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This world-renowned motorcycle manufacturer was founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Along with Indian motorcycle, it survived the great depression as well as myriads of ownership scruples, economic upheavals, and acute competition from superior brands around the globe as well as product quality. Despite all these pitfalls, the Harley-Davidson brand is a household name all over the world.

20-year-old William s. Harvey came up with and drew plans of a small engine with an 116cc displacement. The engine had 4” flywheels and was to be used on the ordinary pedal bicycle frame. With Arthur Davidson, a childhood pal, they set up shop at the home of their mutual friend, Henry Melk and worked on the engine or the next couple of years. They finished it in 1903 with assistance from Arthur’s brother, Walter. They did test runs on the power-cycle and discovered that it was not able to climb the hill around Milwaukee without pedals. They put that initial experiment down to a learning experiment.

Not giving up, these three young men went back to work and they designed an engine with a 405cc displacement that came with 9.75” flywheels weighing 28lbs. they used an advanced loop-frame that resembled Joseph Merkel’s 1903 creation that earned him the moniker ‘Flying Merkel’. They also had some help from Ole Evinrude, the outboard motor pioneer in building the bigger engine. This one worked well and so Harley-Davidson Motorcycles was born.

By 1913, Harley-Davidson was giving their closest competitor, Indian a run or their money. They were dominating motorcycle racing competitions and after 1914, they were the team to beat.

The company is known for its chopper motorcycle style. In the beginning, Harley marketed the heavyweight bikes which were air-cooled and came with engine displacements that were more than 700cc. However, it has enlarged its products to include middle-weight Street bikes and the Current VRSC to their platforms. The two products were introduced in 2015 and 2002 respectively.

Harley-Davidsons are manufactured in factories based in York, Pennsylvania; Bawal, India; and Manaus, Brazil. The company began constructing a new plant in Thailand in late 2018.  The motorcycles are sold globally.  Licenses and merchandise are provided under the Harley-Davidson brand. Merchandise includes home décor, accessories, toys, video games and apparel among others.