Harley Davidson Motorcycles Vl And Sidecar 1930
Introduced for the 1930 model year, the Harley Davidson V series was the first of the Big Twins to have side valve engines.
In 1929 the company brought out the brand new 45ci sidevalve motorcycle. Everything about the bike was new; virtually nothing was shared with the old JD models. The new V models were lower thanks to new frames and the engines were very tractable. That new tractable power delivery engine design however brought complaints from new owners, and that was simply that the bikes lacked spunk. There were additional reliability problems that actually halted production after only 6 weeks. The major issue was the original installation of light flywheels to help perk up the engine performance (which subsequently failed to do so) resulting in a change being made to larger flywheels requiring larger crankcases which the company was able to retrofit. Larger crankcases however also required new frames. While Harley-Davidson salvaged its reputation during the recall, dealers had to absorb the labour costs for the refits.
The new Harley was an attractive and handsome motorcycle, low and stylish with its traditional livery of olive green with vermillion striping. The 74ci came in 4 variants, two were lower compression engines destined for sidecar and commercial work. Another, the VL which had high compression and Dow metal pistons, was considered the Sport Solo version.
This motorcycle is the VL, which differed by having a medium compression engine but was still considered a solo machine as well as a sidecar outfit (it originally sold for $340 as a solo machine).
William Pyle of Tuscon, Arizona found this Harley-Davidson in Chile safely tucked away in a garage and completely intact. Once back in the US an exhaustive restoration was undertaken in 1995.
Santa Cruz Harley-Davidson acquired the bike in 1996 where it was on display until it joined the collection in 2008. It came with full receipts for all the restoration work.