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00:0050 million are sold every year creating a 10 billion dollar industry in the US alone
00:09and feeding a primal need for speed and power but at the onset of the 20th century it's a
00:21crazy and dangerous idea yes there's danger if you want the fun if you want the freedom you're
00:29gonna have to exchange a little bit of risk but two rival upstarts see a chance to dominate the
00:35market I'm Harley I'm Davidson the stakes couldn't be higher everything was on the line and they knew
00:44that this was going to make or break them from their early setbacks we bit off more than we
00:53can chew and crucial breakthroughs they'll push each other to the brink it was horrendously
01:01dangerous and the motorcycles will start to break apart and kill not only the motorcyclists but
01:05also the people in the stands it's crazy but only one will reign supreme these motorcycles did truly
01:13help build America this is Motorcycle Keynes
01:43it's 1908 and 63 riders are in a grueling 350 mile two-day race from the Catskill mountains to New York
02:05City riding a new invention called the motorcycle these primitive machines are more like glorified
02:12bicycles with pedals chains and no front brakes there are entrants from dozens of companies all eager to
02:20prove they're the best in this new untested industry but most don't stand a chance the real contest is a David
02:31and Goliath battle between Indian the most popular motorcycle company in the country and a plucky
02:37Midwestern upstart called Harley Davidson the outcome will have a major impact on which companies will survive
02:44if the race doesn't kill them first
02:48in the decades following the Civil War major innovations in transportation are allowing people
03:04to travel further from home society is changing people they know they can get on a train and go three
03:13states away in an afternoon they know they can get on a trolley car in a city and get to the other side
03:19of town easily but they want more they want more mobility cars don't yet exist and horses are expensive to
03:27maintain people are desperate for a personal form of transportation and they become obsessed with the
03:34the latest French import the bicycle at the turn of the century the bicycle was democratizing access to
03:43transportation it allows for Americans to be able to have freedom of movement at a relatively affordable cost
03:49as bicycles become stronger faster and better built bicycle racing becomes one of the most popular spectator sports in the country
04:04racing fuels a massive boom in sales and by the early 1890s there are 10 million bicycles on the road and
04:11there are 10 million bicycles on the road and innovators are looking to get rich on the multi-million dollar industry
04:24in Springfield Massachusetts one of the country's most successful racers has just decided to retire and risk his reputation and winnings
04:31looks good by opening his own manufacturing company his name is George Hendy
04:38How are you?
04:40Hendy was kind of Lance Armstrong of his day so he had kind of that name recognition when he started to build his business
04:47George Hendy entered 300 bicycle races and won all but five how is that even possible?
04:53you enter 300 events of any type and you win them all but five that says something about you
04:59I mean his record was just tremendous he blew everybody away
05:03he was driven to design great bicycles and market them
05:12One day Hendy's bicycle company will lead to one of the best selling motorcycles in the world
05:16set a land speed record of 200 miles per hour and become part of a global powerhouse worth over 7 billion dollars
05:27but in 1898
05:29Hendy is just making bicycles
05:31and he tries to capitalize on America's love of the wild west by naming his new model the Indian
05:38By the beginning of the 20th century people could imagine boy I would like to have the freedom of the Indian on his pony
05:49a Comanche or a Lakota racing across the plains that image was very appealing
05:55Thanks to his fame and master marketing Hendy's business is booming selling 4,000 bikes a year
06:02A thousand miles to the west two best friends are trying to earn a living working in a bike factory
06:22You fixed it
06:23Yeah it was easy your front wheel was just bent out of shape
06:27Hey you ready to go? Walter finally told me where his secret fishing hole is
06:31I have to finish up here
06:34Billy
06:35I'll see you outside in 15 minutes
06:40One day their names will be the best known motorcycle brand on the planet
06:45They are William Harley and Arthur Davidson
06:52Bill Harley was a tinkerer
06:54I mean that was his thing
06:56And it's a little surprise that the motorcycle company that would ultimately bear his name
07:00He would become the chief engineer there
07:03Arthur Davidson was an extrovert
07:06Very personable and genuinely liked people
07:09Certainly in the friendship between him and William Harley he was the extrovert
07:13They love their jobs but a decade after the market takes off
07:17The bicycle business collapses when consumers get frustrated with the bike's limitations
07:22Have you ever ridden a bike on a dirt road?
