Inside Harley-Davidson's top-secret R&D facility

On a non-descript industrial block in Milwaukee, sandwiched between the US Highway 41 and a railway yard, sits Harley-Davidson’s own version of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

From the outside, the Willie G. Davidson Product Development Centre (PDC) on Capitol Drive doesn’t look like much. In fact, if it wasn’t for Harley branding, it would look like any other industrial office building. But behind the concrete and glass lies the 120-year-old Motor Company’s biggest secrets.

The PDC is the home of Harley-Davidson’s research and development arm, and is the birthplace of all of its styling, design, and engineering concepts. Some of those concepts never see the light of day, while others end up as the fully formed motorcycles we see today.

Harley-Davidson is notoriously clandestine about its inner workings. When talking to media, the company’s staff often respond to probes about upcoming models with the line “we don’t talk about future product”. That response is so frequent, that it has become something of a catchphrase.

So, it makes sense that the PDC is very much off-limits to the average Joe. The operations behind the facility’s doors are so secret that only a handful of journalists have ever walked its halls.

If you’ve read Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or seen the related films, then you’ll know that Willy Wonka closed the doors of his famous factory to ward off spies trying to steal his secret recipes. Then, after years of mystery, he offered a group of lucky punters the chance to visit the factory and take a look at the wondrous happenings behind the locked gates.

Stepping through the doors of the PDC felt like a very similar story. As part of the 120th Anniversary celebrations, a group of international media (including yours truly) were given Golden Tickets to enter the PDC. We were the first journalists in years to enter the building, and it was a big deal.

Inside no phones are allowed to leave pockets, and any wanderers are quickly brought back into line. The whole facility was seemingly briefed about our arrival and many usual operations were reduced to simple demonstrations for the day to ensure there were no leaks of information.

But what is so secret about the PDC? And why is the facility so important to the famous American company? What could Harley-Davidson possibly be hiding that prompts it to go to such lengths to avoid any espionage? All of these questions made me eager to discover what Willie G. Wonka and his Oompa Loompas were cooking up behind the concrete curtain.

Of course, despite being its namesake, Willie G. Davidson actually has little to do with the facility these days. The grandson of co-founder, William A. Davidson, Willie was once the head of Harley’s design arm. But now, at 90 years of age, and having retired from the company in 2012, Willie’s legacy is carried on through the PDC.

The PDC, which was opened in 1997 on the vacant block next the Capitol Drive assembly plant that Harley purchased in 1946, is one of four key locations for the Motor Company in Milwaukee. The others are the Powertrains Operations facility on Pilgrim Road in Menomonee Falls, the Juneau Avenue administration headquarters, which was the original production plant, and the Harley-Davidson Museum in downtown Milwaukee.

There are also assembly plants around the world, including the plant in York, Pennsylvania that replaced the Capitol Drive manufacturing facility, as well as a proving ground in Arizona. But Milwaukee is still considered the beating heart of the famous company.

I arrived at the PDC with around 20 other journalists from across the globe. The employees at the facility were prepped and ready for our arrival. This was a significant occasion, and one that could only have happened for such an important milestone like the 120th anniversary. One claim was that only two other journalists had ever walked the halls of the PDC. Accurate or not, it showed the genuine secrecy of this Wonka-like facility.

Our first stop of the tour was a board room where the H-D team gave us a presentation on the new 2023 CVO Road Glide and CVO Street Glide models. This half of the building contains various offices and meeting rooms, although it was rather quiet for a weekday.

Of course, many of the wily journos immediately put their sleuth hats on and began to sniff around in search of a story. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot to discover. Most of the office space was empty on this particular day.

It was interesting to see one section seemingly dedicated to research and development of the LiveWire brand. Clearly H-D isn’t giving up on its electric dreams just yet. However, when one French journalist strayed a little too far into that particular area, he was quickly dragged back and given a slap on the wrist. What electric goodness could the company be concocting?

Our next stop was the second half of the building which contained all the testing and development laboratories. And this is where the really cool stuff happens.

The labs were buzzing more than the office side of the building, with workers snaking their way through the maze of concrete hallways and rooms. There were trollies being pushed around, parts carried between labs, and bikes in various states of assembly lined up against the walls.

Our tour guide first took us to the simulator room, where bikes are tested for durability and reliability. The wheels are removed, and the bike is place on a large contraption behind a glass wall. The bike is then shaken, bounced, rattled and rolled, as the technician monitors the results.

The simulator uses actual road conditions, and the bike is left on there for roughly 24 hours a day for five days. The idea is that the simulator will pick up any durability issues with the chassis. The simulator is not testing for the machine's engine and handling performance – that is done in the real world on roads and at the proving grounds in Arizona.

On this particular occasion, the bike being tested was a trike, however we were told it was just a demonstration for the purpose of our visit.

Next up was the dyno room, although it was just purely for the engines. The engines are fitted with sensors and are tested for any issues or inconsistencies.

To this point, we still hadn’t seen anything that was incredibly interesting. Where Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory was filled with crazy contraptions, magical rivers, and glass elevators, the PDC was beginning to feel like a dull concrete box, no more interesting than a local mechanic’s shop.  

But the next stop on the tour was pretty bloody cool.

The semi anechoic chamber – or electrical lab to be simple – is used for electromagnetic testing. Each bike in development is placed in the chamber and the team test the electromagnetic waves it produces to ensure its electrical systems don’t interfere with other devices. The opposite is also true – ensuring other devices don’t interfere with the bike. The chamber is filled with white foam tiles that absorb the radio waves. No one in allowed inside the chamber when it is active and personnel monitor proceedings from outside.

This lab is important to ensure infotainment, connectivity, and electrical systems work without issue. Witnesses are brought in from around the world to approve each new bike and make sure they meet electromagnetic standards in their respective markets.

And interestingly, but not surprisingly, electric bikes need more extensive testing as regulators view them in the same light as home electrical appliances.

Our last stop on the PDC tour was also very unique – the noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) lab. The completely soundproof room might just be one of the quietest places on earth and is the PDC’s showpiece laboratory.

The visually spectacular room features 100 microphones that are designed to test the sound of a motorcycle in development. The floor is floating and there are airbags underneath to ensure that absolutely no sound enters or escapes the room.

Sound is incredibly important to Harley-Davidson, so much so that it once tried to patent a signature sound, albeit unsuccessfully.

The NVH lab is so special in Harley folklore that apparently Foo Fighters lead signer Dave Grohl visited the facility in 2008 for the brand’s 105th anniversary. Coincidentally, Grohl and the Foo Fighters were in town at the same time as our visit to headline the Homecoming festival.

Upon exiting the NVH lab, we were quickly ushered back to reception with the door slammed firmly shut behind us. It will be a long time, if ever, that we will be allowed back into those hallowed halls.

Sadly, I don’t believe any of us journos walked out of the PDC with a big scoop. We didn’t uncover any deep dark secrets, and aside from the then-new CVO models, we didn’t even get to spy any upcoming products. Instead, it was all very civil and business-as-usual. Or, at least that’s what Harley wanted us to believe.

There was plenty we didn’t see, like the battery lab, the full-vehicle test lab, the powertrain component lab, and the machine shop. Perhaps those areas held the secrets that we were so desperately seeking.

But all jokes aside, the visit to the PDC was a unique insight into how a concept starts in a boardroom and is developed into a fully formed product that can be purchased off a showroom floor. It is rare to be able to witness the tireless work that goes into that process, and to see the unsung heroes of the motorcycle industry in action.

The PDC is certainly not Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, but it is no less magic.