Some of you may of heard of this attempt by Harley to produce a shaft driven motorcycle based on the BMW R71 during WWII. The opening shot of one jumping a sand dune must have never been set to the Army, because that has me sold on the XA... The Harley-Davidson XA
If you ever have a chance, check out the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley. They have a number of them on display that still run. Awesome collection of rare American made motorcycles and memorabilia. http://www.wheelsthroughtime.com/
I've been to Wheels Through Time quite a few times, it's only about four hours away from my house. Great place to go.
If you had a couple of those stashed in the back shed, you wouldn't need to win the lottery! They make most "rare" bikes look common by comparison.
Harley's submission to the desert warfare campaign. Horizontal twin for superior cooling. Shaft drive for sandy environments. No idea why it didn't catch on other than the war was coming to an end.
I can use one word to say why: Jeep. Anybody who could drive a car could operate one without special training.
They only made 1100 of 'em. The Army paid close to $30M to develop it. The average cost/ bike was like $30K each. Jeeps were less expensive... In color from Motorcyclepedia...
Makes it easier to find neutral. The early BMWs also had them. All Harley did was copy the BMW engine.
...so shoot me now, or shoot me later..... I read the title and thought of this pic that I found and put in my WTF files... :eek1
Yep the Jeep killed this, and the Indian 741 and the HD WLA, plus horses, carts, bicycles, pretty much anything that moved men or equipment. I wonder if the throttle was on the left.