07:25It's not pretty if you don't know what you're doing
07:28The roads would have been rutted filled with dirt and mud depending on the time of the year
07:32So at the turn of the century bicycle market crashes
07:36And bicycle sales drop 70% in that time
07:43One day the two friends stumble upon a demonstration that stops them in their tracks
07:49Gather round ladies and gentlemen
07:52The motorcycle
07:54The most important invention
07:56Since the locomotive
07:58Since the locomotive
07:59At the turn of the century the combustion engine is being attached to a variety of devices
08:05Boats, carriages, and the bicycle also proves to be an ideal candidate
08:10With the promise of speeding up transportation as well
08:17The machine is unwieldy and barely functional
08:20But for a young William Harley and Arthur Davidson it's a revelation
08:41They decide to go all in on building their own motorcycle
08:45But they'll need to figure out how to make it work
08:50By 1900 George Hendy's bicycle business is on the ropes
08:59He also sees the motorcycle as a possible lifeline
09:02But there's a problem
09:04He doesn't know the first thing about building one
09:06He heads to his favorite racetrack
09:20Looking for a solution
09:22Now George Hendy had been on this bicycle racing circuit for years
09:27He knew the engineers, he knew all of the community
09:28So it comes to reason that he would reach out to some of these people
09:34When he started thinking about putting a motor on one of these bicycles
09:38Mr. Hedstrom
09:44Mr. Hendy
09:46Were you at the race today?
09:48I was
09:51That is quite a machine
09:53Oscar Hedstrom
09:55He was a Swedish immigrant and a very brilliant engineer
10:01He developed this motorized pacing bicycle to pace the bicycle races
10:06The pacing vehicle leads the bikes around the track to set a speed for the bicycles to run
10:13And Hendy saw the potential in Hedstrom's brilliance in his design
10:20I'm sure if we partnered up
10:22We could build a motorcycle that everyone would want to own
10:26Hedstrom knows that partnering with a man of Hendy's stature
10:30Is a once in a lifetime opportunity
10:33Sounds great
10:34Hendy becomes the business side of this new enterprise and he knew his way around bikes
10:46He also knew what it took to please a crowd
10:49Whereas Hedstrom is very much the tinkerer
10:53He's the engineer
10:55He's the one making it happen
10:57The pair immediately begin designing their new motorcycle
11:00Which they name after Hendy's popular bicycle
11:02The Indian single
11:09Back in Milwaukee
11:11Obsessed with building a motorized bicycle
11:14Harley and Davidson spend their nights in a tiny shed
11:17Trying to put their first engine together
11:20But with no money
11:22They're forced to scavenge parts and tools wherever they can find them
11:25I think we bit off more than we can chew
11:35And there's another problem
11:38They don't have the technical know-how to actually build it
11:41Oscar Hedstrom does
11:46Oscar Hedstrom does
11:48But he's having trouble figuring out one major issue with the new Indian prototype
11:53The engine doesn't generate enough power
11:57Hendy and Hedstrom are at an impasse
11:59And if they can't solve the problem
12:03They fear someone else will
12:05Coming up
12:07Holy Moses
12:09They're getting beat up each and every day
12:10And they just keep going after it
12:16If they won
12:18This would be a game changer for their brand
12:20There were really two kings in town now
12:23It's 1901 and Oscar Hedstrom is desperate to find a way to increase the Indian motorcycle's power
12:42Which will increase its speed
12:45The problem seems to be the carburetor
12:48And he's struggling to fix it
12:50The job of a carburetor is to take the air and the fuel
12:56And mix them properly as they go through the intake and into the engine
13:00That's what makes an engine run
13:01Then a possible solution strikes him in an unlikely place
13:32In the tank you have this float
13:35That when you flush it, it raises the float and lets water flow in
13:38But in the carburetor, it actually floats up, lets fuel go into the combustion chamber
13:43And boom, that's how you get the power
13:47Hedstrom devises a new intake system
13:50That allows the engine to be throttled back to a speed of just 4 miles per hour
13:55Or up to 30 miles per hour
13:57Three times faster than a bicycle
14:01By spring, the two men believe they are ready to introduce their new machine to the public
14:08A consummate showman, Hendy stages a dramatic reveal of the Indian single for the press and potential investors
14:16But the timing for drumming up new capital couldn't be worse
14:31The 1901 stock market crash is actually the first collapse of the New York Stock Exchange
14:36Investors become wary
14:38The centerpiece of the unveiling is a live demonstration
14:42It's a success, but the question is, will anyone invest?
