MEET THE MOTORCYCLE COMPANY
GET READY TO welcome a new motorcycle company. Harley-Davidson is set to spread the eagle’s wings and claim more territory than ever as the Motor Company becomes a full-blown Motorcycle Company.
What, you may well ask, is he on about? Hasn’t Harley-Davidson always been a motorcycle company, since its foundation a hundred and fifteen years ago? Weren’t they making more than 17,000 motorcycles a year only 15 years later?
Yes of course. But in the latter part of the 20th Century, Milwaukee began to limit its range to make more and more motorcycles of fewer and fewer types. Finally, they coalesced into what was really only one bike, although it was presented in many guises. Yes, there were and are Sportsters, cruisers and baggers but the essence was identical. A Vee twin engine; swoopy, quintessentially American design; high torque / (relatively) low power; severely limited cornering clearance and indifferent handling; superb chrome and paint; adding up to a high-impact, immediately recognisable
