traded as nyse hog founded 1903 ; 113 years ago 1903 founder william s. harley arthur davidson walter davidson william a. davidson headquarters milwaukee wisconsin u.s. key people matthew levatich president and ceo products motorcycles revenue us 5.25 billion 2013 1 operating income us 1.1 billion 2014 1 net income us 795.53 million 2014 1 total assets us 9.40504 billion 2013 2 us 9.170773 billion 2012 3 total equity us 2.909 billion 2014 1 number of employees 5 900 december 2014 4 website www.harley davidson.com harley davidson inc. h d or harley is an american motorcycle manufacturer founded in milwaukee wisconsin in 1903 . as one of two major american motorcycle manufacturers to survive the great depression along with indian 5 the company has survived numerous ownership arrangements subsidiary arrangements e.g. aermacchi 1974 1978 and buell 1987 2009 periods of poor economic health and product quality as well as intense global competition 6 to become the world s largest motorcycle manufacturer and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following with owner clubs and events worldwide as well as a company sponsored brand focused museum . noted for a style of customization that gave rise to the chopper motorcycle style 7 harley davidson traditionally marketed heavyweight air cooled cruiser motorcycles with engine displacements greater than 700 cm and has broadened its offerings to include its more contemporary vrsc 2002 and middle weight street 2015 platforms . harley davidson manufactures its motorcycles at factories in york pennsylvania ; milwaukee wisconsin ; kansas city missouri ; manaus brazil ; and bawal india and markets its products worldwide . besides motorcycles the company licenses and markets merchandise under the harley davidson brand among them being apparel home decor and ornaments accessories toys and scale figures of motorcycles and video games based on its motorcycle line and the community . contents 1 history 1.1 beginning 1.2 world war i 1.3 bicycles 1.4 1920s 1.5 great depression 1.6 world war ii 1.7 small harleys hummers and aermacchis 1.8 overseas 1.9 tarnished reputation 1.10 restructuring and revival 1.11 buell motorcycle company 1.12 first overseas factory in brazil 1.13 claims of stock price manipulation 1.14 problems with police touring models 1.15 2007 strike 1.16 mv agusta group 1.17 operations in india 1.18 financial crisis 2 motorcycle engines 2.1 big v twins 2.2 small v twins 2.3 revolution engine 2.3.1 d sseldorf test 2.4 single cylinder engines 3 model families 3.1 touring 3.2 softail 3.3 dyna 3.4 sportster 3.5 vrsc 3.5.1 vrxse 3.6 street 4 custom vehicle operations 5 environmental record 6 brand culture 6.1 origin of hog nickname 6.2 bobbers 6.3 harley owners group 6.4 factory tours and museum 6.5 anniversary celebrations 6.6 labor hall of fame 6.7 television drama 7 see also 8 references 9 further reading 10 external links history edit from left william a. davidson walter davidson sr. arthur davidson and william s. harley beginning edit in 1901 20 year old william s. harley drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches 116 cm and four inch 102 mm flywheels . 8 the engine was designed for use in a regular pedal bicycle frame . over the next two years harley and his childhood friend arthur davidson worked on their motor bicycle using the northside milwaukee machine shop at the home of their friend henry melk . it was finished in 1903 with the help of arthur s brother walter davidson . upon testing their power cycle harley and the davidson brothers found it unable to climb the hills around milwaukee without pedal assistance . they quickly wrote off their first motor bicycle as a valuable learning experiment . 9 work immediately began on a new and improved second generation machine . this first real harley davidson motorcycle had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches 405 cm with 9.75 inches 25 cm flywheels weighing 28 lb 13 kg . the machine s advanced loop frame pattern was similar to the 1903 milwaukee merkel motorcycle designed by joseph merkel later of flying merkel fame . the bigger engine and loop frame design took it out of the motorized bicycle category and marked the path to future motorcycle designs . the boys also received help with their bigger engine from outboard motor pioneer ole evinrude who was then building gas engines of his own design for automotive use on milwaukee s lake street . prototype the prototype of the new loop frame harley davidson was assembled in a 10 ft 15 ft 3.0 m 4.6 m shed in the davidson family backyard . 10 11 most of the major parts however were made elsewhere including some probably fabricated at the west milwaukee railshops where oldest brother william a. davidson was then toolroom foreman . this prototype machine was functional by september 8 1904 when it competed in a milwaukee motorcycle race held at state fair park . it was ridden by edward hildebrand and placed fourth . this is the first documented appearance of a harley davidson motorcycle in the historical record . 10 in january 1905 small advertisements were placed in the automobile and cycle trade journal offering bare harley davidson engines to the do it yourself trade . by april complete motorcycles were in production on a very limited basis . that year the first harley davidson dealer carl h. lang of chicago sold three bikes from the five built in the davidson backyard shed . years later the original shed was taken to the juneau avenue factory where it would stand for many decades as a tribute to the motor company s humble origins until it was accidentally destroyed by contractors cleaning the factory yard in the early 1970s . in 1906 harley and the davidson brothers built their first factory on chestnut street later juneau avenue 12 at the current location of harley davidson s corporate headquarters . the first juneau avenue plant was a 40 ft 60 ft 12 m 18 m single story wooden structure . the company produced about 50 motorcycles that year . 