1913 Harley twin engine

[HarleyCreation]

Originally posted by Ross
Thanks C.O. I will follow up on the book. My friend loaned me his, it's great. I will post from time to time. I usually get the job done, but not as fast as others. You know how it goes, 50 hour work week etc, etc. My son needs my attention right now on the 36 Indian Jr. Scout and I am finishing a 13 Indian. But I am gung ho pumped to work on this project.

Ross,

I looked and do not have any of those Classic H-D books. Sorry.

But it was republished with two other works (not mine) under the title: Harley-Davidson (Wagner, Mitchell, Remus, Girdler, & Hackett), 2004. Crestline. ISBN 0-7603-1805-0

In that work another restored 1911 twin is shown on page 206. Not sure whose bike it is as it's in another author's section and isn't credited.

Planning a trip to the city after Easter....

[Ross]

Herb, Received At The Creation yesterday. Outstanding book. I also picked up your other book on ebay and it arrived the same day. Awesome. Many thanks to C.O. for the lead. I need to get back to Competion Dist. to see how things are going in the 1911 Harley parts dept. Hope this 1911 HD project works out for me.

[c.o.]

Glad to hear you got the books Ross. At The Creation is awesome. I read a little bit most evenings and have learned a lot. I won't say that I'll retain all the knowledge, but I'll at least have a reference when my memory goes astray....

We all hope your '11 project works out!!!

[HarleyCreation]

Thanks guys.

I put everything into "At the Creation" including Mother Davidson's kitchen sink knowing it might be my only chance to really tell the origin tale as it had never been told before.

At first the book was going to be smaller, but as I starting actually writing it just sorta "growed." Being published by the Wisconsin Historical Society I was able to include endnotes with additional information and back everything up as to what my sources were. I tried making it the opposite of a superficial coffee table book; packed densly with original information.

Ross, please keep us up-to-date with your "1911" project. It is pretty darn exciting.

Aren't those Mark Mitchell photos of Bruce's 1911 twin great?

[Ross]

The pictures are great and I'm on my second time through the book. I have made contact with competition and they know I am interested in building up a 1911 twin. I spoke with Lonnie and he indicated their are several people waiting to build up 11 twins.I prefer to put mine together myself which he said he prefers. I have contacted a few key people who have a great deal of knowledge of the 11 twins and hope they will help me along the way.I have put myself on the list for a frame and after that hopefully will begin purchasing pieces as the group work on or rather competition works on their projects.If there is anybody out there I haven't talked to regarding 11 HD twins, I'd love to hear from them. Herb it may be a while before I am able to show any real work as part procurement is job number one. Meanwhile you're my new favourite author as I still have one more of your books to read thanks to C.O. It came today.

[HarleyCreation]

Ross,

I wish I had a 1910-1920 book covering your bike. The material is there.

Do you think maybe when you get your frame you might start a new "1911" thread so we can watch your progress from the beginning?

It doesn't matter how long it takes. We all know how that can be. Afterall, we are so much more advanced over those early guys that it takes us alot longer to get things done.

Good luck!

Originally posted by Ross
The pictures are great and I'm on my second time through the book. I have made contact with competition and they know I am interested in building up a 1911 twin. I spoke with Lonnie and he indicated their are several people waiting to build up 11 twins.I prefer to put mine together myself which he said he prefers. I have contacted a few key people who have a great deal of knowledge of the 11 twins and hope they will help me along the way.I have put myself on the list for a frame and after that hopefully will begin purchasing pieces as the group work on or rather competition works on their projects.If there is anybody out there I haven't talked to regarding 11 HD twins, I'd love to hear from them. Herb it may be a while before I am able to show any real work as part procurement is job number one. Meanwhile you're my new favourite author as I still have one more of your books to read thanks to C.O. It came today.

