Harley-Davidson

Our near-800-mile road trip from Kansas City to Milwaukee to kick off Harley-Davidson's 110th anniversary ended with a quick and cold, 75-mile blast from Woodstock, Illinois, to the Harley-Davidson Museum in downtown Milwaukee. We didn't leave Woodstock without first stopping to check out the picturesque town square, ...    Read more

If Ducati's mechanical DNA makes its motorcycles inherently suited for carving up chicanes at Italian race circuits like Monza or Mugello, and BMW's big-bore touring bikes seem like they were born for the autobahn, the Midwestern United States is where a Harley-Davidson motorcycle comes into its own. It ...    Read more

Like so many of us who were raised on sportbikes, I began life as an avowed Harley-hater. Insert your favorite Harley-Davidson stereotype here—too loud, too large, too leaky, too well-liked by people who are too old, too obese, too into leather chaps or otherwise too unlike yourself—I believed some variation ...    Read more

This month, Harley-Davidson is celebrating women riders during the fifth annual Women Riders Month with a nationwide search for top stories of female independence. From May 1 to May 15, 2013, fans are encouraged to share stories about incredible women riders they might know. Fans can submit stories through a crowd-sourcing ...    Read more

Laconia Harley-Davidson is commemorating the 90th anniversary of Laconia Motorcycle week from June 8th – 16th in Laconia, New Hampshire by launching a campaign to raise $30,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of the Lakes Region. A one-of-a-kind customized 2013 Harley-Davidson® Street Glide® has been donated by Laconia Harley-Davidson to be raffled off ...    Read more

To a lot of American workers, “outsourcing” is a dirty word. But sometimes companies have to open factories overseas just to be competitive with products built in that market. At least that’s what Harley-Davidson is hoping its flag-waving, made-in-America customer base will take into consideration when The Motor Company introduces ...    Read more

In my last post, I asked a question of myself: Was I uninspired by the V Star 250 because it's essentially uninspiring or because I dislike cruisers in general? I admitted that I missed horsepower, but all else being equal the little Star offers pretty much everything any other low-slung ...    Read more

Harley-Davidson motorcycles have been ridden to every corner of the earth, but none has ever made a journey as remarkable as Ikuo Yokoyama’s 2004 Softail Night Train. Yokoyama had his Harley parked in a storage container outside his home in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture when the devastating, 8.9-magnitude Tohoku earthquake struck ...    Read more

Lost amid all the noise surrounding hard-candy flake paint, mini apes and Harley-Davidson’s 110th anniversary is the disturbing footnote that one of our all-time favorite Motor Company motorcycles, the XR1200, has been dropped from the 2013 lineup. The XR1200—the Sportster-based tribute to the iconic XR750 racers that have dominated American dirt ...    Read more

MILWAUKEE (May 23, 2012) Highlighting passion and creativity from independent musicians, filmmakers, writers and photographers, the Harley-Davidson Ridebook is the source for authentic interactive insight into the motorcycle lifestyle. The latest Ridebook chapter is a video and essay on the Prohibition Tour curated by musician Butch Walker. Accompanied by a ...    Read more

WORDS: Aaron Frank PHOTO: Harley-Davidson Call this one the Anti-Fat Boy. Harley-Davidson has put its signature Softail on a diet to create the new Softail Slim, a stripped-down bike built to recall an old-school bobber. With cut-down fenders, a solo seat and minimal accessories, the no-nonsense Slim delivers a lighter, cleaner ...    Read more

Words: Aaron Frank Photo" Harley-Davidson Archives As reliable as it was, Harley-Davidson’s WLA (see Icon, page 32) did suffer one major shortcoming: a high-maintenance chain drive. So when in 1940 the U.S. Army asked Harley to design a “next-generation” combat motorcycle, shaft drive—just like Nazi Germany’s BMW R71—was a mandatory feature. Operating on ...    Read more

MILWAUKEE (Feb. 21, 2012) – Harley-Davidson will fire up the riding season at Daytona Bike Week 2012 with a collection of the latest and greatest motorcycles and more at Riverfront Park on Beach Street and at Daytona International Speedway. “We know that Daytona Bike Week signals the start of motorcycle ...    Read more

MILWAUKEE, Feb. 8, 2011 – Harley-Davidson announced today that the Company helped raise more than $160,000 on behalf of the United Service Organizations (USO) throughout November and December, which will be used to send care packages to troops overseas in the coming year. Donations were collected by Harley-Davidson dealerships and ...    Read more

MILWAUKEE (Feb. 1, 2012) – Harley-Davidson will celebrate 110 years of great motorcycles and epic riding experiences with an array of global events and activities in 2013. Among the events during the year-long celebration will be a rally in Rome, Italy, June 13-16, and a massive party over Labor Day ...    Read more

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 30, 2012) - Officials from AMA Pro Racing and Harley-Davidson Insurance announced today an extension of their existing partnership, which names Harley-Davidson Insurance as the Official Insurance of AMA Pro Flat Track and title sponsor of the AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship ...    Read more

Harley-Davidson made the news earlier this week at MSN.com, in an inauspicious article titled "5 of the Worst Corporate Boards." Watchdogs at The Corporate Library, an independent firm specializing in corporate governance, call out five of the most problematic corporate boards in America. Harley-Davidson makes this list alongside Freeport McMoRan, ...    Read more

In addition to the main gallery and a restaurant/retail wing, the 130,000 square-foot Harley-Davidson Museum complex in downtown Milwaukee also includes a third structure dubbed “The Garage.” This is where Harley-Davidson houses the majority of its archival collection, consisting of hundreds of bikes and associated materials not currently on display ...    Read more

I treat any motorcycle like it’s my own, regardless of who’s name is actually on the pink slip. But having taken temporary custody of the boss’s XR1200 long-term bike, I find myself being a little more careful than usual. The fact that I actually washed it has nothing to do ...    Read more

There's always something else. Especially around this joint, where everyone wants everything yesterday. It's all singing, all dancing, all the time. Redline seems to be the requisite engine speed. Maybe it's the same where you live, especially if you're like me and live at work. When you make a living ...    Read more

Fast-Acting cure for the common commuteWORDS: Tim CarrithersMilwaukee is only cranking out 1400 of these warmed-up Screamin’ Eagle V-Rods to commemorate 23-year-old A. Hines Pro-Stock drag racing dominance. His 160-inch air-cooled two-valve pushrod version is presumably quicker (6.968 seconds @ 197.45 mph) and stronger (360 lb/feet of torque, measured at ...    Read more