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Harley Davidson filed for a sonic trademark on their engine sound back in 1994[0]. (I think it failed, not sure.) But it's pretty easy to reproduce the sound t

by tacon 12y ago

Harley Davidson filed for a sonic trademark on their engine sound back in 1994[0]. (I think it failed, not sure.) But it's pretty easy to reproduce the sound to remind people: Potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, ... [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_trademark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_trademark

m-i-l 12y ago
According to http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/20/harley-davidson-electric-bike http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/20/harley-davids... they are working on a new sound for the electric Harley-Davidson.
ska 12y ago
If I recall correctly The sound originally came from cost cutting engineering choices. Beyond the fairly tight angle (a little over 60 degrees) which gives you a asymmetric "gap" between ignitions, they simplifies the ignition timing so that it fired every stroke instead of every other stroke. So the exhaust strokes had a little ignition going on due to unspent fuel/air, giving the quieter sounds. Not a good design for efficiency but it sure gave them a distinctive idle.