Greatest Harley-Davidson Men’s Exclusively Premier Smart …, George Town

THE INITIAL SPARK: HOW DID HARLEY-DAVIDSON START?
In the 1890s, two young men became fast friends. They shared an interest in mechanics and design, but they could have had no idea where their shared interests would take them.
By the turn of the century, one had already gained experience working in a bicycle factory, the other as a draftsman. But in 1901, it wasn’t their work that proved the initial spark for a world-changing innovation—it was a bit of entertainment.
Heading to a vaudeville show, these two men went to see the well-known performer Anna Held, who put on a characteristically bawdy production. But of all the fanfare they saw on stage that night there was one particular prop that captured their attention: Held had, the story goes, ridden on a sort of three-wheeler, propelled across the stage by a single-cylinder engine. Unbeknownst to the stage heroine, that short ride across the stage would effectively spark a revolution in automobile and manufacturing history.