[Ross]

Sure Herb. It kinda bugs me that it's under 1913 Harley. How about after Davenport? I'm off to the National Meet in Minneapolis in June. Then I'm off to Penn. New Jersey, New York on my new Harley(2003) in July. Then home, wash up and head off to Sturgis with my 2 sons. ( Yes we are riding) I will NEVER own a trailor. Hopefully I will meet up with the gang of Competition. Then sqeeze a little work in and then off to Davenport. I'm tired just typing out my summer. I am pretty excited about this project ( I know I've said it before) What really turns me on is both my adult children want to be involved, where as in the past they just wanted to borrow, or beg a ride. I'm considering bringing my Indian Bonneville racer to Davenport but in any event I will start a new thread after that.

[c.o.]

Hey Ross............ have you had any luck in progressing on your '11? I'm jonesing for some early bike discussion.

[Ross]

Hey C.O., It has been slow but I have been busy meeting and talking to people with the early Harleys. Last summer I was on my (new HD an '03) for 6 weeks visiting all kinds of people in and around 10 states and 2 provinces. By far the most impressive stop for me was visiting with Nick Muth and seeing his collection, especially his very original 1911 double. Many people have helped me to date and when all my "ducks " are in a row I will get back to the banter on these early doubles. Notice I am not using the name V TWIN. I've learned a few things along the way. Still would love to hear from anyone with 1911 harley "stuff". I'am also involved in another project for Bonneville in 2009. I will shed some light on that project as it gets closer. Does anyone have an extra DAV Bosch "open" mag?45 degrees.

[c.o.]

Thanks for the update Ross...... ridin' around researching the early stuff............sounds like you had fun!

[Ken41WLA]

Regarding 1911 Harley serial numbers. After reaching 10,000, Harley started over with an A suffix. My guess is they started with 1A, not 100A. My 1911 magneto single is 46A. Does anyone have an original belt drive frame for sale?

[Eric]

I have a 1911 single gas tank for sale
pm if interested
s-l500.jpg

Regarding 1911 Harley serial numbers. After reaching 10,000, Harley started over with an A suffix. My guess is they started with 1A, not 100A. My 1911 magneto single is 46A. Does anyone have an original belt drive frame for sale?

[Ross]

Ken that is cool that your number was lower than 100. What makes you think the change was at 10,000. Every double (twin) I have seen has the letter A. Not many singles. Still puzzles me. By the way i have everything for the 11 double and have it mocked up. Have gotten sidetracked with a 43 WLC and a 48 Vincent. Those 2 are finished. Getting pressure to finish a 36 Indian I've owned for 39 years.The 11 may have to wait until spring.

[HarleyCreation]

Regarding 1911 Harley serial numbers. After reaching 10,000, Harley started over with an A suffix. My guess is they started with 1A, not 100A. My 1911 magneto single is 46A.

Your 1911 single 46A motor made me go back and check the 1911 Wis MC Regs. There I found a single registered as 22A. That's the lowest I've documented so far. The lowest 1911 doubles documented in the Regs are 9873 and 9889--not far below the 10,000 number cutoff and where they started over again with A numbers. So it looks like some doubles were made that were regular numbers and not A numbers.

Ross, in 1911 H-D motor numbers ran between 7600 and 10,000, plus all A-only numbers. That's H-D's own info.

Eric, your 8valve.wordpress.com blog is awesome! Excellent work on vintage cut down, excellent research! Can we see rest of "A Sport Model Motorcycle at Small Cost" by Ray Kuns from early issue of Modern Mechanics & Invention. What is date of issue? Thanks for good work!

[Ross]

Thanks Herb, I kinda had the 11 on the back burner after collecting all the bits. I guess I will have to take some pictures when i dismantle what I have and begin the final build prior to paint. I have not touched the engine yet.All the twin motors I've seen have the suffix with an A. That's 7 engines. I am not sure an example of a "double" without an A exists. I would like to hear from anyone who has knowledge to the contrary. My 304A appears to be the second oldest twin on record for the moment. Kinda staggering when you think about all the twins that have been made since. By the way the two articles on Lonny's HD were the best read in years. My favourite article to date in the AMCA mag. Thanks for all the hard work and research on the early Harley's. Time for another early book on HD before another 6 hour movie comes out.