Harley-Davidson is a brand steeped in history and the families of the original founders still play an important part.
Bill Davidson is the great grandson of the legendary Willie A Davidson, and at every stop along our ride there was one constant – Bill was mobbed by the crowd.
Autographs, selfies, ‘quick’ chats … everyone was eager to celebrate their own little piece of the 100 years of Harley-Davidson in Australia. With all of them, Bill was more than happy to give his time, making sure every person he saw had a good memory of the day. In the weeks after the event, I lost count of the number of people who mentioned this.
He even made me feel special!
Bill, do you ever get tired of talking about Harley-Davidson and your family?
I love talking about the family history and the background. It’s very colourful and spans nearly 115 years. Going all the way back to the very beginnings, my great grandfather William A, my great uncles Arthur and Walter – those three were brothers – and then their good friend Bill Harley, they started producing motorcycles in 1903. They rolled the first bike out of a shed in Wisconsin and we still have that bike.
It’s an amazing history, and what’s really neat about our brand and its iconic nature is we have loyal riders all over the world, they love our history. But we also have a lot of people who don’t ride but follow Harley-Davidson because of the storied nature of our history. They love the challenges we faced and how we were able to manage through some of that stuff.
What was it like growing up in one of the world’s most famous motorcycling families?
My childhood was really normal. When I was growing up, Harley-Davidson as a brand was a little bit different. It wasn’t as recognised, or iconic, as it is now. I mean, people knew of Harley, but in the last several years it has really become a name that people resonate with whether they’re riders or not.
My parents also, I was very blessed. Willie and Nancy, my mum and dad, they raised us in a way where we were kids. We went swimming, we went camping, we rode dirtbikes, we did all kinds of neat things. Dad obviously worked for Harley and I remember riding in his sidecar down to the office many times, but I guess I didn’t really put the family business and Harley in the same sentence until I was probably 13 or 14 years old. Then I really started to hone in on what it meant, and it intrigued me. At family gatherings with my grandfather, who had been president of the company from 1942 to 1972, and my dad, my uncle John – their discussions about the business were always intriguing to me. I started to grow a love for wanting to be a part of it and get into the company.
Was it assumed you would go into the family business?
My parents always told us, follow your dreams. You don’t need to work at Harley.
My dream was to work at Harley. I love riding, I started when I was six and I raced a Harley 250 motocrosser for four or five years. To this day, every day is a dream come true for me.
What do you get into outside of Harley-Davidson?
Well … the MotoGP guys are my heroes, as are the American flat-track guys. American flat track is absolutely an amazing sport. What’s great now in the US is that it’s really growing. There is keen interest around the world, and it’s really neat to see some of the MotoGP guys dabbling in it a little!
Is it true there will be 100 new H-D models in 10 years?
Well, I can’t tell any deep secrets, but I will tell you that as a company we have been putting a lot of effort into the efficiency and effectiveness of our product development machine, and how we do that. Getting customer input so that we know we have the right focus on these motorcycles when we put them into the marketplace. People are gonna be thrilled with these products because we are answering their desires.
Do you feel a responsibility to continue the H-D legacy?
Absolutely. The company has that responsibility. We all, and it’s the whole team at Harley, we all have to respect the iconic nature of the brand and we have to preserve its soul in everything we do. Customer service, customer experiences, motorcycle product design, our dealer network … all of those things, they are all critical to keeping Harley-Davidson on that pedestal.
