Harley 45 45 ci Review

Overall Rating

Solid ride. Low centre of gravity. Good looks.

None relative to the competition then.

The Harley Davidson 45 was a fore and aft v-twin like other HD's. It was a flathead (side valve). The only other HD at the time was a 60-something cubic inch which was an overhead valve known as the knucklehead, because it had large cap nuts of some kind on the valve mechanism casting which were copper colored.

The 45 was used during WW II by the military for despatch riders and also came in a side car configuration.

Police departments used it in a three wheel version for parking enforcement.

I bought it in 1957. I was a car nut but you couldn't drive a car until you were 16. You could get a learner's permit at 15 but you had to have a parent or responsible adult with you to drive a car with the permit.

However, there was a loophole for motorcycles. Since it would only carry one person normally, you could drive it with a learner's permit at 15 . I spent hours poring over the vehicle code looking for other exceptions and loopholes. For example, there was a provision that allowed 14 year olds to drive if they lived in a remote area and had to transport family to town. But I couldn't swing that, so when I hit 15 I bought a motorcycle.

I begged borrowed and stole the purchase price which was about $475. The first thing I did of course was remove the rear fender at the hinge. The HD had a hinged rear fender to ease removal of the tire. Riders who wanted to smarten up the somewhat dowdy HD looks of the time would simply take out the hinge pin, remove the lower part of the rear fender, and install a cast aluminium tail light fixture in place of the standard HD tail light enclosure.

Nowadays we're so used to lightening stops with hydraulic disc brakes on motorcycles that we tend to forget that brakes on 50's bikes weren't really intended to stop the bike, just slow it down. Of course, they would stop it, eventually. But you needed to allow some distance. The brakes were mechanical through cables, with expanding drums.

The bike had a seat that was set low between the tank and the rear fender which gave the ride a solid low centre of gravity.

Of course electric starters hadn't been thought of yet on motorcycles. You had to do the macho motorcycle boot exercise of rising up and dropping down on the kick starter. It sometimes could take a while to get a start--the hiccup and then eventual roar of the engine was gratifying after 5 minutes of physical effort.

The gear shift (3 speed) was on the left side of the gas tank and operated by hand. The rocker clutch was at the left foot, and the rear brake pedal was at the right foot. One of the grips had the front brake lever. The right grip had the throttle.

Altogether an enjoyable machine for a 15 year old in the 50's.

If you happen to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, go to Harlen Ness' free museum in Dublin where you'll find the 45 and the knucklehead