Historic Harley-Davidson Bicycle Available for Sale at Oakland H-D
Take home a piece of history.
This rare collectible was created by the Harley-Davidson Museum as a tribute to the Harley-Davidson bicycle first released by the Harley-Davidson Motor Company in 1917. We are lucky enough to have scored one and currently have it for sale. One available for sale ONLY at Oakland Harley-Davidson. Contact us at find_the_1@oaklandh-d.com for information or if you are interested in purchasing. Read the below article that first appeared in HOG Magazine that details the story behind this historic piece.
Freedom Machine
Excerpt from HOG Magazine Issue 46
The Harley-Davidson Museum® re-creates a piece of Motor Company history.
Words by Charles Plueddeman
Photography by Josh Kurpius and Brad Chaney
Two wheels for freedom has been the Harley-Davidson formula for 115 years, but those two wheels haven’t always come with an engine. For six years beginning in 1917, riders could experience the exhilaration of two-wheeled motion by purchasing a new Harley-Davidson® bicycle. Intended to introduce new riders to the brand, these bicycles were styled to look like the company’s motorcycles and offered the same exceptional quality; truly “a wheel you’ll be proud to ride.” Today, an original Harley-Davidson bicycle, easy to identify by the “H-D” lettering cut into its front sprocket, is a rare and valuable collectible.
In the ramp-up to the Harley-Davidson 115th Anniversary Celebration in Milwaukee over Labor Day weekend, the H-D Museum staff began considering a special project to call attention to an interesting piece of company history. The Motor Company Archives has a half-dozen examples of original H-D® bicycles in its collection, and a plan was hatched to re-create a bicycle that, while not an exact replica of the 1917 Model 7-17 Special, would represent the character of the original, with some concessions to practicality, safety, and cost. Just 10 examples of the tribute bike will be produced and sold by the Museum this summer. Heritage Bicycles of Chicago, a builder of heirloom custom bicycles, was commissioned to create the bikes.
“Harley asked us to replicate the original as closely as possible,” said Heritage owner Mike Salvatore. “This was quite a challenge because it took us out of our element. We were not going to just pull a frame out of the basement and paint it green. It was also a lot of fun to work with a client like the Museum that was so engaged in every detail of the project.” The original H-D bicycles were assembled in a building across the rail tracks from the Juneau Avenue factory in Milwaukee with components sourced from the Davis Sewing Machine Company of Dayton, Ohio. Davis had been in the bicycle business since 1892 and also manufactured the Dayton motorcycle. The Dayton bicycle brand would evolve into Huffman and later Huffy, a brand still familiar today.
To create a close association with its motorcycles, Harley-Davidson gave each of the seven new bicycle models a base coat of the same olive green paint that was introduced for the motorcycles in 1917. The 7-17 Special model bicycle (original list price $35) also had a kinked top frame tube that was meant to give it a profile similar to the motorcycles. The steel crank sprocket incorporated the H-D letters into its spider and was finished in brilliant chrome. In their day, Harley® bikes were a top-of-the-line ride.
Heritage Bicycles began the process of re-creating the 7-17 Special in the H-D Archives, taking precise measurements of the original frame, which has that quirky bend in the top tube, unusually curved chain and seat stays, and geometry that Joel Van Twisk, director of bike operations at Heritage, calls “rather odd.”
“The original bikes were designed for smaller statured people, so the frame is compact and low,” said Van Twisk. “We wanted larger adults to be able to ride it comfortably, so we altered the geometry. I’d call it a 52-cm frame in modern terms.”
Heritage had frame components formed with premium chromoly steel tubing and built a jig to assemble the frame parts for welding. After the frames were finished, Heritage began hunting for components it could use to assemble a bike that would look a lot like the original. Because of the short production run, actually re-creating the steel fenders, for example, would be cost-prohibitive. Heritage located aluminum fenders that have a very similar profile. Instead of the original 28-inch wood rims, the new bikes roll on modern 700C-size rims shod with brown rubber tires that are a close color match to the original terracotta Firestone tires. The stem and seat post are modern components. A Brooks B135 saddle, today only sold in England, has front and rear coil springs, similar to the original Troxel seat. Heritage also re-created the roll-off rear stand.
One detail that had to be perfect is the distinctive lettering in the front sprocket.
“We couldn’t disassemble the Museum’s original bike to use that sprocket as a pattern,” said Van Twisk, “so we created a Google Docs photo that the fabricator used to laser-CNC cut the replica from polished stainless steel, which is more durable than the chrome-plated original. The original also used an obsolete tooth pitch and chain size, so that was changed to fit a modern chain.”
Van Twisk said the biggest challenge that Heritage faced was re-creating the triple-plate fork crown.
“There’s nothing like it you can buy today, so we had to fabricate the crown plates from scratch using polished stainless steel,” said Van Twisk.
The distinctive Harley-Davidson head badge was a final detail that Heritage had to tackle. “We found one on eBay to use as a pattern and had exact replicas cast in brass, which were given an antique finish,” said Van Twisk.
Before final assembly, the bike frames were hand pinstriped by Jeff Williams at King of Paint in St. Francis, Wisconsin, in a pattern and colors identical to the original bikes.
