“Harley-Davidson wasn’t founded as a motorcycle company. It is a motor company. The name is Harley-Davidson Motor Company,” says Aaron Frank, brand director for the new Serial 1, an electric bicycle company powered by Harley-Davidson.
“The oldest artifact in the Harley-Davidson Museum is a drawing from 1901, and it’s a bicycle motor,” Frank says. “The founders were mobility pioneers. It just so happened that in 1903 the cutting edge of personal mobility was the motorcycle.”
What started at the Harley-Davidson Product Development Center has morphed into Serial 1. The company, largely made up of previous Harley-Davidson employees, has made the big relocation to, well, Harley’s backyard.
“We’ve relocated to the old oil pump house at Harley-Davidson Headquarters in Milwaukee, referred to as ‘the shed,’” Aaron says.
Select Harley-Davidson dealers will stock the new electric bicycle, but they will largely be available direct to consumer from Serial 1’s eCommerce website. Coming Spring 2021.
A version of this article originally appeared in Sixtysix Issue 05 with the headline “eBicycle Prototype Designed by Serial 1 in Milwaukee.” Subscribe today.
