Harley-Davidson 1941 Model U 1209cc 2 cyl sv 3504

Harley-Davidson 1941 Model U Military Police 1209cc V-twin frame & engine # 41U4127

For 1937 the HD engineers redesigned the Big Twin range: frame and cycle parts of the newly introduced OHV ‘Knucklehead’ were used as the basis for the new 1209cc and 1303 cc models U and UH. An important new feature was the introduction (finally!) of dry sump lubrication. The “U” was the 5.0:1 low-compression type; the standard compression was 5:1. Power output of the U was 32.5 hp @ 4200rpm and its top speed was 135km/h. The new models proved themselves as reliable and dependable machines and gave their owners every satisfaction from the start and continued to do so for many years. Improved and updated annually throughout the late 1930s and 1940s, the U and UL models finally disappeared from the range at the end of 1948.
For the U.S. army, the Big Twin was the motorcycle of choice for sidecar service. From 1938 on a relatively low number of U models in low compression version were ordered, mainly with sidecar. When the ¼ ton 4 x 4 Jeep had proven itself during testing in 1941, the army authorities lost interest in sidecar combinations and chose for the Jeep. Nevertheless, throughout the war a number of organisations kept on using the model U, for instance the Navy who employed them for shore patrol. In 1940-41 the South African Union Defence Forces ordered more than a thousand U combinations, fitted with 4-speed gearboxes. They had a compression ratio of 4.5:1 and a top speed of 115 km/h. A number of years ago a batch of survivors was imported into The Netherlands and the specimen we offer is one of these machines. She has been restored with care and comes with MP markings, front crash bars and leather pannier bags.