HD Motorcyke

[Goldenindian]

Thanks for sharing the pictures of that beautiful HD!! Glad it got out to see the light of day. The heavy duty fork is a special bit on that machine, not to many Harley’s have the heavy duty fork. Which also points to an earlier model like 1918. Would love to see more pictures....please add to the https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/show-your-davis-built-bicycles.20560/page-36#post-1026433 thread when you get a chance. Thanks for sharing with the cabe community.

 

[redline1968]

Wow nice.. those repairs are knarly I’d leave it alone. Repairs might not be a possibility but who knows...

 

[New Mexico Brant]

Thanks for the pictures and scans of the manual. Will be helpful n deciding how to approach this and what to do.

It is your bicycle and you can do with it what you wish but please don't restore/repaint it! Even with the fug'ly frame repairs, overall the bicycle still retains much of the original paint which makes it very valuable. If you have those frame breaks repaired and then completely repaint the bike it'll be worth only a fraction of what it would sell for as it now sits. The best solution would be to have someone experience with period bicycles repair the frame areas and have a paint conservation person in-paint the affected areas to match the original paint.
Another option would be to keep this as a show piece and built a tribute Harley to ride in honor of your grandfather.

 

[Canuck]

We have a shop up here in Ottawa that specializes in retro rides. I have heard a lot of good things about them so I may stop in and have a chat with them. However I suspect this is a little more retro than they are used to.

I don’t want to repaint. I want it to stay looking how it does. I would be curious if that repair could be undone, and then Redone properly, with only the repaired area subject to paint.

 

[ThegoodThebad&Therusty]

Awesome bike !

PS, it can be redone !

 

[Freqman1]

We have a shop up here in Ottawa that specializes in retro rides. I have heard a lot of good things about them so I may stop in and have a chat with them. However I suspect this is a little more retro than they are used to.

I don’t want to repaint. I want it to stay looking how it does. I would be curious if that repair could be undone, and then Redone properly, with only the repaired area subject to paint.

It can but needs to be someone that specializes in this kind of work. It probably won't be cheap but then again a machine like this only deserves the best. I would ask for references and examples of past work because if someone screws this up there is no going back. Congrats on a fantastic piece of history. V/r Shawn

 

[redline1968]

Might as well restore it ....it will never be the same after you try to fix it...value will always be at a “ repaired restored bike” mind set...

 

[ThegoodThebad&Therusty]

Question for the experts. This Harley looks exactly like the same frame and forks as my 1918 Elgin -

I was led to believe my Elgin was an Excelsior built bike so the question I have is did Harley build bikes from Excelsior sourced frames ?

 

[stoney]

Thanks for the pics and GREAT find, congrats. Don't think of those repairs as bad or crap repairs. Think of them as good repairs, that someone way back when thought enough of the bike to do the repairs and save it. Rather than to the trash pile with it. I would leave them, as many say, they are part of the bikes history. If that were mine I would not be selling it and I pretty sell anything. Again, congratulations.

 

[Goldenindian]

Question for the experts. This Harley looks exactly like the same frame and forks as my 1918 Elgin -

View attachment 1025986
View attachment 1025983

I was led to believe my Elgin was an Excelsior built bike so the question I have is did Harley build bikes from Excelsior sourced frames ?

Tho small...there is one difference that never crosses manufactures. The Michigan city (excelsior) built bicycles have a “volcano” joint.. the bar comes out of a hole. NO Davis built bicycle has this feature. The Davis has a “fish mouth” joint. Tho the “tank space” is visionally the same the frame are not(in construction)
Michigan city

Davis