# 1918 Harley Davis-son



## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

I was lucky enough to pick up this spray bombed bicycle with a Harley Davidson chainring on it this past week. It's really been fun playing Dick Tracy, trying to uncover what story the old bike can tell me. So far I know that the HD chainring is legit and that the frame is a 1918 Davis built frame. Since it doesn't have a headbadge, I am still trying to determine if the frame and ring go together. A lot of the parts are from the correct period, so we'll see. While I have not found any conclusive proof that this is a Harley frame, I have also not found anything to disprove it either. Who knows?  It's a very cool period bike either way.

I also want to thank Patric (hoofhearted) a lot. After reading through the Show me your Davis Bikes thread I contacted him directly as a sounding board for looking over what I had found.  I am still amazed at the wealth of knowledge that he has on these bike and that everyone has contributed to that thread.

Without further adieu, here is my 1918 Harley Davis-son as it looked when I bought it. (wrong bars, pedals and wheels, the rest to be determined)


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## THE STIG (Mar 3, 2014)

are the teeth beveled on the chainring ?


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## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

Experimented last week with different methods to remove the spray paint and keep the layer(s) underneath. The one that ended up working the best was Goof Off, rags, fingernails and rubbing.

While researching here, I saw that there are supposedly some knockoff chainrings out there are cut rather than stamped out. One of the telltale signs of a true HD ring is the chamfered/beveled edge on the inside if the ring below the teeth, which I was glad to see that mine has.






I started on the BB to try and find some color. The bottom layer does have a drab greenish look that could possibly be HD green, but I can't find this color elsewhere on the frame. But with the bike being 96 years old it could have had a repaint (or two). Who knows.









Here is what it looked like Saturday after I finished with the top tube and down tube. Mostly a black hardcoat and a lot of bare metal too. Some indications of a blueish-green color like tarnished copper too that is under some of the black.








After this I removed the ring and took a wire wheel to the face of it.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

THE STIG said:


> are the teeth beveled on the chainring ?




Yes, the teeth are beveled and the inside ring is beveled too.
More pics to come on the chainring.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

Continued with the spray paint removal on Sunday.
On the seat tube, there was no indication or ghost of the typical Davis Made decal on the black. (Another possible?? indicator that the black is a repaint).




No headbadge ghosting either on the black. That round hole is a broken off bottle cap type headbadge holder that is typical of Davis bikes.  Other evidence that the black is a repaint is the painted bearing cups and the paint run blob.




Here is what she looked like after I finished the spray paint removal on Sunday.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

Here is some of that blueish-green paint. It's a layer below the black




And some red on top of the blue green. Also the drab green bb color.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

I just love this chainring!!!!!


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## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

Here is the fork which I completely forgot to remove any spray paint from.
 Davis and age appropriate.










It has a backwards/upside down D stamped on the steer tube.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

The seat an fenders should arrive tomorrow!


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## kingfish254 (Mar 3, 2014)

Here is the serial number 
D above 657220


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## redline1968 (Mar 4, 2014)

Like the project. Very interesting color looks like a Meade color.  It's a Dayton made Dayton.  Dayton badges have a bottle cap on back that fits the hole in your frame. Harley badges are screwed in place.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 4, 2014)

redline1968 said:


> Like the project. Very interesting color looks like a Meade color.  It's a Dayton made Dayton.  Dayton badges have a bottle cap on back that fits the hole in your frame. Harley badges are screwed in place.




Thanks RL, I thought Davis built Daytons?  I knew about the Dayton bottle cap badges and for some reason I thought that I saw some HD bottle cap ones, but I must have been dreaming.  Guess I should change the name to Harley Dayton-son?  Do you know if Daytons had the same Davis fork that I have as an option?


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## Balloontyre (Mar 4, 2014)

kingfish254 said:


> for some reason I thought that I saw some HD bottle cap ones, but I must have been dreaming.



Your not dreaming


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## kingfish254 (Mar 4, 2014)

redline1968 said:


> Like the project. Very interesting color looks like a Meade color.  It's a Dayton made Dayton.  Dayton badges have a bottle cap on back that fits the hole in your frame. Harley badges are screwed in place.




If it was a Dayton, wouldn't it have the upper seat stays pinched in?


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## kingfish254 (Mar 4, 2014)

Balloontyre said:


> Your not dreaming




Thanks BT, do you know what years they had those?


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## chitown (Mar 4, 2014)

Davis built Yale's had the bottle cap badge I think and they did come blue. That fork was offered for some Yale's and other Davis built machines. The "D" stamp on the fork would seem to indicate it's original to that Davis built frame. The seat stays are consistent with other Dayton bikes.

