| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 21/08/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 50 |
| Copyright: Other |
Special attractions
Harley museum revs up interest
Alan Moore visits theHarley-Davidson factory in York Country, Pennsylvania
IT’S one thing to have people buying your product but it’s another for them to tattoo your name across their chests.Top US motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson is proud of the fact that its name and symbol is indelibly printed on the skins – and souls – of a huge dedicated following around the world.
Indeed, this image is evident as soon as you step onto the shop floor at the company’s final assembly plant at York, in York County, Pennsylvania.
The men and women working there may span different generations but all have one thing in common – the pursuit of excellence in producing the world’s most revered two-wheeled machine.
Many employees are Harley owners and sport tattoos of the legendary North American Bald Eagle emblem that is the trademark of H-D, as well as red or black bandanas and other all-too-familiar leather accessories. Being given a guided tour of the place, together with the adjoining Harley-Davidson museum, it feels more like a bikers’ club than a production plant.
And whether you’re a bike fanatic or not, the enthusiasm of the workers as they stop to explain the various production stages, rubs off.
The gleaming bikes begin to take shape as they systematically flow through the various sections of the factory on different ground and overhead tracking systems, but few look alike. Many are customised to order and I spotted some very colourful, extravagant-looking machines worth well over £15,000 heading for clients in Japan and Australia – two of the company’s biggest overseas markets.
But what is unmistakable throughout is the familiar raised handlebars that are synonymous with the Harley experience.They say that old Harleys never die – they go to museums.
Proof of this lies in the Antique Motorcycle Museum at the York factory, which shows how far the company has developed since William Harley introduced a motorised bicycle back in 1903.
On yer bike: many Harleys are customised to order with some motorcycles costing over £15,000