14:43It's a success, but the question is, will anyone invest?
15:00Meanwhile, still struggling to get their motorcycle built, Harley and Davidson need a new approach
15:18I know what we can do
15:23I'm going to write to the best mechanic I've ever met
15:27Arthur writes a letter to his brother Walter, who was working in Parsons, Kansas
15:31for the Kansas-Texas Railroad
15:41Walter was a bit hoodwinked
15:42He was told that the motorcycle was nearly finished
15:44and they came to find out that it wasn't
15:46Oh, didn't I tell you?
15:48We just have to throw it all together and it's ready to roll
15:52It's ready to roll
15:54We?
15:55Well
15:57You
16:03But Walter is so convinced that they're on to something big
16:07He quits his job and becomes the third founding member of this new company they call
16:13Harley Davidson
16:16Almost immediately, it seems like he's made a big mistake
16:19It looked like Harley Davidson, even on the eve of its incorporation, was going to go out of business
16:25It wouldn't survive
16:26And so they sent a pleading letter to their uncle and said, could you see fit to maybe loan us some money?
16:40Back in Springfield, despite the stock market collapse, Hendy is able to line up new investors
16:45And later, he forms a board of directors to oversee the company and ramps up production at a state-of-the-art factory
16:56By the end of the year, he'll sell nearly 150 Indian motorcycles at a price of $250
17:04Nearly one-third of the average American's annual salary
17:08Motorcycles have started to catch on
17:12It provided transportation that people 10 years earlier could not have dreamed of
17:18It'd be like if we got a flying car today, like the Jetsons had
17:22They were exciting, they were dangerous, they were thrilling
17:26But they were also practical for a lot of people
17:29If you lived on a farm 10 miles outside of town, a motorcycle could get you into town in 20 minutes
17:34With the success of the Indian single, dozens of motorbike companies quickly form
17:40Thor, Merkel, and Excelsior
17:44And at Harley-Davidson, they're finally ready to test their first model
17:52Their machine is still crude, a small motor attached to an ordinary bicycle frame
17:57And it lacks the carburetor refinement that Headstrom developed for the Indian single
18:09But it works
18:13At least for a little while
18:15The test reveals its faults, their new machine needs better balance
18:26And since it has trouble making it uphill, a lot more power
18:34If they want to compete with Hendy, they'll need to do much better
18:38They'll need to do much better
18:39They'll need to compete with Hendy
18:42They'll need to do much more
18:55They'll need to go at the NHR
18:56So, what can we do next?
18:57By 1903, the first automobiles are rumbling down city streets.
19:13And in Milwaukee, William Harley and the Davidson brothers have cobbled together their version of a nimble alternative to the car, their first motorcycle.
19:22But to make it operational, they need a new idea.
19:30Invention isn't for the weak at heart. They're getting beat up each and every day and they just keep going after it.
19:43Holy Moses.
19:45Harley realizes that sitting the engine four to five inches closer to the ground could increase stability, so he tries a new design.
19:55You want everything to be low. You want your weight to be low on the bike. You want your center of gravity to be down low.
20:03If it works, this would also solve another problem.
20:07Their own frames allowed for larger engines, which allowed for much more displacement and much more power.
20:15the Harley Davidson model one to move.
20:17So.
20:18How.
20:19What's.
20:20What.
20:22What's.
20:22What.
20:23What.
