. 7,521 FUS models were built.
229 To provide support for the thousands of machines it built for use in World War I, Harley-Davidson opened the Quartermasters School to teach the repair and operation of its motorcycles to military mechanics. The first class was held in Milwaukee in July of 1917, lasted three weeks, and was attended by nine corporals from Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.
230 One of the most famous photographs from World War I is of Corporal Ray Holtz of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, entering Germany on a Harley-Davidson as a line of awestruck soldiers on horseback turned their heads to look at him. Several days before the armistice treaty, Corporal Holtz and his captain were captured during a night mission in Belgium. Then, when his captors received word of the treaty, they and their motorcycle were released and sent on their way. They went back to the allied base on the Belgian border to check in. The following day, Corporal Holtz rode back into Germany on his H-D as the first American to occupy the territory.
The story of Corporal Ray Holtz riding the first Harley-Davidson to enter Germany at the end of World War I is incredible. Even more extraordinary is that 20 years later he discovered this image of himself in The Enthusiast, went down to the H-D offices, and simply asked to buy extra copies of the magazine. This was when the rider was finally identified; his story could finally be made public. (Photo Courtesy Harley-Davidson)
231 The eight-valve racer had a 51-1/2-inch wheelbase and a seat mounted as tightly as possible to the gas tank and rear fender to drop the center of gravity. It used a shortened keystone frame that was open near a loop underneath the engine. The engine was mounted directly to the frame in the front with large brackets underneath that spanned the open distance. This made the engine a stressed member of the frame, which improved rigidity and saved weight. Low-slung handlebars let the rider lean forward over the small 1.43-gallon gas tank to reduce wind resistance and maintain more control of the bike at speed, which was important because eight-valves were capable of going well over 100 mph. The boardtrack race version had no brakes.
Harley-Davidson’s keystone