Harley Davidson Museum

Every Harley Davidson ride from Chicago, apparently, has to include a trip the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee for an education, a benediction, and a tee-shirt. So Mick Sumpter and I made the pilgrimage before setting off on the Route 66 ride to Santa Monica.

In 1903 William Harley and Arthur Davidson put an engine in a bicycle frame and drove the rear wheel with a leather loop strap. Apart from the V-twin arriving in 1907, nothing much has changed. The museum really is an excellent experience even for those of us who have not yet drunk the HD cool-aid – well presented serious history that covered the bikes, the business ups and downs, and the unique brand without a huge amount of marketing hullabaloo. (That’s reserved for the gift shop)

Just to show that there are always connections in this small world, William Harley’s father came from the small village of Littleport, about ten minutes from Mick’s home in Cambridgeshire where there is now a Harley statue by the church to celebrate the connection. 

Back to Milwaukee … 

By the time HD had got into full swing and established a large presence in Milwaukee, there were over 150 manufacturers of motorbikes in the US – only a dozen made into the 1920s and only two (HD and Indian) survived the Great Depression.

I get the attraction and the mystique of these bikes and why so many people have been life-long devotees. This is my first real distance ride on a Harley – we are on two matching brand new Electra Glides – but I am not yet converted. It feels like a piece of agricultural machinery to me (clunky gear shift, poor low end torque), the build quality is not perfect, and the riding position is just not really comfortable as you cannot move around the bike or lift your backside periodically. 

Let the hate mail commence.