What's a Harly Anyhow?

Okay, so you’re looking to buy a genuine Harley Davidson motorcycle. During your search if you come across a beautiful bike that has “Harly” painted on the side; save yourself some grief and pass on buying that bike. No matter how good it looks or how good the deal; you will not be buying a Harley Davidson. Only genuine Harley’s can use the trade name “Harley Davidson”. Did you notice the difference? Once is spelled Harly (no e) and the other is the trade name Harley.  

A little background is in order here as well. The Harley-Davidson Motor Company was established in the state of Wisconsin in 1903 in the town of Milwaukee. There were multiple founders: William Harley, Author Davidson, William Davidson and Walter Davidson. In this case the three guys named Davidson were brothers and William Harley was a good friend of Arthur. They decided to name the company Harley-Davidson, with the hyphen. They figured with the hyphen between the two names there would be no confusion about the fact that Harley-Davidson wasn’t the name of one person but that the company was founded by multiple folks. There is some speculation as to why Harley came first since there was only one of him and three Davidson’s. The most common explanation is that Harley just sounded better coming first. At any rate the name stuck and today you can search for Harley Davidson (without the hyphen) on the web and find what you’re looking for.  

Now if you search for Harly on the internet you’re going to get results there too. Although, last we tried this with Google it asked us, “Did you mean: harley?” And of course we actually did; nonetheless, Harly got some hits too; why is that? Well this can be due to typos on web pages or the work by some sneaky web designers who are trying to get you to come to their website to get you to click on their ads. Whatever the reason, most of the sites you’ll find under the search term ‘harley’ are legit. You shouldn’t be afraid to order from them (if they have genuine Harley-Davidson products) or to follow their advice. Keep in mind though that any products they do sell you should be branded ‘Harley-Davidson’ and not Harly. If they say Harly on them they are probably cheap knockoffs. Play it safe and don’t waste your money. 

You don’t need to look too hard to find legitimate Harley-Davidson retailers through the US, UK, Australia and Europe. You’ll find that these retailers are full service, selling not just motorcycles but also a complete line of Harley-Davidson clothing, parts and accessories. In 1904 the very first authorized Harley-Davidson dealer opened for business in Chicago. This retailer, C.H. Lang sold one of the first three production Harley-Davidson motorcycles. A little genuine Harley-Davidson history for you… 

It probably goes without saying but everything we’ve said about steering clear of Harly motorcycles, and accessories goes double when it comes to parts stamped ‘Harly’. Unless the guy selling the parts is named ‘Harly’ and he’s simply selling parts to you under his name (which is highly unlikely) these parts are probably knockoff’s too and not worth your time or your money.  

The bottom line to all of this is that there is only one genuine “Harley-Davidson” if you come across a bike, accessories, clothing or parts marked “Harly” stay clear, you’ll be glad you did.