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The intro on the Harley-Davidson Web site proclaims that 'it is a way of life'. But that is hardly what its makers -- 19-year-old William S Harley and 18-year-old Arthur Davidson -- would have thought of when, in 1901, they first started tinkering in a tiny 10' x 15' wooden shed in Milwaukee.
1903: Their first bike, a racer, rolled out. Henry Meyer, a friend of the company founders, bought one of the 1903 models from them. In the same year the first Harley-Davidson dealer, CH Lang of Chicago, opened.
By 1907 William, brother to Arthur and Walter Davidson, also joined the firm and the company was incorporated.
The famous V-twin engine in a forty-five degree configuration was introduced two years later.