Great little piece of history you have there. Now if it only had that badge before some headhunter/badgehunter got to it and tomahawk chopped it off of there.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 4, 2014)

I appreciate everyone's info, input, and opinions on this bike. The detective work is half the fun. Now that I know the black isn't the original paint, I think my next step will be to remove that layer of paint and see if any more of the story unfolds.  I am still trying to study up on the Davis bike thread.  I am pretty confident that this is a Davis made frame. Don't know if we will ever know for sure what badge it had on it originally. 
Please keep the comments coming!!!!!


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## kingfish254 (Mar 7, 2014)

*Fenders*

The fenders and Troxel saddle arrived this week. I was very pleased to measure the sidewalls of the fenders and confirm that they are correct Davis fenders as well. I also confirmed that the front fender attachment is correct as well as the drop stand clip that is supposed to be fairly hard to find. It should have flat fender braces and half of the rear braces are flat. The other one must have been replaced at sometime. The front fender brace came with the frame and I believe that it is a flat one.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 7, 2014)

*Troxel Saddle*

I love the Troxel saddle. It's amazing that this is 96 years old!!!! There is a rip on the rear right, but otherwise the seat is in great shape. I also dig the little cheap "9-9" lock that is on the spring too.


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## kingfish254 (Mar 9, 2014)

Found this neat Harley bike ad from 1919.


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## nj_shore (Mar 20, 2014)

Good looking bike, I will be keeping an eye on the restore.  
I picked up an old dayton not too long ago... Similar seat, which are great.  Yours has seen better times.

Any chance you know if your 1918 was made with wooden wheels?  I think mine is a 1906-1912 Dayton w/woods


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## kingfish254 (Mar 20, 2014)

I like your Dayton. You should post it over on the Davis thread.
http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?20560-Show-your-Davis-built-bicycles


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## kingfish254 (Mar 20, 2014)

I still plan to carefully remove layers of paint on the forks and fenders and frame, but it is looking like this was not a Davis Framed Harley originally. It is a 1918 Davis frame and would be a proper frame to build a Harley with, but the "tells" that indicate it was not originally a Harley are
1.Fork - A 1918 HD would have had a triple clad fork rather than the Davis honeycomb fork
2.Headbadge hole/holes - While there were later HD bottle cap badges the ones in 1918 would have been attached with screws.
While I can find an olive drab paint on the BB, I haven't found it anywhere else. There was another 1918 Davis frame that would have shared this color and had these forks and bottle cap badge. That was a National. So more than likely I have a 1918 National (made by Davis) with a HD chainring. I am disappointed, but not completely surprised. It's still a wicked cool bike.

 My Plans:
 Remove the paint layers to see if it uncovers any more of the story of the bike.
 Since there is not really any original paint other than the BB, my idea is to bring it down to bare metal, then paint or decal a HD badge, and add the typical HD boxed in pinstriping to the bare metal and end up with a bare metal Harley-esque tribute bike.

 EDIT: I can't pretend that I found this information on my own. I reached out to the Davis expert here on the CABE, Hoofhearted. Patric has been a wealth of knowledge as well as the huge Davis thread. THANK PATRIC!


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## hoofhearted (Mar 21, 2014)

kingfish254 said:


> EDIT: I can't pretend that I found this information on my own. I reached out to the Davis expert here on the CABE, Hoofhearted. Patric has been a wealth of knowledge as well as the huge Davis thread.





BRIAN (kingfish254) ... please don't think of me as 'the Davis expert here on the CABE' ... i'm only a Davis ''enthusiast" ... still burdened 
by the weight of those things that I don't know .. or understand.  Am happy i am able to be of some help to you.

.......  patric


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## kingfish254 (Mar 21, 2014)

hoofhearted said:


> BRIAN (kingfish254) ... please don't think of me as 'the Davis expert here on the CABE' ... i'm only a Davis ''enthusiast" ... still burdened
> by the weight of those things that I don't know .. or understand.  Am happy i am able to be of some help to you.
> 
> .......  patric
> ...




Patric, relative to my knowledge, you are at an expert level, but I can appreciate the Davis Enthusiast moniker.  I truly appreciate the manner in which you show your "enthusiasm" by not just giving me raw information, but by pointing out items to concentrate on or places to research for more info. (the old give the man a fish or fishing pole analogy).  Thanks once again Mr. Myagi!!!!!


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## hoofhearted (Mar 21, 2014)

kingfish254 said:


> Patric, relative to my knowledge, you are at an expert level, but I can appreciate the Davis Enthusiast moniker.  I truly appreciate the manner in which you show your "enthusiasm" by not just giving me raw information, but by pointing out items to concentrate on or places to research for more info. (the old give the man a fish or fishing pole analogy).  Thanks once again Mr. Myagi!!!!!





*Well .. BRIAN ... you are very welcome !!!*

......  patric


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