Harley-Davidson Turns 120

The fine folks at Harley-Davidson are big on birthdays.

Every five years it seems there’s something to celebrate, and why not? It’s a great excuse to throw a big ol’ motorcycle party. This summer H-D turns 120, and by the looks of it, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the faithful will be in for a good time. The four day event, July 13-16, 2023, will bring tens of thousands of people to town for the weekend, with demo rides, factory tours, a connected family-friendly festival in Veterans Park and more. Headlining the two big nights are bands Green Day and Foo Fighters. The last big anniversary, the 115th, drew 150,000 attendees, and there’s no reason to expect any less turnout this year.

While we look forward to the 120th, motojournalist and Motorcycle Classics regular Dain Gingerelli takes us back to the Harley-Davidson 100th anniversary celebration, which was a big enough deal that Harley planned 10 different Open Road Tour preview gatherings in key spots in 2002 to ramp up excitement before the big event in Milwaukee in 2003. Dain was lucky enough to ride from Milwaukee to Atlanta with a group of journalists for the first of the Open Road events, and also attended the 100th in Brew Town.

To do our part to celebrate the big one-two-zero, we’ve also highlighted a couple of classic Harley models in this issue. First, in our On the Radar column, we take a look back at what might be the most famous factory custom of them all, the 1971 Harley-Davidson Super Glide. The story goes that Willie G., inspired by the bobber styling of the ’50s and ’60s, added his own flair to a design that essentially grafted a Sportster front end on to the chassis and drivetrain of a FLH Electra Glide, then added that famous boat tail seat base and rear fender.

We also chose to feature one of the most beloved bikes of the 1940s, the Harley-Davidson Knucklehead. Long-time MC contributor Greg Williams tells us all about a 1941 EL, which for many years was owned by a World War II hero who, as the story goes, won the bike in a game of cards. No kidding.