20:24What's the.
20:25A.
20:26A.
20:27What.
20:28What.
20:29What.
20:30What.
20:31What.
20:32What.
20:33What.
20:34What.
20:35What.
20:36What.
20:37What.
20:39The Harley-Davidson Model 1 motorcycle is born.
20:51As 1903 draws to a close, they sell their first motorcycle for $200, the equivalent
20:57of about $6,000 today.
21:00In Harley's first production year, they only built three bikes, so these essentially are
21:04hand-built bikes, and it just climbs from that point onward.
21:08Harley and the Davidson brothers are convinced they can make a big splash in the motorcycle
21:12business.
21:13But will it be big enough to compete with Hendy and Hedstrom's Indian?
21:19The growing team moves its operation to a real factory.
21:25Arthur begins recruiting new Harley-Davidson dealers.
21:28Arthur Davidson wanted somebody with a passion and a knowledge for all things automotive,
21:34all things motion, and somebody with a proven track record in business.
21:38Within a year, Harley-Davidson motorcycles are on sale in cities around the country.
21:44And they're beginning to make a small dent in Indian's dominance.
21:59Harley Davidson.
22:00What do you make of it?
22:03I can't tell much from that picture, but I'm not worried.
22:17Hendy and Hedstrom know to stay on top, they must continue to innovate.
22:21That means upping the power.
22:23When you look at us as humans, at our core, we are competitive beings.
22:28And so that competitiveness definitely is a major driver for innovation throughout history.
22:35They think a revolutionary new engine developed in Europe may be the key.
22:40And they become the first American company to put it to use.
22:44It's called the V-twin engine.
22:48V-twins rock.
22:52V-twins are still used today and are my personal favorite.
22:57The early motorcycles, they were one cylinder.
23:00Now you've got two cylinders, and they're set up in a V formation.
23:04If one cylinder's good, two cylinders have got to be great.
23:08Double the power, nothing feels like a V-twin, nothing sounds like a V-twin.
23:13It's absolutely fantastic.
23:15The bike reaches a blistering 60 miles per hour, faster than any car, twice as fast as
23:21fledgling Harley-Davidson's Model 1.
23:24This is going to be an amazing paradigm shift, a change for people to think, wow, this is scary,
23:31it's an adrenaline rush, I want one of these.
23:35Next to the power of the V-twin, Indian is dominating the market, and Harley-Davidson
23:41needs a miracle to catch up.
23:49It's the first decade of the 20th century, and the country is at the height of a transportation
23:54revolution.
23:55Previously, people could only go as fast as the wind or their feet or maybe their horse
24:00would take them.
24:01Now, the fact that you could put an engine on almost anything meant Americans, in particular,
24:06had a whole lot of space that could cover a whole lot faster.
24:09And the red-hot motorcycle is at the forefront of innovations in speed and power.
24:16By 1907, Indian's show-stopping V-twin engine has raised the bar for the entire industry.
24:23Competition is generally just a good thing, it's a good thing for consumers, it tends
24:28to lower prices, it's also a good thing when it comes to innovation.
24:32Harley-Davidson knows they can't compete with Indian on speed.
24:45So they tackle another issue plaguing motorcycles of the day, the bone-jarring turbulence.
24:53I personally cannot imagine that it was a lot of fun riding first-generation motorcycles.
25:02It would have been driving 35, 40 miles an hour on a road that was inconsistent, that
25:08was unpredictable.
25:10After negotiating a rough patch of Wisconsin Road, Harley has a moment of clarity.
25:19He's not sure how he is going to fix the problem.
25:21It turns out, somebody already has.
25:25Harley is able to buy the parts he needs through another company, and integrates them into the
25:30frame to improve the motorcycle's suspension.
25:35So as you hit bumps, that front wheel would absorb some things a little bit, made it a little
25:39bit more comfortable for the rider, made it a little more stable and safer on the road
25:44as well.
25:47Look here.
25:51Catskills to New York City, endurance race.
26:00Biggest race of the year.
26:02All of New York press is going to be there.
