LAST YR HARLEY'S MADE WITH USA PARTS?

[hogpipes1]

Back in  the mid 60'd i don't recall any  jap parts on my  58 FLH . where were the shocks, forks, made back then.? my 70 FLH  then amf had the jap parts, so  the 60'd had to be the last  yrs for a good ol made in the usa harley dresser.?

[Dennis The Menace]

I'm thinking 1945.  I suspect they started sourcing some foreign parts soon after the war, like many American manufacturers did.  Sorry, but that is the truth about our American manufacturing history.

menace

[Ultrashovel]

I was riding Harleys in the mid-1950's and there were no Japanese parts at that time since there was no Japanese motorcycle industry of any note. Honda was just getting started and they had not yet recovered from WWII. This all changed by 1960 with the Honda invasion. Honda brought out the Benlys, Dreams, Hawks, Super Hawks and later the CB 750 and at that point Japanese parts began coming in from many sources. Kawasaki began to be a major force at that time, as well and don't forget the Suzuki "Water Buffalo" (Two stroke tourer). I saw my first Yamaha around 1957 when they started bringing them in.  

Around 1945-46, Harley gave the tooling for the 45" Harley WLA to Japan so that they could start up building motorcycles. Soon thereafter, the Japanese begain producing the 750cc Rikuo, basically a metric Harley 45". They used most of them for traffic control as police bikes.

So the Japanese parts began coming in by the 1960's for sure. When I was a kid, buying HD parts with my allowance (LOL) I never saw anything but genuine Made in USA parts. The early Shovelheads began to sport Showa forks and shocks and some Mitsubishi electricals AFAIK. Oh yeah, don't forget Keihin carbs......

[truckerdave10]

The first parts would have been the showa forks. I'm thinking 1973 when they went to larger diameter forks on sportsters and FX's.

[Dennis The Menace]

I would bet that there was some foreign part on a HD before 1950.  Maybe nuts, bolts, some rubber or plastic or even a metal part of some sort.  Agree that major parts were likely all USA made, but I would not be at all surprised to fnd some washers, or nuts made outside the US on a HD model prior to 1950.

menace

[Princess Butt]

After WWII, most of the industrialized countries were still devastated from the war. The US was the only country which didn't take it in the factories, so we were able to shift over to civilian production almost immediately. At least for a while after WWII, everything on the HD's was made here.

Harley got the rights to produce an American version of the German DKW two stroke, it was built and sold here as the Harley Hummer 125. When HD bought Aeromacchi in the early 1960's, I suspect that was the writing on the wall for the future of American industry. They couldn't make the small bikes profitably in their own factory, so they switched to making them in Italy.

I think the first parts used on Sportsters / Big Twins was the Showa forks and Keihin carburetors. That would have been the early 1970's.

BnEUC

[crazybastid83]

I was riding Harleys in the mid-1950's and there were no Japanese parts at that time since there was no Japanese motorcycle industry of any note. Honda was just getting started and they had not yet recovered from WWII. This all changed by 1960 with the Honda invasion. Honda brought out the Benlys, Dreams, Hawks, Super Hawks and later the CB 750 and at that point Japanese parts began coming in from many sources. Kawasaki began to be a major force at that time, as well and don't forget the Suzuki "Water Buffalo" (Two stroke tourer). I saw my first Yamaha around 1957 when they started bringing them in.  

Around 1945-46, Harley gave the tooling for the 45" Harley WLA to Japan so that they could start up building motorcycles. Soon thereafter, the Japanese begain producing the 750cc Rikuo, basically a metric Harley 45". They used most of them for traffic control as police bikes.

So the Japanese parts began coming in by the 1960's for sure. When I was a kid, buying HD parts with my allowance (LOL) I never saw anything but genuine Made in USA parts. The early Shovelheads began to sport Showa forks and shocks and some Mitsubishi electricals AFAIK. Oh yeah, don't forget Keihin carbs......

HD sold Harley blueprints to the Japs in the 1930's. It didn't happen in 45/46. After the nuclear boms were dropped, we occupied Japan, the servicemen were shocked to see "Harley's" in Japan. Most people did not know the Japs had permission from Harley to use their designs. Rikuo means "Road King" in English.

[CraigArizona85248]

Interesting write-up about Rikuo here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikuo_Motorcycle

[codyshop]

Unless Canada is excluded, the JD had foreign parts.  Ray

[Sonny S.]

Interesting write-up about Rikuo here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikuo_Motorcycle

I never knew

[kickstart]

/quote]

HD sold Harley blueprints to the Japs in the 1930's. It didn't happen in 45/46. After the nuclear boms were dropped, we occupied Japan, the servicemen were shocked to see "Harley's" in Japan. Most people did not know the Japs had permission from Harley to use their designs. Rikuo means "Road King" in English.

So as far as trivia goes
The first year of the Road King ?  is not 1994.

[Dennis The Menace]

"After WWII, most of the industrialized countries were still devastated from the war. The US was the only country which didn't take it in the factories, so we were able to shift over to civilian production almost immediately"

True, however, the US spent/invested heavily to rebuild not only Japan, but also parts of Europe, especially Germany.  This began nearly immediately following the war.  As a part of this effort, the US imported a lot of parts and manufactured items from Japan and Europe beginning in 1946.  There may not be many companies that have disclosed it, but there were a lot of imported parts used in US manufactured products.

So, it would stand to reason that if most American manufacturers were using some imported parts by 1950, I suspect MoCo did as well.  Even it was only a nut, bolt, clamp or some other small part(s).

As MoCo outsourced some of their parts, like maybe washers, nuts or bolts, they may not even realize some of those parts were made overseas.  So, its likely they would only be able to determine major components that were foreign made--like the Showa or Keihin parts.

menace