Armored Harley?

[sirhrmechanic]

This image appeared on the Harley/Armstrong MT riders forum. Claims to be an Harley Davidson. And the grip looks very much correct. But brake handle looks unusual as do details on the front fender support? Or is that something like an Earls Fork????

armored harley.jpg

There has to be someone here who can ID the picture or who knows more about it. Interesting concept, but I wouldn't want to ride into combat depending on that armor. Looks like a great idea for base camp... not so good for forward unit.

BTW, still looking for any early (and by that I mean Pre-WW1) pictures of H-D motorcycles used by US armed services. I am sure they were testing motorcycles before their big orders in 1916 - 1917. But have never found a single picture of early bikes (singles in particular) as tested by US Army. Wrote the Army Transportation Museum and they have nothing. But someone has to have SOMETHING on the earliest military use of a HD Single or Twin. I am pretty sure they were using motorcycles in the Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa. And if they were doing that, they must have tested them earlier.

Thanks and enjoy...

Cheers,

Sirhr

[Rubone]

This image appeared on the Harley/Armstrong MT riders forum. Claims to be an Harley Davidson. And the grip looks very much correct. But brake handle looks unusual as do details on the front fender support? Or is that something like an Earls Fork????

Brake handle is correct for '40 and earlier. The odd thing you see on the forks is a front stand.
There are lots of pictures of the "punitive expedition" bikes. I don't believe there was any testing per-say, they just bought bikes, modified them, and used them!
Robbie

[oldsouthmcy]

You will find more about the rig at this link. Not a whole lot of information but a second photo. Click the read more link and scroll down for about two sentences more of information. 1932-1935 Danish Army H-D. http://silodrome.com/armored-ww2-motorcycle/

[Steve Slocombe]

My recollection is that this is a 1932 VL which has also been described in the Danish Veteran Motorcycle Club magazine. The front stand is typical of export bikes, and you can see from the long twist spiral that the bike is pre-1935.

[D.Mac]

[QUOTE=sirhrmechanic;122647

BTW, still looking for any early (and by that I mean Pre-WW1) pictures of H-D motorcycles used by US armed services. I am sure they were testing motorcycles before their big orders in 1916 - 1917. But have never found a single picture of early bikes (singles in particular) as tested by US Army. Wrote the Army Transportation Museum and they have nothing. But someone has to have SOMETHING on the earliest military use of a HD Single or Twin. I am pretty sure they were using motorcycles in the Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa. And if they were doing that, they must have tested them earlier
Sirhr[/QUOTE]

This picture is from a picture book called "Somewhere in Mexico",copyright 1916, the pictures are of the battles fought against Pancho Villa. It is one of a pair of books (can't find the other, my brother must have it), that my grandfather had. Not the greatest picture of the bikes, but as you can see the Army certainly had motorcycles in that era, and there must be more pictures out there somewhere.
Doug.

[exeric]

Those bikes are Indians. H-D was smart and tread very cautiously into military contracts.

[duffeycycles]

Looks alot like these guysBorder patrol4.jpg

[Chris Haynes]

Looks alot like these guys[ATTACH=CONFIG]8790[/ATTACH]

Nice picture. Why did you ruin it with the pennant?