1907 model . harley davidson 1 000 cc ht 1916 in 1907 william s. harley graduated from the university of wisconsin madison with a degree in mechanical engineering . that year additional factory expansion came with a second floor and later with facings and additions of milwaukee pale yellow cream brick . with the new facilities production increased to 150 motorcycles in 1907 . the company was officially incorporated that september . they also began selling their motorcycles to police departments around this time a market that has been important to them ever since . 13 in 1907 william a. davidson brother to arthur and walter davidson quits his job as tool foreman for the milwaukee road railroad and joins the motor company . production in 1905 and 1906 were all single cylinder models with 26.84 cubic inch 440 cm engines . in february 1907 a prototype model with a 45 degree v twin engine was displayed at the chicago automobile show . although shown and advertised very few v twin models were built between 1907 and 1910 . these first v twins displaced 53.68 cubic inches 880 cm and produced about 7 horsepower 5.2 kw . this gave about double the power of the first singles . top speed was about 60 mph 100 km h . production jumped from 450 motorcycles in 1908 to 1 149 machines in 1909 . 14 harley davidson works in 1911 by 1911 some 150 makes of motorcycles had already been built in the united states although just a handful would survive the 1910s . in 1911 an improved v twin model was introduced . the new engine had mechanically operated intake valves as opposed to the automatic intake valves used on earlier v twins that opened by engine vacuum . with a displacement of 49.48 cubic inches 811 cm the 1911 v twin was smaller than earlier twins but gave better performance . after 1913 the majority of bikes produced by harley davidson would be v twin models . in 1912 harley davidson introduced their patented ful floteing seat which was suspended by a coil spring inside the seat tube . 15 the spring tension could be adjusted to suit the rider s weight . more than 3 inches 76 mm of travel was available . 16 harley davidson would use seats of this type until 1958 . 17 by 1913 the yellow brick factory had been demolished and on the site a new 5 story structure had been built . begun in 1910 the factory with its many additions would take up two blocks along juneau avenue and around the corner on 38th street . despite the competition harley davidson was already pulling ahead of indian and would dominate motorcycle racing after 1914 . production that year swelled to 16 284 machines . ralph hepburn on his harley racing bike in this 1919 photo . world war i edit in 1917 the united states entered world war i and the military demanded motorcycles for the war effort . 18 harleys had already been used by the military in the pancho villa expedition 19 20 but world war i was the first time the motorcycle had been adopted for military issue first with the british model h produced by british triumph motorcycles ltd in 1915 . 21 after the u.s. entry into the war the u.s. military purchased over 20 000 motorcycles from harley davidson . 22 bicycles edit harley davidson launched a line of bicycles in 1917 in hopes of recruiting customers for its motorcycles . besides the traditional diamond frame men s bicycle models included a step through frame 3 18 ladies standard and a 5 17 boy scout for youth . the effort was discontinued in 1923 because of disappointing sales . 23 the bicycles were built for harley davidson in dayton ohio by the davis machine company from 1917 to 1921 when davis stopped manufacturing bicycles . 24 1920s edit harley davidson 1000 cc ht 1923 by 1920 harley davidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world with 28 189 machines produced and dealers in 67 countries . 25 in 1921 a harley davidson ridden by otto walker was the first motorcycle ever to win a race at an average speed greater than 100 mph 160 km h . 26 27 during the 1920s several improvements were put in place such as a new 74 cubic inch 1 212.6 cm v twin introduced in 1922 and the teardrop gas tank in 1925 . a front brake was added in 1928 although notably only on the j jd models . 28 in the late summer of 1929 harley davidson introduced its 45 cubic inches 737 cm flathead v twin to compete with the indian 101 scout and the excelsior super x. 29 this was the d model produced from 1929 to 1931 . 30 riders of indian motorcycles derisively referred to this model as the three cylinder harley because the generator was upright and parallel to the front cylinder . 31 the 2.745 in 69.7 mm bore and 3.8125 in 96.8 mm stroke would continue in most versions of the 750 engine ; exceptions include the xa and the xr 750 . citation needed great depression edit harley davidson 1 200 cc sv 1931 the great depression began a few months after the introduction of their 45 cubic inch 737 cm model . harley davidson s sales fell from 21 000 in 1929 to 3 703 in 1933 . despite this harley davidson unveiled a new lineup for 1934 which included a flathead engine and art deco styling . 32 in order to survive the remainder of the depression the company manufactured industrial powerplants based on their motorcycle engines . they also designed and built a three wheeled delivery vehicle called the servi car which remained in production until 1973 . 29 harley davidson ul