26:06Since Harley had started out as trying to build a more rugged bike for everyone, it only made
26:14sense not to enter some speed trial, but instead they would enter it into an endurance race.
26:20Indian is sponsoring one of those riders.
26:22I guarantee it.
26:23Not one of them, 16 of them.
26:28What can we afford?
26:29We can probably afford to finance one.
26:40Well, that rider is going to be me.
26:56Indian was the top dog.
26:57No one knew what Harley Davidson was.
27:00If they won, this would be a game changer for their brand.
27:10The new Indian motorcycle will revolutionize the motorcycle industry.
27:15There's a lot of new things we're coming out with at the moment.
27:19The number one thing is that...
27:21Mr. Hendy?
27:22Yes?
27:23I wanted to introduce myself.
27:26Name's Davidson.
27:27Arthur Davidson.
27:28Oh, Harley Davidson.
27:33Glad you boys made it out.
27:35How many riders do you have?
27:37Well, uh, one.
27:40Listen, son.
27:42My advice.
27:43It's not whether you win or lose.
27:45It's about showing up and having fun.
27:48With all due respect, sir, we plan to win this race.
27:58It's about rights.
28:13Yes, sir!
28:17They're good!
28:18Thanks, sirs, all of you see.
28:20Imagine riding this motorcycle over uneven terrain,
28:35rugged terrain, uphills, downhills, through backwoods.
28:46That's a testament to the quality of this particular vehicle.
28:50It's two days of hell.
28:53Over 350 grueling miles, Walter Davidson battles back and forth
28:58with the other riders.
29:00His sturdy workhorse with upgraded suspension
29:03has kept pace with the faster, flashier Indian.
29:06Down the final stretch, battered and exhausted,
29:10it's going to be close.
29:20After a grueling two-day, 350-mile endurance race from the Catskill Mountains to New York City,
29:27Walter Davidson crosses the finish line in first place.
29:34It's one of the best.
29:36It's one of the best.
29:37It's one of the best.
29:38It's one of the best.
29:39It's one of the best.
29:40It's one of the best.
29:41More than the best.
29:42It's one of the best.
29:43It's one of the best ones there
30:00For George Hendy, an Indian, it's a wake-up call.
30:06Harley Davidson has arrived.
30:10Their business starts to take off.
30:12They double the size of their factory, hire 35 new employees,
30:16and increase production to 1,000 motorcycles a year.
30:22And in a stroke of genius, Davidson talks his way
30:26into an untapped market that will fortify their business even more.
30:32Police forces embrace the motorcycle because of its handling.
30:36And the city of Detroit, Michigan, becomes the first municipality
30:40to place a larger-scale order for police motorcycles.
30:44But while Harley Davidson may be growing rapidly,
30:47they're still far behind industry titan, Indian.
30:52And it's not long before a revolutionary new machine
30:56will become a huge threat to both of their businesses.
31:00The Model T came out in 1908.
31:02It was a lot cheaper than the other cars of the day.
31:06And that was a challenge to the motorcycle industry.
31:08A car was much safer, more practical.
31:11You could put your whole family in it.
31:14As the assembly line ramps up,
31:16the price of a Model T plummets.
31:18It's now about the same cost as a top-of-the-line motorcycle.
31:28But Harley Davidson has a plan to stay competitive.
31:32And it has nothing to do with bike technology.
31:38Harley Davidson created a product line
31:41of things like gloves and hats and jackets and saddlebags.
31:46A lifestyle around their motorcycle.
31:48It's a brilliant marketing move.
31:50This was, this type of man rides a car.
31:54This type of man rides a motorcycle.
31:57So the man that drove the car was a family man very often.
32:02But the guy that rode a motorcycle
32:05was the cool guy in the motorcycle jackets.
32:09And thanks in part to its vast dealer network,
32:13motorcycle clubs spring up all over the country.
32:16People love a vibe and they love an image.
32:19And you become a band of brothers
32:22when, when you've got this love for a motorcycle.
32:26And, and, and everybody shares that same passion.
32:29Harley Davidson was really ahead of its time.
32:32Creating a whole subculture around it.
