H-D Production IoE V-twins 1909-1929

[Steve Swan]

thought i'd kick the ball on this thread, will post pics i have of what are stated 1913 models.

Are these in fact 1913 models? 1913.jpg1913-HD-9E-1.jpg

please post pics you have of any of these models.

[Steve Swan]

and here are what are stated 1914 models

are they in fact 1914 models? 1914 LH.jpg1914.jpg

[Steve Swan]

and here are what are stated as 1915 models.

Are these 1915 models? 1915-HD.jpg1915HD11F.JPG

[exeric]

I've always liked early Harleys in that darker shade of gray; whether that's correct seems to be the $64 question. If I ever restore my '16, I am fortunate to have an O.P. left side tank with glossy paint on the inside. I'm sure that is still no guarantee since 100 years of exposure has to affect the color. I guess there will never be a universal consensus on H-D gray, and Indian Red

[T. Cotten]

Hokey Smoke, Eric!

If its re-painted, it makes little difference, as modern paints are spectroscopically different anyway.

Answer to yourself, not those who wish to rule over you.

....Cotten

[exeric]

Whoa! I'm not going there, Tom

[Steve Swan]

I've always liked early Harleys in that darker shade of gray; whether that's correct seems to be the $64 question. If I ever restore my '16, I am fortunate to have an O.P. left side tank with glossy paint on the inside. I'm sure that is still no guarantee since 100 years of exposure has to affect the color. I guess there will never be a universal consensus on H-D gray, and Indian Red

in the picture of the '14, the color looks blue, is it actually the light grey and it's the light picking up pigment in the paint?

[knucklehead 61]

yes, those appear to be 1913 models. 12 & 13 are very similar. 14 went to foot boards. 11 didn't have the sloping rear gas tank.

[Steve Swan]

yes, those appear to be 1913 models. 12 & 13 are very similar. 14 went to foot boards. 11 didn't have the sloping rear gas tank.

Footboards and pedals is quite the combination ! i'll bet when the '16's came out, the 15's fell out of favor, who'd want to be riding a motorcycle with bicycle pedals....?
I WOULD!!!!

[exeric]

Pedal start was still offered in 1916, and I wish I had it on my '16. Pedal start works much better on an ornery, obstinate motor. However, I think H-D was obliging long-time customers who preferred pedal start, to the 'new fangled' step starter. It was the same deal with electrics, which met with skepticism, and caution; and is why it's so hard to find generators, magnetos, and electrical components for pre-1920 motorcycles.

[duffeycycles]

A quick look,the '15 twin should not have the bar & shield on the right side.It should have the oak leaf crest.Looking at colors on the web is useless.Each monitor can give diff colors.

[exeric]

Looking at colors on the web is useless.Each monitor can give diff colors.

The whole concept of defining color is a pointless exercise in futility, particularly when it comes to ancient colors like H-D gray, Olive, or Indian Red. There are countless factors that influence color, from proportion of pigment, degradation of ingredients, and the millions of different human eyes that look at a particular color. Also, H-D bought their paint in huge lot quantities of unknown amounts, so no telling how different those multi-gallon lots were from each other. All I said was, I prefer the darker gray to the light gray and wonder what H-D gray looked like in the 'Silent Gray' era.

[TechNoir]

Picking up on Erics point about colours, I had some correspondence with a J owner in Slovakia earlier this year about Olive Green and he was telling me that he is also into classic Jawa motorcycles and he has compared various parts from the same year bikes that are in original paint and they have 5 or 6 slight variations of shade even though they are supposed to be the same colout.

I would imagine that the same is true of all bikes made in volume in days gone by.

John

[Steve Swan]

ok, i thought i'd give this thread another kick fwiw. are these 1916 models? i will be posting pics of the rest of the teen models, and will be interested to hear the differences. on another note, i jsut finished Herber Wagner's "At the Creation," what a great book. and i also finished "At the Creation." both gave alot of great info wich answered my newbie-type questions. However, a lot of year/model specifics on the J/JD series is not collected in one place.

ok. here's the two pics i've found of what are called 16 models.1916 HD.jpg1916 RH.jpg1916.jpg

oh yes! i found this in my files, looks like a period picture? machine looks new. factory picture? the pic is titled as 1916, but seems the position of the battery box is later? 1918?

if you triple click on the pic, it enlarges delightfully! 1916.jpg

[exeric]

As you progress through the 4 pictures, the 1st bike is the most correct, and authentically restored 1916. The 2nd bike was probably a nice original before it was over-done (mostly correct, but wrong muffler). The 3rd bike has a later frame, spring fork, seat assy., gas tanks, and rear stand which are visible from the left side. The 4th bike, I believe is a pre-production factory photo of a 1920 as the cylinders are pre-'20. The battery box in the last picture is for an electric model, and all battery boxes looked about the same, starting from 1915. The other bikes are non-electric models and have a tool box in place of the battery box. The 1916 is my favorite J, but I'm prejudiced.