Harley-Davidson 1920 F 989 cc 2 cyl IOE 3606

Harley-Davidson 1920 “F” 989 cc IOE V-twin frame # F11894 engine # 20 T 21887

In April 1920 the new Juneau Avenue factory building was completed; this made H-D the largest motorcycle factory in the world with 2,400 employees and established dealerships in 67 countries. There were 50,000 subscribers to “The Enthusiast” magazine. Harley-Davidsons were fast becoming famous for their power, comfort and reliability: more than 7,500 Model Fs with magneto and more than 14,000 Model Js with battery and coil would be delivered to customers during 1920.

The machine we present here has a proud history. She was restored in the early 1980s by a British H-D enthousiast, using mostly original factory parts. He owned the machine for more than forty years and used her extensively for runs and rallies in Britain and the European mainland. He writes: “It took me about a year to fully restore this Harley, my favourite, and rebuild it. It has almost all genuine Harley-Davidson parts. Back in 1980, it was still possible to buy everything needed N.O.S. Some from London dealer Fred Warr, who also rebuilt the rods and flywheels with new parts and trued up; I still have his bill for £234 for that one job. Parts were also sourced from Germany and the U.S.A. The cylinders were rebored and fitted with N.O.S. cast-iron pistons – still the best for this kind of motor. The only non-genuine H-D parts are the fork springs, wheel rims and spokes (and of course tyres and chains). The saddle was re-covered by Howard Heilman of Hollow Creek in Texas and the Bosch magneto was restored by Tony Stairs of London and has never missed a beat. The only improvements are that the outer band brake is on a later hand-lever (stronger) and that I used later rockers (also stronger). When I bought the bike I thought it would be good for short trips to local events, but I quickly became impressed with its speed, strength and reliability. So in 1986 with a friend on a Sportster we made a European tour reaching into the then Soviet countries (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia) to attend a rally at Lubasz, over 2500 miles in all. Since then various long trips have been made. The bike has many miles on it but still starts and runs perfectly.”
Accessories of this fine vintage machine include “Old Sol” acetylene headlamp and generator, “Fidelity” rear lamp, push-horn, rear view mirror and authentic leather bags. The lighting system has been cleverly and almost invisibly converted to electric lighting with brake light, for more safety on the road.