About a month ago I guess, I took my little sister to Milwaukee to visit Marquette University (where she has now decided to go).
While there, since the HD museum was literally walking distance from our hotel in downtown, we had to go. It was awesome. If you're in Milwaukee for whatever reason (which is actually a pretty cool old time city . . we have nothing like cities like this on the west coast really) go and give yourself plenty of time. Also take the self guided audio tour. We spent over three hours and they had to kick us out.
Here's a link to the album.
Here's some selected pics and vids.
Just a panorama of the museum on the river.
Click on image for larger version.
Outside of the museum. It's a pretty good size complex overall.
This statue was donated by the family to the museum.
Cool coaster from one of the two places to eat there.
On the other side of these engines was a bar. On the tv screens they were playing old footage (40s, 50s) of guys riding there Harleys . . some of them were pretty nuts.
My adorable little sister. Way smarter than her brothers. (But we keep that to ourselves.
)
I don't usually find myself taking pictures in the men's room, but I thought the pedal was a clever and actually quite useful design element.
On display before you even enter the museum. Feel like running 9s on this in the 60s? Balls. Giant balls.
Entering the first section.
Genesis. This is the oldest known Harley. Remember, these guys were just about developing the first versions of everything. When they first formed the buisness, it was The Harley Davidson Motor Company of Milwaukee. Milwaukee at that time was known of the machine shop of the world. Most people are unaware that Milwaukee was a major city up through WWII. It's decline is an interesting story, but a whole other subject.
Another of the early bikes.
One of the many things I learned was that Harley made service bikes and that was a HUGE part of their business for decades.
Another big branch of their business were police bikes.
This is where I'd usually go off on a tirade about the intersection of big business and government, but I'll spare you. Harley was involved with the, shall we call it marketing, of why increasing police (and obviously motorcyle police in particular) would be good for society. They weren't categorically wrong, but holy crikey, check out these posters.
Some of you know I'm a fan of the BMW version of this bike, which saw a ton of combat. The Harley never did, but it looks pretty badass. I'd rock one now. Especially if I could roll with a couple M1s.
Looks kinda goofy now adays, but this set the world speed record in the 30s. Don't remember it off hand, but it was pretty ridiculous when you consider the technology involved.
The engine room was extra cool, showing essentially all the motors, with sounds, from the beginning to present.
The have an onsite restoration facility where you can watch them in progress.
They have hundreds of bikes in storage separate from the main museum.
Definition of a barn find. Harley decided that since this VERY early model was found with absolutely nothing changed form the factory, they wouldn't do anything to it. I wish I would have gotten a better picture.
