American Iron Magazine Presents 1001 Harley-Davidson Facts. Tyler Greenblatt

important on the flat track.

      232 The practice of homologation in racing dates as far back as motorcycle racing itself and Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) rules stated that racing motorcycles must be made available to the public for sale to render them legal on the racetrack. Harley-Davidson complied, and it priced the eight-valve racer at $1,500, all but ensuring that no privateer challenged the factory’s dominance. No records exist of any being sold and raced anywhere, although some have turned up through the years. Harley-Davidson had a very different philosophy to Indian, which priced its eight-valves similarly to its other twins and encouraged the public to own and race them.

      233 The Motor Company built three eight-valve racers in 1916 and each used a different lubrication system. One used a manual oil pump, one used a mechanical oil pump, and the third used both. Obviously, the racing department still had some real world experimenting to do. The company’s promotional materials advertise that a “buyer” of the $1,500 machine could have his choice of the three lubrication options.

      234 To conserve weight, eight-valve racers had no starting system such as pedals or a kicker. To start one, it had to be towed by a car or another motorcycle and when it fired, the rider undid the rope and was on his own. Because boardtrack racers only needed one speed, “fast,” they didn’t have transmissions, either.

      235 The AMA’s smallest class was 350 cc in 1926, but even in that small-displacement division, Harley-Davidson and Indian competed ferociously and built machines that neither could have imagined just 10 years earlier. The Motor Company’s big player in the little class was the S model OHV single, affectionately known as the Peashooter; its name came from the staccato popping exhaust note. Only about 25 were built in 1926. Because single-cylinder Harleys were extremely popular overseas, more than half were sent to Australia, New Zealand, and Europe to be raced.