Motorcycle specifications Harley-DavidsonModel 0 1903 The awakening of the legend

Like most great American stories, the birth of Harley-Davidson began in a garage - a place of resourcefulness, ideas, adventure and passion. We're at the beginning of the 20th century, and the great mechanized upheaval has begun. In France, England, Germany and the United States, there were already hundreds of manufacturers of motorized two-wheelers. Craftsmen, inventors, designers, and somewhere in Wisconsin, two friends create a prototype of a motorized bicycle that will change the course of their lives.

the century opens with the sound of hammers, machine tools, industry and metal. In the Bart Manufacturing factory in Milwaukee, William Harley and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson have no idea of their destiny. But their free time was taking shape. William starts work at an early age, first as an apprentice to a bicycle manufacturer. Then he prepared for a career as a mechanical engineer. Two courses of study that would prove invaluable to the company. A gifted and ingenious man, he and Arthur decided to develop the prototype of their first motorcycle.

first, he needed an engine. At the time, one of the stars of the market was the French single-cylinder De Dion-Bouton. Bill was inspired to create the brand's very first engine. Although the manufacturer is indelibly associated with Twin architecture, it was nonetheless a single-cylinder that accompanied the first creations. The twin-cylinder engine was not designed until 1908.
A French creation is therefore the focus of attention. But William was not satisfied, and developed his own block. The genesis began in the Davidson kitchen, where gasoline fumes and explosions soon drove the "design office" to a shed built by the siblings' father.
The creative process continues. The engine takes shape at 405 cm3, has two valves and develops three horsepower. A long way from the industrialization stage, this machine served mainly as a laboratory, receiving the full attention and effervescent ingenuity of its progenitors. No gearbox or clutch (we'll see about that in the '10s), it already had a belt drive, and legend has it that its first carburetor was a modified tin can.

long before anyone thought of creating motorcycle-specific parts, most machines simply grafted an engine onto a bike or partially modified the frame. The Model 0 was no exception, and Bill Harley worked on it to reinforce the steering column. Through trial and error, perseverance and inventiveness, the machine became a rolling, exciting machine that heralded the future.
The Harley-Davidson's first objective is to win races, to make a name for itself and show its difference. Among its rivals would be Indian, whose rivalry would grow with each passing model.

from this minimalist workshop at 38 Highland Boulevard, the Harley-Davidson Motor Company produced 3 examples - now destroyed or impossible to find. William Harley and the Davidsons brothers (Arthur, Walter and William) spent several years laying the foundations for this exceptional epic. The first sketches began a few years before the official creation of the brand (1903), culminating in the first commercial model in 1904: the Silent Grey Fellow. What happened next? A very long history that would make the company one of the world's most renowned motorcycle manufacturers.

M.B - Photos D.R.