Hello, my name is Angelika and today I'm going to talk about the Harley- Davidson.

The
reason I chose this subject is because I think that Harley Davidson is the greatest bike
ever made and I would like to own one in the future.

Harley-Davidson is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee,

Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century.
The company sells heavyweight motorcycles designed for cruising on the highway.
Harley-Davidson motorcycles have a special design; they are especially noted for the
tradition of heavy customization that gave rise to the chopper-style of motorcycle.

The Beginning

In 1901, William S. Harley, age 21, drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement
of 7.07 cubic inches and four-inch flywheels. 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 north side 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. When the finished, the boys realized their power-
cycle was unable to go up Milwaukee's modest hills without pedal assistance. Will
Harley and the Davidson brothers wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable
learning experiment. As Thomas Alva Edison once said: "I haven't failed 2000 times, I've
found 2000 ways how to not make a light bulb"

Between World War I and World War II

In both World War I and II, Harley-Davidsons were used to run ammunition and guns to
the front lines; in fact, nearly all of the company's output during the World War II went to
support the Allied forces. At that time, soldiers chopped off parts, including headlights
and fenders to make the machine go faster. Thus, the word "chopper" came to refer to a
customized Harley. Eventually it was expected, that "hog" owners would personalize
their bikes, not only by making them into choppers, but also with custom paint jobs or
fenders and other unique touches.

The 60's, 70's and 80's

During the 1960s and 1970s, the preferred vehicle for a motor cycler was usually a lower-
priced Japanese model, and criticized by Harley riders as poor imitations of "true"
motorcycles. However, foreign bikes were more accepted in polite society because they
were free of the stigma of the Harley, which had come to symbolize low-class, dirty
criminals. during the 1980s the image of the Harley rider began to change again and more
and more people realized that the stigma they gave it, wasn't true at all.
Later on, as the Harley-Davidson approached its hundredth anniversary, it seemed to be
regaining it’s originally intended use as a vehicle for genteel sportsmen and women,
while its continuing popularity remains a tribute to American hard work and open mind.