Ann Margaret's Harley Sportster 883 is up for auction

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/items/2252787/ann-margret-1997-harley-davidson-sportster-xl883-hugger-motorcycle

the 80s version of Capt America, used this Harley and this Chevy van

 

early 1950s

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122162676212785670&set=g.397526214154529

'57 XLA Sportster built for the Army, was a display piece drained of all the fluids after 28,000 miles, but is quickly checked over and kicked to life

cool shifter detail, I wonder if that was a token glued onto the shifter knob? Or was the shifter knob made this way?

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1086956263433097&set=pcb.1086971060098284

The original Kelly Leak bike was found and fully restored, and given to Jackie Earle Haley to celebrate next year’s Bad News Bears 50th anniversary. a 1975 Harley Davidson Z90 single cylinder 2-stroke motorcycle, which was really made in Italy by Aermacchi, a Honda XR75 was used as stunt double to do wheelies

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1413386900356332&set=pcb.1413386953689660

filmed in Mason Park - 10500 Mason Ave, Chatsworth, CA

http://www.thesmallengineshop.net/smallengineforum/index.php?topic=176.0

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0074174/mediaviewer/rm1450803713/

Sean Jackson has done an epically cool thing, he built a 48 Harley with an Aviation Inertia Starter (made by Bendix division)

Harley Topper / Topper Harley

not just a stupid name for a stupid scooter, from a famous motorcycle company that should have focused on only building motorcycles with better quality... but also the name for Charlie Sheen's character in Hot Shots

By the way, Hot Shots and Part Duex, were just released on Netflix, and Job Cryer has a supporting role in the movie, and I hadn't remembered that when the tv show 2 1/2 Men came out

1919 Cornfield Classic 200 Mile race in Marion, Indiana

 Maldwyn Jones, the scrappy old-timer who knew his way around a wrench and a dirt oval equally as well, is among the greatest motorcycle racers America ever produced.

Jones quickly developed a reputation for salvaging and refining his own breed of racing machines from Merkel’s Pottstown factory junk bin, and by 1913 was considered one of the best dirt track racers in the midwest.

Soon after the outbreak of WWI, Jones took up work as an experimental aviation engineer at McCook Field in Dayton, before rejoining the infamous Harley-Davidson Wrecking Crew in 1919 for the big 200 Mile Cornfield Classic

https://www.facebook.com/archivemoto

https://archivemoto.com/

Archive Moto is an ongoing research and publishing project dedicated to rediscovering America's rich history of motorcycle culture, one story at a time.

the original Capt America Harley Davidson from 1982

this guy... is a fashion statement on a Harley, in a class all to himself. I'm surprised he's not internationally famous

 And I have no idea what country this happened in, I'll guess Nigeria, because I've posted some really unusual bikers and taxi driving bikers from there https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/01/im-ignorant-of-how-lot-of-world-does.html

Custom XR1000 by Laurel Classics

 https://pipeburn.com/harley-davidson-xr1100-laurell/

Jurors awarded $287 million earlier this year to a guy who sued Harley Davidson

Morris and his partner Pam bought a trike motorcycle from Harley-Davidson.

“With the two of us getting older we thought it would be safer, instead of sitting on two wheels, there’s three,” Morris said.

The crash that followed injured Pam’s hand and ankle, but Morris walked away relatively unscathed.

The trike was a mess.

Morris got the bike fixed by at a local Harley-Davidson dealership and asked the company to pay their medical bills.

They refused.

Around this time, Harley-Davidson authorized a recall of certain trikes for a traction control issue.

Then, on June 6, 2020, Morris and Pam were on the trike when, “again suddenly, inexplicably, unexpectedly and without warning malfunctioned and failed causing the vehicle to swerve into the opposite lane of travel and off the roadway where it struck an embankment and overturned.”

“(People who saw it said the trike) flipped, rolled several times, threw us off. (Pam) was killed at that point."

“I did not sue them for money,” he said. “I sued them to be held accountable and do what was right for the people who buy and use their equipment.”

Jurors agreed with that claim and awarded Morris and Pam’s family $287 million 

When asked why he didn’t settle, Morris said, “They were so arrogant about doing anything and blaming it all on me, they went to the point to sue me claiming I have a death wish and wanted to kill us.”

