The Harley Davidson Company officially began with the completion of its first bike in 1903. Unofficially it all began in 1901 when 21-year-old William S. Harley drew up plans for a small engine that displaced 7.07 cubic inches and had 4-inch flywheels. He designed this engine for use on a regular pedal-bicycle frame.

By 1903 William Harley had joined with his boyhood friend Arthur Davidson, as well as Arthur's brother Walter. They used the machine shop of their friend Henry Melk to complete the prototype of their first engine-powered bike. The engine that powered this prototype was not quite powerful enough to propel the motored-bike up Milwaukee's modest hills without the rider resorting to pedal power.

The first "real" Harley Davidson Motorcycle was finally completed with additional help from another Davidson brother named William. It had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches with 9-3/4 inch flywheels weighing 28 pounds. The new bike was functional by September 08, 1904, and made its first appearance in a Milwaukee motorcycle race.

The company produced three motorcycles in 1903, followed by 3 more in 1904. Production rose to 8 completed cycles in 1905, allowing Walt Davidson to quit his job with the railroad and become the company's first full-time employee. The Davidson's aunt, Janice Davidson also began helping out by using her artistic talent to letter and pinstripe the bikes, which were painted black with gold trim.

The first Harley Davidson Motor Company factory was built in 1906 on Chestnut Street. It was a modest 40 by 60 foot single story wooden structure. Chestnut Street was later renamed Juneau Avenue, and though the original structure was replaced, this location remains the Motor Company's corporate headquarters to this day. A total of 50 motorcycles were produced in 1906.

The following year, 1907 brought about much change for the fledgling company. William S. Harley graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in mechanical engineering. The factory was expanded and the company officially incorporated. Production increased to 150 motorcycles in 1907.

Another monumental change that occurred in 1907 was the completion of a prototype of a 45-degree V-Twin engine. These engines displaced 53.68 cubic inches and produced about 7 horsepower, just about doubling the hill-climbing power of the first singles. Production continued to increase to 450 motorcycles in 1908 followed by 1,149 in 1909.

Success continued in the years that followed. The original factory was demolished and replaced by a new 5-story structure of reinforced concrete and red brick. It soon grew to take up two blocks along Juneau Avenue and around the corner on 38th Street. During this period bikes produced by Harley Davidson began to dominate the motorcycle racing arena and production reached 16,284 in 1914.
World War I saw the demand for motorcycles in the military. Harley Davidson provided over 20,000 motorcycles to military forces during World War I. Improvements and increased production continued after the war. The Harley Davidson Motor Company was in fact one of only 2 American cycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression. The company continued to produce machines for the military throughout World War II and the Korean War. The Jeep then replaced it in popularity.

The Harley Davidson Motor Company is still going strong today, despite bumps and bruises along the way. You will recognize it on the Stock Market under the symbol HOG.

Joining the number of Car manufacturers that have been concerned for the growing demand for environment friendly cars, German car manufacturing giant BMW has announced that they too would soon be producing and selling Hybrid cars. Within the next four years, BMW will be providing its own version of the phenomenal and popular hybrid car.

Knowing the many innovations and excellent qualities BMW has contributed to the motor world, we can be sure that this would be another automotive engineering breakthrough that would set the par others would follow.

BMW said that their Hybrid car would run on both Hydrogen and petroleum and this would be first infused in the 7 series BMW. Already, BMW has some of these cars test driven in different countries. Researchers and engineers are already staging some tests and are getting feedbacks to perfect their first hybrid car release. BMW doesn't want to release just a beautiful looking car, they want one that will be truly environment friendly as well as performing beautifully.

Deviating from the usual fuel cells used by other hybrid car manufacturers, BMW decided on using hydrogen-fuel combined with an internal combustion engine. This led to more research and development needed because of the demand of the engine to keep the hydrogen in liquid form, and this poses as a problem in keeping them cold enough to do just that. If the engine becomes too hot, the hydrogen may evaporate requiring frequent fill ups. Another quandary is keeping the hydrogen from evaporating while in transit to the engine. But BMW has said that it has found the solution to this problem.

