With Aermacchi under its umbrella, the company continued to develop a large number of small-displacement vehicles in the 1970s.
Many people think of Harley-Davidson as 'big-displacement' and 'V-twin'.
But Harley-Davidson was founded in 1903.
The first motorbike (prototype No. 1) built by three young Davidson brothers, Bill Harley, Arthur, and Walter Davidson, was a 116 cc single-cylinder engine mounted on a frame shaped like a bicycle.
Later, the 405cc single-cylinder engine bikes were developed from prototypes and sold as mass-produced models, but like many historic motorbike manufacturers, they did not start as a manufacturer specializing in large-displacement V-twins but rather started making bikes with simple engine structures.
The first V-twin engine model appeared in 1909.
Called the '5-D' model, it was 811 cc and produced 7 hp.
However, the company continued to offer a line-up of entry-level models with its single-cylinder engines, and after acquiring a 50% stake in Italy's Aermacchi in 1960, it introduced many 2- and 4-stroke small-displacement vehicles based on Aermacchi models (also helped by the mini-bike boom in the USA in the early 1970s).
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