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Flathead motorcycles are a type of bike that was a standard for pre-war motorcycles, in particular US V-twins such as Harley-Davidson and Indian, some British singles, BMW flat twins and Russian copies thereof. [1] Flathead motorcycles have side-valves contained within the engine block, instead of in the cylinder head, as in an overhead valve ...
33.4 cu in (548 cc) flathead flat-twin: 1919–1923 First of two H-D flat-twin motorcycle designs put into production, first H-D flathead motorcycle. The fork was a trailing link design. D-series (45 solo) 45.1 cu in (739 cc) flathead: 1929–1932 First H-D 45 cubic inch motorcycle, first H-D flathead V-twin motorcycle.
The Model W engine was Harley-Davidson's first flathead engine, [7] and its transmission was the first in a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to be housed in the engine cases. [ 6 ] [ 8 ] The transmission included helical gear drive, a wet clutch, and a three-speed gearbox. [ 8 ]
The Harley-Davidson RL 45 is a model of the R-series range produced from 1932 to 1936, preceded by the DL range (1929–1931), which was Harley-Davidson's first 45 cubic-inch and first flathead V-twin motorcycle, and succeeded in 1937 by the WL. The R-series range included 45-solo, R, RL and RLD models.
Charles Gustafson left Reading Standard in 1909 and joined Indian as Oscar Hedstrom's assistant. [5] [6] Gustafson had designed side valve "flathead" engines for Reading Standard, which had been the first motorcycle manufacturer in the United States to use a flathead engine in a production motorcycle. [5]
The Servi-Car used variations of Harley-Davidson's 45 cubic inch flathead. From 1932 to 36, the Servi-Car used the engine from the solo R model. [1] It was changed in 1937 to the engine used in the W model, which differed mainly in having a recirculating oil system instead of the constant-loss system of the R. [2] [7] The "W" flathead engine continued until the end of production in 1973 ...
The company's founders started making smaller flathead motorcycle engines individually by hand and fitted to bicycles in the 10 ft x 15 ft wooden barn in Milwaukee that was the Harley-Davidson workshop of the time, prior to that in 1901.
The flathead Harley-Davidson KR series had dominated Class C racing, but by the late 1960s BSA, Norton and Triumph had little market for 500 cc OHV motorcycles, and there was increasing pressure for a single displacement, without reference to valve configuration. [8]