BMW sees hydrogen as the solution, but it would take about two more decades before a car can actually be run by hydrogen only. But they are positive that this is very achievable.

BMW claims that for the past thirty years, they have been developing technology that could just lead to the first ever pure hydrogen vehicle. They already have a car that is being powered by water, a car that emits water vapor at the tailpipe, and are to retrieve hydrogen from sunlight.

BMW has been focusing on Hydrogen as a great power source for cars because it is the best solution to the ever-worsening emissions from vehicles that contributes to environmental pollution. This is because hydrogen doesn't have dangerous emissions, it poses no harm to the atmosphere, it doesn't deplete natural resources, as it can be take from numerous recyclable sources. This is BMW's solution, powering vehicles with hydrogen produced from water through the use of solar energy. This advancement in technology is evident with the BMW 750hl production car showcased at the Expo 2000. Together with some of its partners, BMW may be behind in the mass production of Hybrid cars, but they are the forefront in Hybrid technology.

Soon enough, we will all be the beneficiaries of all of these developments and innovations. Not only will we able to save up on gas money, we will also be saving the environment. Owning a Hybrid car doesn't have to mean riding in cramped cars with low engine power. With the unveiling of the BMW hybrid car in the near future, you get sophistication, power, elegance and style while helping clean up our air.

There's historical evidence that suggest that tattoos have served to both brand criminals and decorate kings. No matter what the social status of the tattoo's owner, its function is still very much the same: to unmistakably signify a very specific aspect of who the wearer really is. Nowhere is that more crystal clear than in American biker culture.

Despite its recent mainstream acceptance, tattooing had long been associated with groups that just don't fit in or have a very distinct culture of their own, like pirates, merchant sailors, carnival workers, servicemen, gypsies and bikers. Like other gang type societies, Bikers not only not fit in to general society, they make it a point to make sure they don't. What better way to brand your self an outsider than with a tattoo. Here are some of the tattoo designs bikers have traditionally claimed for their own.

* FTW – An abbreviation for the phrase F*ck The World. This design is traditionally popular with the outlaw biker and symbolizes their attitude toward a society that has branded them outcasts, which they are proud to be. The expression really is FTW, so you'll never see the words spelled out in a tattoo. If you do, the wearer is obviously just a wannabe.

* 1% Tattoo – The outlaw biker craze was raging in the 1960s. The general population was terrified of any man on a motorcycle whether they had any legitimate reason to be or not. If you saw a man sporting a lot of hair and a lot of leather, you crossed to the other side of the street just in case. In an effort to set the masses at ease, the American Motorcycle Association made a bold PR move by stating that only one percent of bikers were outlaws. As it turned out, failing to specify what the other 99 percent were made the AMA's intentions futile. Bikers, both fringe outlaw gangs and more major clubs alike, responded by having 1% tattooed on themselves. With this gesture, they beat mainstream society to the punch by labeling themselves with what people already thought of them anyway. The 1% tat isn't as pervasive as it used to be, because many of the new generation of bikers unmistakably fall into that other 99 percent.

* Colors – the insignia of a biker gang. The colors and logo of a specific group. You'll often see such things embroidered on leather jackets and other accessories, but that doesn't take the place of having it permanently tattooed on your body. A tat of your colors is usually a requirement of full membership into the club. Colors are to be worn with pride.

* "Property of" Tattoos – Property of tats had their heyday about the same time as 1% tattoos. They were used to label the women in the group as the "property" of that specific club, and you'd better not be messing with another gang's women. At the time, a property of tattoo proudly signified you were a full fledged part of the biker family. It's not like they held the girls down and branded them against their will. Today however, the women's lib. movement has matured since then, making property of tattoos a thing of the past. As a matter of fact, may female tattooists won't give you one, but they might help you out with some cover-up work.

While most motorcycle enthusiast are no longer what we think of as bikers, the biker spirit is still very much alive and well. Next time you see someone proudly sporting one of these tattoos, you'll be able to appreciate the rich history behind them and their contribution to American pop culture.