Gentleman - What's wrong with a Harley! D-Day

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Cjay59_LAPSED
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Re: Gentleman - What's wrong with a Harley! D-Day

Post by Cjay59_LAPSED »

I'm not Harley material either Chris, but dues where due, the US produced 90,000 for the war effort, and for that reason I have an affection for them and would be happy to have one in the barn. One of the strange stories about them though is the Rikuo, Britain introduced tariffs of 33.3% on US motorcycles in the 20's to protect the British motorcycle industry, this was not really to protect the home market but that of Australia and the Commonwealth, so in the 30's Harley Davison secretly set up manufacturing in Japan, not made in the USA, nothing changes! Then in the late 30's Japan boots them out but continues to build 18,000 bikes for use by the Japanese Imperial Army and the government.

The US then, ironically carry on to produce, WLA's for the US Army, British Army, Australian Army, NZ Army, Indian Army, WLC's for the Canadian Army, etc, etc...

Also, the Red Army, 27,000...
Red-Army WLA 27,000.jpg
Life's a .....
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Harry44
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Re: Gentleman - What's wrong with a Harley! D-Day

Post by Harry44 »

Its a strange old world. But while we are talking all things Harley:

My best friend died last year. (I'm not looking for sympathy) He left me a Harley FXRS as it needed fixing ho ho (He had a sense of humour) Since I've replaced the steering head bearings it now handles nicely. It aint as fast as the Honda Pan European (few things are to be honest) and it vibrates less than the 18S and is much faster (most things are)

After 5 thousand miles on it I have to say I like it. By Harley standards its a sports bike (that's what the S means) It corners really well and leans over a long way before you get a foot rest to touch down. The belt drive is maintenance free and are reputed to last 100 thousand miles. My lovely wife likes riding it and me son keeps borrowing it as his bike is off the road.

I will however not be wearing Harley underwear.
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Tommy RE
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Re: Gentleman - What's wrong with a Harley! D-Day

Post by Tommy RE »

Funny though HD did not just build Vee twins during WW2, they built copied BMW R75's that had been captured and of course the HD version of the DKW 125 that we and the yanks took the designs of Badged as HD and BSA Bantam. Apparently the drawing officiate BSA turned the gear cluster over so that the gear change was on the right (correct) side for the British market. As I understand it, no one actually laid a WLA down to use it as cover in the battle field although it did have a large lump of armour plating underneath the sump to hide behind.The picture at the beginning of this thread is a training shot. Pity that no one at HD thought about the petrol leaking out of the tank when they dump the bike on its side and the considerable muzzle flash from aN M1 Thompson when an un suspecting GI let rip on full auto :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Good mixture muzzle fast and Gasoline :headbang: :headbang:
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Cjay59_LAPSED
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Re: Gentleman - What's wrong with a Harley! D-Day

Post by Cjay59_LAPSED »

Tommy, this is the XA Desert bike based on the BMW, it wasn't taken up they made just over 1,000, looks fun though. As you say... the posing started early :rofl:
HD XA.jpg
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Martin.S
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Re: Gentleman - What's wrong with a Harley! D-Day

Post by Martin.S »

I have seen a WW1 on Harley copy of the Douglas in-line flat twin.
Like this one
PA-Barber-Vintage-Motorsports-Museum-063.jpg
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