1935 VL headlamp

[Fiskis]

Everybody knows that the Cycle Ray headlamp came in 1935, but in books like Inside H-D, all factory pictures of V- and R-series bikes show bikes with the earlier lamp. Are these only protos, or did the Cycle Ray appear after a while during the early model year?

In the pictures of the 1936 V-models, the bracket 4965-31 looks different although the partsbook says 1931-36 is the same. Of course it may be because the horn bracket also changes between 1935 and 1936. Anybody has a good original sidewieu picture of a 1935 VL lamp and horn assembly?

Fiskis

[Chris Haynes]

My factory photos show the Cycleray on the 1935 models.

[Fiskis]

You mean that they can be seen at your site? Lots of great pictures, but I do not find "factory photos" or "Cycle Ray" by the search function.

[Fiskis]

Or you mean that YOUR pictures have the cycle Ray? Check Inside H-D page 132. It's a Motolamp, isn't it? Also Johnny Sells' book p. A-24 and A-25, very sharp pics of 35RL:s.

[Sargehere]

Hi, Fiskis,
You got people all over the world looking at page 132 of Inside Harley-Davidson!. You must be basing your opinion on the fact that the headlamp in the picture looks kind of Motolamp-pointy. But it's a heavily retouched photograph. Almost all of it is hand-painted over the original image, and they were going for an artsy reflection off the headlight bucket, is my opinion. Jerry Hatfield's caption repeats the dogma that a new feature of all 1935s was the Cycleray headlamp. The '34 had a different lamp, "John Brown," I think, very rare today, but if it's a '35, a Cycleray is correct.

[Chris Haynes]

You mean that they can be seen at your site? Lots of great pictures, but I do not find "factory photos" or "Cycle Ray" by the search function.

Sadly Harley-Davidson Inc. will not allow me to post factory photos on my website. I started it with them but had to remove them.

[Chris Haynes]

Copy this photo to a file. Then enlarge it to see detail.

[Sargehere]

Or save all the trouble; hold down your "< ctrl >" key while rolling your mouse wheel away from you on this page.
For me, it immediately goes back to the top left corner as it zooms, and maxes out when all you see is the yellow-winged AMC emblem filling your screen. Come back to the center of the page and down about three-quarters of the way, and, on my computer, anyway, all I see is a Cycleray headlamp, front edge of tanks and 1935 45 handlebars.
Nice detail on those factory photo contact prints off 8x10 negatives. Thanks for posting, Chris!

[Chris Haynes]

Thanks for posting, Chris!

OK. Who is this and what have you done with Gerry?

[Fiskis]

Hi, Fiskis,
You got people all over the world looking at page 132 of Inside Harley-Davidson!. You must be basing your opinion on the fact that the headlamp in the picture looks kind of Motolamp-pointy. But it's a heavily retouched photograph. Almost all of it is hand-painted over the original image, and they were going for an artsy reflection off the headlight bucket, is my opinion. Jerry Hatfield's caption repeats the dogma that a new feature of all 1935s was the Cycleray headlamp. The '34 had a different lamp, "John Brown," I think, very rare today, but if it's a '35, a Cycleray is correct.

Reading never hurt anybody anywhere I figured that book is most common, but other photos too, show the same phenomen. The dealership photo undisputely shows a 45 with the correct headlight.

Fiskis