Five days of parties and parades, concerts and factory tours, demo rides and other goings on are about the start in Milwaukee, the birthplace and home of Harley-Davidson. It's the 105th anniversary celebration.
Deb and Trav Metcalfe are two riders form Chester's Harley-Davidson participating in the celebrations. Here's Deb's report:
The 105th was great. Many folks said more people came for the 105th versus the 100th. The highlight was participating in the parade on Sunday. We arrived at the staging area (photo below) at 7 a.m. along with the 7,500 other participants. As we started the parade route, it hit us: The citizens of Milwaukee love Harley-Davidson! Many were holding signs that welcomed us home and thanked us for their jobs. Wow, this lifestyle affects people many different ways!
Trav put on a total of 10,600 miles in two months on his 2008 Electra Glide Ultra. After meeting up with him in Sturgis, we rode to North Dakota, Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, Michigan and Wisconsin before heading home. I racked up 7,200 miles in a month on my 2005 Screamin' Eagle Electra Glide.
Interestingly, not everyone on the planet believes 1903 is the correct date to celebrate. The Motor Company certainly does, but others believe otherwise, most notably Herbert Wagner, author of At The Creation: Myth, Reality and the Origin of the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle 1901-1909.
The year 1901 often is stated as the true beginning as that's when 21-year-old William S. Harley drew up plans for a small engine that displaced 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc) and had four-inch flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a pedal-bicycle frame.
The first Harleys powered by V-twin engines with the pistons placed at a 45-degree angle appeared in 1909. The engine design, which is covered under several United States patents, produces the signature sound of the Harley-Davidson power plant.
The crankshaft has a single pin, and both pistons are connected to this pin through their connecting rods. This design causes the pistons not to fire at even intervals. The V-twin runs like this: The first piston fires. Then, the other piston fires at 315 degrees into the stroke. There is a 405-degree gap until . . . the first piston fires again. This give the Harley-Davidson V-twin its unique pop-pop . . . pop-pop . . . pop-pop sound that some have described as "One potato, two potato, three potato . . ."
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