For 121 years, Milwaukee, Wisconsin has been the home of America’s most recognizable motorcycle brand, Harley-Davidson. While its early years were shaped by trial and error in creating engines and frames of what was barely removed from being a motorized bicycle, it would eventually settle on building primarily large bikes around longitudinally-mounted v-twin engines. These have shaped both the engineering and design of Harley-Davidson models for decades, and the rumble of the v-twin with a continuous heritage styling each mark a Harley-Davidson motorcycle as an icon of the American road.
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Like any other major manufacturer, especially one that has experienced multiple ups and downs through the years, Harley-Davidson has sought to remain relevant as well as profitable and to do so, recognized that expanding its product offerings can bring in new buyers. With a few exploits into different market segments and a couple of different markets altogether, Harley’s history is replete with oddball machines skewing from the chrome laden v-twins America is so accustomed to. Some of the peculiarities are likely to be known by the full-on Harley fans, but you may not have known the below Harleys ever existed.
