Teens photos

[Chris Haynes]

Chris, If I'm wrong about the dating of the machine in your photos then I'll be the first to apologise as I freely admit that at 63 years of age I certainly don't know everything and that I'm more than willing to learn.

That is the problem with you kids. Actually we are close to the same age. I must admit ignorance to the fine points of pre OHV bikes. All I have to go on is factory photographs. As I have said before this bike is more than likely a prototype built from an earlier machine. Did this prototype make it into production? Are all prototypes the same? I would guess not. I will not dispute what you have to say on this subject as I know you know worlds more about them than I do. I learn more about them from your posts than anywhere else.

[Milrite]

TT and speedway...

Thanks for the photo's gentlemen. And I really didnt mean to hijack the thread!
The only photo I had seen until a day or two ago was this one......

1928 Peashooter Speedway.jpg

I can see plates on this.....with a couple new electronic gadgets hidden in there.
Any thoughts on this one....

[Chris Haynes]

Hey Tommo,
Do you know what model this is?

[Tommo]

Chis,
It looks like a parts bin special and I'm not sure what "SADDLERY" is doing on the tank instead of Harley-Davidson.
As it is a 45 it's more up Johnny Sills alley than mine but I'll give it a go and you as a SENIOR JUDGE can judge me.
The following features stand out and I'll list them as I see them year by year.
1931;
Last year of the Model D
Last year of the vertical generator
1st and only year of the fish tail, parallel pipe exhaust
1st year that Speedster bars were offered as an option
All of which it has

1932;
1st year of the model R
1st year of the S hook frame
1st year of the horozontal generator
1st year of the black painted exhaust with a Burgess style muffler
1st year of a fuel filter
It doesn't have any of the first three but it does have a fuel filter

1933;
1st year of the black painted frame, forks and chainguards, which it does have

1934;
1st year of the airflow tail light, which it doesn't have

1935;
1st year of the toolbox on the left hand rear frame rails, which it does have
And I'm not aware of the horn ever being placed there.

I've done this from memory and with some research I might come up with one or two more features but this should do for a start
So from all this my educated guess would be some form of 1931 prototype as it ticks more boxes than any of the others.

[aka HAWG]

Tommo,
The man who can answer all you questions is William Sylvester Harley. Climb into Mr. Peabody's Way Back Machine and ask him. Be sure to post the answer here so we will all know. Merry Christmas

tommo you have been around long enough to see when someone disagrees with or does something chris disagrees with, chris gets upset to say the least. even known to get vulgar and resort to name calling - tread lightly to avoid becoming another notch in chris long list of combatants. ive been there still waiting for my tsa pat-down to go on my aeronutical intercoarse with a pastery ride
aka HAWG

[aka HAWG]

what about this thought

purpose built mid/late 1930 for the " new model " display at the motorcycle dealer shows ( or whatever they were called back then ), using what parts they had available for the 31 models and never had "new" 1931 cases yet

aka hawg

[aka HAWG]

Here are a couple pictures of 26SA631.

chris

did harley not take photo's of a 1903 and 1904 harley and put accual bikes in the museum ( which proven on this site never exsisted ) using parts after the fact to produce and now they are taken as the gospel true harley models - could this not be the same ploy - just my opinion

aka HAWG

[Chris Haynes]

chris

did harley not take photo's of a 1903 and 1904 harley and put accual bikes in the museum ( which proven on this site never exsisted ) using parts after the fact to produce and now they are taken as the gospel true harley models - could this not be the same ploy - just my opinion

aka HAWG

It could well be a prototype machine. Many of the bikes in the photo archives are prototypes. I don't know enough about that model to say.

[Chris Haynes]

Chis, So from all this my educated guess would be some form of 1931 prototype as it ticks more boxes than any of the others.

Tommo,
That wasn't a fair question. But you did a great job of parts identification.
That is the only bike made by Harley-Davidson that had another name on the tank. It was custom built per a customers specifications. It is the Woolery Bullet and still exists today at the Wheels Through Time Museum.

[Tommo]

Chris,
Do you know what year it was produced?
The Model D, that was known as the "Three cylinder Harley" here in NZ, single-handedly destroyed Harley sales in NZ.
It's generator drive unreliability coupled with the Great Deepression and the 1930 VL problems turned buyers away in their droves and it wasn't until the late 1970's and into the 1980's that Harley got their market share back in this country.
I'm just curious to know when it was built because if it was after the introduction of the R model I can't see why you would bother.
The tank decals certainly point to 1933 but that 1935 style toolbox certainly throws a spanner in the works and if it is 1935 or later it must have been at a bargain basement price and that brings me back to my first comment of it being a "Parts Bin Special"

[Chris Haynes]

Tommo,
From the number in the lower right hand corner of the photo I can tell you that the picture was taken prior to June 1934. The Pohlman Photo log I have starts at number 13608 on June 12, 1934. Perhaps Matt Walksler can give us the serial number from the bike.

[milw.pirates]

Here are a couple pictures of 26SA631.

Chris, where on these photos from Pohlman Studios does it show the engine serial numbers of,26SA631 ?

[Chris Haynes]

Chris, where on these photos from Pulman Studios does it show the engine serial numbers of,26SA631 ?

I can clearly read the number by enlarging the photo of the left side of the bike.

[Tommo]

Can someone who knows how to play with images on the computor have a look at the above image and see what they can make out.
I think it looks more like SG than 26 but I would like a better pair of eyes than mine to voice an opinion.

[rwm]

it sure don't look like a 2.