Harley
Davidson Motorcycles
Many
leather jacket wearing biker chicks and boys might be praising William S.
Harley because of what he did the fateful day of 1903. He put up a company
which will manufacture the ultimate big bike of all big bikes—Harleys. So
whether you are a blossoming biker fan or true blue Harley enthusiast, read on
for some more pieces details about them!
The
first Harley baby is a racer at 24.74 cubic inches, running on 405 cc, with
9-3/4 inch flywheels and weighs 28 pounds. However, the classic Harley Davidson
engine is a v-twin engine. It is a two cylinder combustion type engine,
arranged in a ‘V’ configuration. Its pistons are mounted in 45 degree angles
and are connected to a single pin crankshaft connected by rods. This unique design
causes the pistons to fire at uneven intervals—an engineering consequence of
creating a powerful engine in such a small space.
There
are several types of Harley Davidson motorcycles: one-cylinder engines, big
twin engines, sports engines and the latest of which: the water cooled engines
(revolutionary engines).
Big
twins are air cooled 45-degree v-twin engines. Famous examples are ‘F-heads’
which came in 1,000 cc (1914-29) and 1,200 cc (1922-29), ‘Flatheads’ which were
produced in 1930-1948 for 1,200 cc and 1935-41 for 1,300 cc, ‘Knuckleheads’
which were manufactured in 1936-47 (61 cubic inches) with 1,000 cc and 1948-65
(74 cubic inches) with 1, 200 cc and ‘Panhead’ which were sold during 1948-52
(61 cubic inches) with 1,000 cc and 1948-65 (74 cubic inches) with 1,200 cc.
Other
newer examples of big twins are ‘Evolution’ AKA "Evo" or
"Blockhead". It was produced in 1984-99, measuring 82 cubic inches
and runs on 1,345 cc. ‘Twin Cam’ AKA "Fathead", was created in
1999-2006, measuring 88 cubic inches and runs on 1,443 cc.
Small
twins are also air cooled 45 degrees v-twins engines but come in lower cc’s
which sometimes half as much as big twin engines. Examples of which are D Model
produced in 1929-31 with 750 cc, R Model produced in 1932-36 with 750 cc, KH
Model created during 1954-56 with 900 cc, Ironhead made in 1957-1971 running on
900 cc and 1971-85 with 1000 cc. Newer small twins model includes the Evolution
which is assembled in 1986 up to present. They run in 883 cc, 1,100 cc and
1,200 cc.
The
revolutionary engine is the only liquid cooled Harley engine being
manufactured. It is jointly designed and developed by Harley Davidson Company
with Porsche in
Nowadays,
the model designations of Harleys are Sportster, Dyna, Softail, Touring and
Revolution. Sportsters, except for the XR 1000 of 1980’s, have the prefix XL as
their model designation. Dyna models begin with FXD, uses big-twin engines (F),
have small-diameter
telescopic forks similar to Sportster (X) and the Dyna chassis (D). Softail models are marked with FXST, use
big-twin engines (F) and Softail chassis (ST). Touring models are assigned with
FL, use big-twin engines and large diameter telescopic forks. Revolution models
are commonly symbolized with the prefix VRSC which can either come from
revolution engine (VR) and street custom versions (SC).