William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson began developing motorcycles in Milwaukee with Walter and William Davidson joining the enterprise. From early singles, Harley-Davidson moved toward the V-twin and became a major military and civilian producer. Knucklehead, Hydra-Glide, Sportster and Electra Glide created long-lived families; the V-Rod and LiveWire show the company periodically challenging its own mechanical traditions.
Motorcycles / Manufacturers / Harley-Davidson
Motor Museum · Motorcycles · Since 1903
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson turned the American V-twin cruiser into a cultural object whose history is inseparable from touring, customisation, clubs and the American road.
1903motorcycle era begins
United Statesorigin
3featured bikes
6catalogue bikes
Origins
William S. Harley and the Davidson brothers
Read the manufacturer through the machines that changed its engineering, racing, design, market or cultural meaning.
Featured bikes
Three turning points.
The featured layer picks the motorcycles that most clearly changed this manufacturer’s technology, market or identity.
Model 5-D V-Twin
1909 · classic
Model 5-D V-Twin
The point where the Harley-Davidson V-twin story begins.
EL Knucklehead
1936 · cruiser
EL Knucklehead
A foundational big-twin architecture whose engine shape became an enduring visual reference in custom culture.
Hydra-Glide
1949 · touring
Hydra-Glide
A key transition from rigid-fork pre-war motorcycles toward the classic American touring machine.
Museum catalogue
Bikes through time.
Each bike is treated like a museum object: what it was, why it mattered and where it sits in the manufacturer’s wider story.