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/top-stories/exclusive-interview-with-local-man-awarded-287m-in-suit-against-harley-davidson/

Harley-Davidson has problems

Sales are plummeting, owners are aging out, internet trolls are calling them woke, dealerships are pissed with executive mandates and increasing inventories, and their bikes just aren't as good as they once were

Harley's executives believed they had a way around the proposed counter-tariffs the European Union imposed on American goods, as well as reducing production costs. What did it do? It started building bikes in Thailand.

There was just one problem with that plan. The EU knew the game Harley was playing, and it subsequently sued the company for essentially trying to pull a fast one. Well, that case has finally been resolved and, wouldn't you know it, Harley lost.

https://www.rideapart.com/news/744093/harley-davidson-europe-tariff-customs-thailand-production-lawsuit-lost/

the photographer got lucky to find such a cool variety in close proximity

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10226732320514336&set=a.1617402035143

oddly, the engines in the the AQM-37 Jayhawk drone, a rocket-powered LR-64 engine, was a Harley Davidson engine, sort of.

AMF (American Machine and Foundry) was developing these rocket engines at the time it bought Harley-Davidson, so, it tasked HD with creating them.  

https://www.slashgear.com/1674937/us-military-drone-missiles-harley-davidson-engines

Harley-Davidson said it is ditching some of its DEI goals, a move that comes after it faced pressure from anti-diversity critics on social media, following similar change of course from John Deere & Co. and Tractor Supply

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harley-davidson-drops-dei-policies-robby-starbuck/

Utopeia Moto Company in Texas is known for building offbeat scramblers, this is a 1973 125cc Harley two-stroke off-roader, built by Aermacchi back when Harley owned half of the Italian company.

 

Produced from 1969 until 1972, it was designed to help Harley break into the small displacement off-road market.

https://www.bikeexif.com/harley-davidson-baja-100

Harley-Davidson was ordered to pay $287 million after the company was found liable in a lawsuit stemming from the death of a trike rider

The initial verdict came down last Wednesday, finding that the company had a defective traction-control system that resulted in the 2020 death of Harold Morris’ longtime companion Pamela Sinclair.

The system’s software malfunctioned, causing 75-year-old Morris to lose control of the three-wheeled vehicle and go off the highway. He was seriously injured while 63-year old Sinclair, his passenger, died from her injuries.

In 2019, the trike experienced the same malfunction, resulting in a crash. Morris and Sinclair were injured in that accident, but their injuries were not considered serious. Morris said he believed the vehicle was fixed after a subsequent recall.

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/livingston-county-man-awarded-287m-in-lawsuit-against-harley-davidson/

Harley-Davidson is facing biker backlash over accusations that the manufacturer with the renegade image is now identifying as woke, and moving work from Wisconsin to Thailand

"Recently on CEO Jochen Zeitz’s watch, they’ve gone totally woke," filmmaker Robby Starbuck shared on X in late July.

When filmmaker Starbuck shared on social media what he claims are Harley-Davidson's woke wishlist of internal policies, discontent turned to outrage for many.

"It’s branding suicide," Vinny Terranova, the owner of Pappy’s Vintage Cycles in Sturgis, South Dakota, told Fox News Digital. "A lot of bikers are switching over to Indian," he said. "They killed Harley.

The situation has drawn comparisons to the Bud Light marketing suicide move of 2023 in the beer brand's decision to partner with Dylan Mulvaney.

Harley riders have been concerned about the direction of the company since the German-born Zeitz took over as CEO.

The company's alleged DEI focus today contrasts sharply with the image that has appealed to core customers for decades.

Attendance declined dramatically last week at the annual Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival in Milwaukee,  where about 60,000 people attended the event, a 25% drop from the 80,000 who took in the festival last year.

Harley last year ditched its globally iconic logo of orange and white lettering on a black shield. Its new logo is an empty metallic shell – the same shape, but different colors and no words.

Sean Strickland isn't letting his hatred for the woke die down any time soon. The former UFC middleweight champion has shared a video on social media explaining why he can no longer associate himself with Harley Davidson.

The motorcycle company has long been in partnership with the UFC and is considered a product that essentially resonates with fight fans. Strickland was one of the many who supported the company, all the way up until they began promoting controversial musician Machine Gun Kelly. 

 

Strickland went on a social media tirade, threatening to sell his bike and announcing his displeasure at Harley Davidson "going woke".  

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/harley-davidson-woke-accusations-sturgis-bikers-breaks-heart

https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/sean-strickland-doubles-down-on-harley-davidson-threat

https://www.tmj4.com/news/waukesha-county/workers-pretty-nervous-after-harley-davidson-moves-work-from-wisconsin-to-thailand