32:34Creating a certain kind of vibe around it.
32:36Harley Davidson did that way back in the day
32:39before there was a playbook and the internet
32:41to really bring that forward.
32:43The motorcycle becomes a kind of symbol
32:46of something more raw and elemental.
32:50And its riders are seen as more rebellious
32:54and living life to its fullest.
32:57By 1913, while Harley Davidson is tapping into leisure
33:01and comradery to sell their product.
33:04Hendy and Headstrom double down on speed
33:06and thrill seekers to keep their business afloat.
33:09They enter a team in a dangerous new competition
33:12called board track racing.
33:14These people are like going 116 miles an hour
33:17around a track that's at a 50 degree incline
33:19with no brakes as fast as they possibly can.
33:22And the motorcycles will start to break apart
33:24and kill not only the motorcyclists,
33:26but also the people in the stands.
33:28It's crazy.
33:30As the popularity of the sport continues to grow,
33:33Indians' success on the track
33:35translates into sales in the showroom.
33:38If your dad could afford an Indian,
33:41holy cow, your dad was a celebrity, man.
33:44And if you're a teenager and you've saved up enough,
33:46you know, money from your newspaper route
33:48to get yourself an Indian scout,
33:50you're a rock star.
33:56Billy.
34:00Indians' cachet catches the attention
34:03of Harley Davidson.
34:05You know, they just realized
34:07that everybody else is doing it,
34:09so they finally gave it up
34:11and put a team together.
34:13Thanks to their stellar group of riders
34:16and well-built machines,
34:18it isn't long before they start to beat Indian
34:21at their own game.
34:24When Harley racer Ray Weishar
34:26starts bringing his pet piglet along
34:28on victory laps,
34:29the motorcycle gets its now-famous nickname.
34:32That's possibly when people started to think
34:34of hog being associated with Harley Davidson.
34:37And we also know that one motorcycle journalist
34:40had referred to the Harley Davidson team,
34:42having done so well that he said that they were hogging
34:44all of the racetrack glory.
34:48By 1913,
34:50Indian and Harley Davidson have become locked
34:52in an ever-increasing battle
34:54of one-upmanship.
34:56Harley Davidson releases its own V-Twin engine,
34:59and both companies adapt the latest English invention,
35:02Kickstarters, to replace pedals.
35:05Desperate to put some distance between their company
35:13and Harley Davidson,
35:15Indian's board of directors demands innovation.
35:19A full electrical system?
35:22A push-button starter?
35:24Honestly?
35:26I don't know if that is technically possible yet.
35:34Just do it.
35:48After Headstrom works tirelessly
35:50on the electrical system,
35:52it's released on a new model called
35:54the Hendy Special.
35:56If you're in the innovation business,
35:58it's riskier to be risk-averse.
36:00You know, by definition,
36:02if you're trying something
36:04that has a big upside,
36:06guess what?
36:07There's gravity.
36:08It has a big downside.
36:10Hendy and Headstrom
36:12have bet their company's reputation
36:14on an untested idea...
36:22...that doesn't pay off.
36:26People have paid a lot of money
36:27for an electric starter,
36:28and it didn't work,
36:29so they couldn't have been too happy.
36:31The battery technology of the time
36:33wasn't powerful enough
36:34to turn the motor over
36:35and continually start it many times.
36:37Because as the battery would sit there,
36:39it would drain.
36:43It would be almost 50 years
36:45before a motorcycle
36:46with a reliable push-button starter
36:48rolls off an assembly line.
36:54I knew the batteries weren't strong enough.
36:56The board wants a full electrical system.
37:01I'm tired.
37:03It's never good enough.
37:07It's time for me to leave.
37:15Good luck.
37:16Two years later,
37:29without his partner,
37:30Oscar Headstrom,
37:31by his side,
37:32and the board of the Indian Corporation
37:34questioning his every decision
37:36and every expense,
37:37George Hendy also resigns,
37:45leaving the company he founded
37:46to fight an uncertain future without him.
37:49It's 1917, and the United States has been dragged into a conflict a world away,
38:02fought in trenches, the sea, and sky.
