Facts about Harley Davidson Motorcycle
| 1901 | William S. Harley, age 21, completes a blueprint drawing of an engine designed to fit into a bicycle. | ||
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| 1903 | William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson make available to the public the first production Harley-Davidson® motorcycle. The bike was built to be a racer, with a 3-1/8 inch bore and 3-1/2 inch stroke. The factory in which they worked was a 10 x 15-foot wooden shed with the words "Harley-Davidson Motor Company" crudely scrawled on the door. Arthur's brother Walter later joins their efforts. |   
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| Henry Meyer of Milwaukee, a schoolyard pal of William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson, buys one of the 1903 models directly from the founders. | ||||
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| 1904 | The first Harley-Davidson Dealer, C.H. Lang of Chicago, IL, opens for business and sells one of the first three production Harley-Davidson motorcycles ever made. |  | |
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| 1905 | On July 4th, a H-D motorcycle wins a 15 mile race in Chicago with a time of 19:02. In Milwaukee, the first full-time employee is hired. | ||
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| 1906 | A new factory, measuring 28 x 80 feet, is built on the Chestnut St. site, later renamed Juneau Avenue. Staff size is increased to six full-time employees. Also, the first motorcycle catalog is produced by the Company and the nickname "Silent Gray Fellow" is used for the first time. |  | |
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| 1907 | William A. Davidson, brother to Arthur and Walter Davidson, quits his job as tool foreman for the Milwaukee Road railroad and joins the Motor Company. |  | |
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| Harley-Davidson Motor Company is incorporated on September 17th. The stock is split four ways between the four founders, and staff size has more than doubled from the previous year to eighteen employees. Factory size is doubled as well. Dealer recruitment begins, targeting the New England region. |  | ||
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| 1908 | Walter Davidson scores a perfect 1,000 points at the 7th Annual Federation of American Motorcyclists Endurance and Reliability Contest. Three days after the contest, Walter sets the FAM economy record at 188.234 miles per gallon. Word of Harley-Davidson's extremely tough motorcycle spreads rapidly. |  | |
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| The first motorcycle sold for police duty is delivered to the Detroit, MI, Police Department. | |||
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| 1909 | The six-year-old Harley-Davidson Motor Company introduces its first V-twin powered motorcycle. With a displacement of 49.5 cubic inches, the bike produces seven horsepower. The image of two cylinders in a 45-degree configuration would fast become one of the most enduring icons of Harley-Davidson history. Also available for the first time from the Motor Company are spare parts for motorcycles. |  |
Facts about Indian motorcycles
Started in 1901 by two bicycle racers George Hendee and Oscar Hedstrom who produced a small bicycle / motorcycle with a top speed of 50 km/h (30 mph). The first bike was a huge success and pickup up very well and by 1913 - 32000 motorcycles were being produced annually. Indian brought out their bikes in a deep red color which later became one of their trademarks.
In 1907 Indian built a v-twin engine which later made way for the Powerplus in 1916. This model had a more quite engine and remained a success and only had minor changes done to it until 1924.
Indian had both engineering success and racing success which saw the company grow in a tremendous rate during the early 1900’s . And by 1920 Indian could say it was the largest motorcycle manufacturer.
The most popular models of the Indian company still had to be introduced and by 1922 the most famous Chief model was introduced. Together with the Scout these models became the icons of the Indian brand.
The Chief’s design was based on the powerplus from the years before but quite a few improvements were made to the chief original 1922 model. In 1927 the Scout was also introduced.
By this time Indian was a well known brand (the factory was known as the wigwam). All models got the classic large skirted fenders, the cool Indian head logo on the tank and together with the dark red color an absolute icon on the road.
Indian was producing beautiful bikes in the 1940’s and offered a more comfortable ride than big rival Harley Davidson due to the sprung frames of the Indian bike.
Indian bought the Ace firm in 1927 and produced a series of Indian four models. The model was very famous and recognizable but no real success to the company. Problems with the ‘four’ seemed to put extra pressure on the Indian firm who was already having a hard time toward the end of 1950’s.
Indian tried to survive by selling other bikes with an Indian logo on it (matchless & Enfields) but by 1970’s Indian had died away. There are still attempts to restart the brand but so far only a few ‘new’ Chief have been developed
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