harley eight valves

[HarleyCreation]

Thanks Mike

Thanks Herb and thanks Jerry, you two guys are, in my opinion, the treasures of this club because you have taken the extra step to verify and document the history of this interest of ours. I hope that neither of you guys ever give up and that you continue to provide the information that you have always given us.
Thanks!
Mike

I also have to praise Jerry for striving for the truth. His work helped inspire me.

I'll never forget the time back around 1990 when I first visited old man Davidson (born 1905) and he had a brand new autographed copy of "Inside H-D" that Jerry sent him. He said to me: "This book has stuff in it that even I never knew!" I don't know if Jerry remembers this, but he autographed that copy: "To William H. "Bill" Davidson, one of my heroes."

[HarleyCreation]

A Famous Racing Motor

Hi Herbert,

I've got a set of cases that reads M525M for a motor number, and has matching belly numbers of 15113E

Now that we've cracked more of the Harley Code, this one should be easy. I'll just reach into Pennington's top-hat (like Bullwinkle moose would do) and pull out "M-525M"

Whoa boy!

Apparently there are still some important but unrecognized crankcases out there worthy of total bike replication and this appears to be one of them.

Motor: "M-525M"

Model 16T
"Twin Track Racer" (pocket-valve)
M = racing motor
525 = 26th motor built in this engine series
T = 1916

That series motor was not used for any other application so it appears to be one of the famous 1916 pocket-valve track racers we see in all the photos. The same motor that took 3rd place at Dodge City and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th places at Sheepshead Bay, both on July 4th, 1916. The Harley "Eights" of course took first place in both of those races.

What a great find.

What did you pay for those old junk cases, twenty bucks?

I still can't figure out how Rick got that swell club number #1905. I'm envious. I want either 1904 or 1936, altho Chris is probably in line for 1936 along with a hundred other guys.

[Kozy]

Inside HD

I also have to praise Jerry for striving for the truth. His work helped inspire me.

I'll never forget the time back around 1990 when I first visited old man Davidson (born 1905) and he had a brand new autographed copy of "Inside H-D" that Jerry sent him. He said to me: "This book has stuff in it that even I never knew!" I don't know if Jerry remembers this, but he autographed that copy: "To William H. "Bill" Davidson, one of my heroes."

Is "Inside HD" still in print? If so, does anyone know of a source for it?

[glaser 31]

Herb,
this is some fine stuf you dig up.....I think you now have made all people to
check all harley vin numers at home...
I know this is not harlety 8 valve,but I also have some factory books from
the Danish super x-henderson dealer up to1930.also the numbers on the
super x racer that came to denmark in 1930.
here is just one page sow you can see how it looks...
http://s814.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=BILD0151.jpg
and keep up the fine work your do

[The Professor]

http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/n...t=MOV01908.flv

[Jerry Hatfield]

Is "Inside HD" still in print? If so, does anyone know of a source for it?

Unfortunately "Inside Harley-Davidson" has been out of print since 1998. I don't know of any book dealers who still have a copy for sale.

All motorcycle books sell best in the first year. Almost without exception, sales then slide downward continuously until all copies are sold and the books go "out of print." So the near-universal sales paces are something like" 100X, 70X, 40X, 20X, 10X, and then "out of print." Many motorcycle books are offered less than three years before they go on the bargain shelf!

"Inside Harley-Davidson" had an unusual sales history. Lets say the book sold 100X copies the first year. The sales of the next six years went something like this: 70X, 65X, 60X, 65X, 70X, and 80X. After a couple of years, because sales refused to nose dive, Motorbooks did a second printing. I clearly remember that annual sales for the seventh year were exceeded only by annual sales for the first year. One of the better book reviews I ever got was an "Inside Harley-Davidson" review by Clement Salvadori during the seventh year this book was on the market. I thought that since this book had sold so strongly for so long, and was still drawing good reviews in the seventh year, that "Inside Harley-Davidson" might remain in print for many more years. I was wrong. When Motorbooks sold the rest of their stock during the seventh year, they didn't reprint it.

Harley-Davidson's wonderful records keeping, plus substantial inputs from Red Wolverton, Tom Sifton, John Cameron, and Connie Schemler, helped tremendously.

[Sargehere]

Try this:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/use...arley-davidson

$75.

[Jerry Hatfield]

[QUOTE=Jerry Hatfield;97617]Unfortunately "Inside Harley-Davidson" has been out of print since 1998. I don't know of any book dealers who still have a copy for sale.

Oops! Amazon.com has 12 used copies of "Inside Harley-Davidson, by Hatfield" from $55 and up. Another Amazon seller offers an apparently very well conditioned used copy for $288.35.

[Lonnie]

Keep an eye on Ebay as H-D books of all sorts pop up. I bought a new copy of "Inside Harley-Davidson" awhile back new for $30. Just be persistent and check regularly. You can make it a regular search and receive emails daily if it pops up.

[Chris Haynes]

Is "Inside HD" still in print? If so, does anyone know of a source for it?

eBay, Amazon.com. Be prepared to spend a lot.

[HarleyCreation]

Dig 'em out...

Herb,
this is some fine stuf you dig up.....I think you now have made all people to
check all harley vin numers at home...
I know this is not harlety 8 valve,but I also have some factory books from
the Danish super x-henderson dealer up to1930.also the numbers on the
super x racer that came to denmark in 1930.
here is just one page sow you can see how it looks...
http://s814.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=BILD0151.jpg
and keep up the fine work your do

What a great primary document and source of material for Hen/EX stuff. Very nice.

And yes, guys should dig out all their old mystery cases for the VIN number. That famous crankcase set Rick/Earl posted about shows that unrecognized but very significant motors are still to be found.

I'm hoping your friend will let us have a peek at the number on that Harley "M" motor you have access to. Who knows what we'll find there?

[Kozy]

Inside HD out of print

[QUOTE=Jerry Hatfield;97620]

Unfortunately "Inside Harley-Davidson" has been out of print since 1998. I don't know of any book dealers who still have a copy for sale.

Oops! Amazon.com has 12 used copies of "Inside Harley-Davidson, by Hatfield" from $55 and up. Another Amazon seller offers an apparently very well conditioned used copy for $288.35.

Thanks to Jerry Hatfield and all with the info about obtaining a copy. If the sales history holds true those $75.00 copies should be moving to bargin shelf shortly! I think I'll try thy the e-bay route first.

[Chris Haynes]

If ya think those prices are bad have a look at this one.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...condition=used

[Kozy]

Prices

If ya think those prices are bad have a look at this one.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...condition=used

Yikes! It's too bad the authors couldn't share in that kind of profitability!

[exeric]

I wonder how Rich Schultz did with his 'Henderson, those elegant machines' book. The inside leaf states it was a printing of 1,500 books. I know those books are hard to find and expensive when you can find a copy. The book does not list a publisher so I guess Rich handled all of that himself. I'll bet that was harder than restoring a 1912 Henderson. I've heard he is considering an update on his book.