38:06It's a new kind of war,
38:07with machines never before seen on a battlefield.
38:11The countries that went to war at the beginning of World War I,
38:16went to war on horseback still,
38:19but they came out driving trucks and tanks.
38:22Wars have that effect.
38:24Indian sees a giant opportunity to stay ahead of Harley
38:29by taking on government contracts to build motorcycles for the war effort
38:33and deliver them overseas.
38:35The new management at Indian goes all in,
38:37shipping 50,000 of their Power Plus big twins to the European front.
38:42The motorcycle shows up and allows to transportation of information in ways that hadn't been done before.
38:50They can maneuver in tight spaces.
38:52They can traverse all types of terrain.
38:54They're fast,
38:55much faster than any other method of transportation available on the battlefield.
39:01The war effort demands more motorcycles than Indian can supply,
39:05and Harley-Davidson sells the Army 20,000 of their new J-Series bikes.
39:10But at home, Arthur Davidson continues to focus on his customers and vital network of dealers.
39:17During World War I,
39:19they knew they had to keep the dealers as healthy as they possibly could,
39:22and that might have just been service work of existing bikes,
39:25parts and accessories sales, apparel sales,
39:28and of course, some new vehicle sales.
39:30During the war, Indian is so focused on fulfilling military orders,
39:35they have no inventory left for their American dealers.
39:39If there were a weakness in Indian strategy, an Achilles heel,
39:44it might be that Indian often took a more short-term outlook toward its own success.
39:51With Indian dealers left scrambling to fill empty showrooms,
39:55they're forced to turn to a more reliable supplier.
39:58When you have store owners, they're going to fill their shelves with stuff they can sell.
40:07You know, and yes, if the thing that got them there and it's making money,
40:11they're going to stick with it.
40:12But if all of a sudden they can't put it on their shelves,
40:14they're going to find something else to put on their shelves.
40:17By 1918, Harley-Davidson's sales have gone through the roof.
40:24Today you work in the number one motorcycle company in America,
40:30Harley-Davidson!
40:33After chasing Indian for almost 15 years,
40:42Harley-Davidson hits their ultimate milestone.
40:45They pass Indian in sales.
40:49This was a real moment in the history of Harley-Davidson and for the motorcycle.
40:54It put all of the other smaller makers on notice,
40:57that there were really two kings in town now.
40:59But Harley-Davidson's loyal customer base,
41:02popular merchandise line,
41:04and Arthur-Davidson's brilliant marketing
41:06help them maintain their lead in sales.
41:09And they never look back.
41:14I think the question that consumers end up asking themselves
41:17is not what that product does functionally,
41:20but how does that product make you feel?
41:22How does that product make others feel about you?
41:25Building that brand,
41:26developing a story around that marketing,
41:28is so, so important.
41:29Indian can't keep up.
41:31In 1953, they stopped production of all motorcycles
41:36and file for bankruptcy,
41:38ceding the title of America's undisputed motorcycle king
41:42to Harley-Davidson.
41:44Harley was one of the early great brands in all of commerce.
41:47They understood they didn't have the better mousetrap at that time,
41:50but we can build an ethos.
41:52A brand is a set of values,
41:53and we can connect the people in a way
41:55of that kind of great American motorcycle
41:57and, you know, reach their hearts.
42:00One of the coolest things about motorcycles
42:03is the freedom that it gives anyone
42:06once they get on the motorcycle
42:08and they're riding across this great country
42:11and they see all the amazing sights,
42:13feel the wind in their face.
42:14It's an amazing feeling.
42:15I highly recommend it.
42:19George Hendy spends his golden years
42:21as a farmer in Connecticut
42:27and would occasionally host
42:28an unlikely visitor from his past.
42:33I'll catch you on the next one, Hendy.
42:35I'm not so sure about that, son.
42:52I love motorcycles.
42:54I understand the passion.
42:55Love to get out in the wind,
42:57be it by yourself or be it with your brothers.
43:00If you haven't done it,
43:03get out and take a ride.
43:05It just might change your life.
Recommended
43:12
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