10 Of The Most Famous Harley-Davidson Motorcycles From Movies & TV

If cinema is America's art form, then Harley-Davidson is America's motorcycle. Hollywood and the Milwaukee motorcycle manufacturer have a long relationship dating back to "The Scarecrow" in 1919, a silent film in which a newlywed Buster Keaton rides off with his wife on Harley-Davidson Model J. 

Since then — and especially during and after the 1950s and 1960s — filmmakers have featured Harley-Davidson motorcycles in numerous stories of freedom, action, and excitement, from "The Wild One" and "Easy Rider" to "Pulp Fiction" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." Television has also captured the Harley-Davidson brand, with dramas such as "Sons of Anarchy" making full use of the medium's unrivaled narrative scope, showcasing the motorcycles episode after episode, season after season.  

Over the years, Harley-Davidson has fought off slumping sales and foreign competition, but the brand has stood strong through its timeless bond to popular ideas of the American spirit. Here are 10 of the most famous Harley-Davidson motorcycles from movies and TV.

Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) has one hell of a day in "Pulp Fiction." During a dangerous mission to find his treasured childhood watch, he opens fire with a submachine gun, crashes a Honda into a mob boss, and gets kidnapped by Maynard (Stephen Hibbert), a shopkeeper, and his degenerate friend, Zed (Peter Greene). What happens next is not fit for publication here — there's leather, a samurai sword, a shotgun, and promises involving pliers and a blow torch. The important thing is that Butch emerges from this drama on "Grace," a Harley-Davidson FXR Super Glide.

"It's not a motorcycle, baby, it's a chopper," Butch explains to his delicate French girlfriend Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros). This isn't strictly true because a chopper is a type of motorcycle, but Butch's distinction is important all the same. Whoever modified this FXR Super Glide added a custom tachometer, a pair of ape hanger handlebars, and a Fat Bob tank with a "Grace" motif. Keen observers will notice that the production team used two bikes, the most obvious difference between them being a dual carburetor present on one and absent on the other.

It's unclear whether "Grace" had any performance modifications. The stock Harley-Davidson FXR sold from 1986 to 1993 has an 81.6 cubic inch V2 four-stroke engine producing 57 hp and could reach a top speed of 105.6 mph

In "The Wild One," the classic 1953 biker film, outlaw tough guy Johnny Strabler (Marlon Brando) rode a Triumph Thunderbird, while his rival Chino, played by Lee Marvin, rode a Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide.

After World War II's end in 1945, Harley-Davidson began the transfer from militarism to civilian life. The Hydra-Glide rolled off the production line in 1949, sporting a 74 cubic inch V2 four-stroke engine producing 55 hp and hitting up to 100 miles per hour. A Schebler carburetor and a four-speed manual gearbox were attached to the power plant and above it was a bucket saddle. Most distinctive, perhaps, were the innovative hydraulic front forks that provided not just a signature look but a new level of comfort, stability, and control

Chino's Hydra-Glide may seem ordinary compared to the choppers of later biking culture, but the motorcycle was at the center of a significant cultural moment. Drawing on the infamous Hollister riot of 1947, "The Wild One" depicts rival biker gangs tearing up the streets of small-town California. The film made a star out of Marlon Brando and caused a moral panic among legions of parents and guardians across the United States and especially the United Kingdom, where it was banned until 1967.

In August 1972, Marvel introduced stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze, the first character to become the flaming skull-headed anti-hero Ghost Rider after making a pact with Mephisto. Decades later, in 2007, director Mark Steven Johnson adapted the comic book for the screen with Nicolas Cage in the lead role. 

Before and after his transformation, Blaze rides a chopper built from custom, catalog parts including huge chromed exhaust pipes and a vivid blue tank covered with Guy Fieri-style flames. The bike is also a tribute to Peter Fonda's Captain America motorcycle in "Easy Rider." Fonda, who also appears in "Ghost Rider" as the demonic Mephisto, nods to this reference in his first scene with the chopper by saying "Nice bike."

Despite all the retro qualities, the Chopper was a brand-new bike with only 70 miles on the clock after filming. Chief among its modern features is the electric start — yes, the kickstarter is for show. If you have a spare $4,000, you can rent the bike for a day from the Volo Museum.

"I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle," demands the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." It's one of the best-known lines in the franchise and the bike he is referring to is the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy. After fulfilling his demand by force, the T-800 fires up the Fat Boy and rides off into Los Angeles to the sound of "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood & The Destroyers. This scene alone was superb marketing for Harley-Davidson, but director James Cameron gave the brand plenty more screentime, including a blistering chase scene with a huge Freightliner truck in the Los Angeles River.

Launched in 1990 and named after its wide, stocky frame, the Fat Boy sported a 67 hp, 1,337 cc V2 engine and a five-speed transmission that emphasized torque-heavy cruising rather than intense performance. The classically styled bike arrived during a rebound in Harley-Davidson's international sales and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" helped boost the bottom line even further, pushing the venerable American brand to over $1 billion in sales in the early 1990s. 

An Icons & Legends of Hollywood auction in 2018 bolstered the Fat Boy's iconic status when an original model used in the filming of "Terminator 2" sold for $480,000, far exceeding the predicted value of $200,000 to $300,000.

The Captain America Chopper in "Easy Rider" may be the most famous Harley-Davidson in history. Paul d'Orleans, author of "The Chopper: The Real Story," told NPR that the bike, "Did more to popularize choppers around the world than any other film or any other motorcycle. I mean, suddenly people were building choppers in Czechoslovakia, or Russia, or China, or Japan."

Peter Fonda, who starred as Wyatt, worked with specialist mechanics Clifford Vaughs and Ben Hardy to handcraft several Captain America bikes for the film. There are conflicting accounts about how the parts were procured, but whether it was Fonda or Vaughs and Hardy, the production bought four Harley-Davidson Panheads from the Los Angeles Police Department. Then, using Fonda's cues, Vaughs created an all-American chopper with stars and stripes on the gas tank and a pair of raked front forks taken to an outrageous 43 degree angle. Unfortunately, neither Vaughs nor Hardy appeared in the credits because they were both fired during the chaotic production.

Of the four Captain America bikes that Vaughs and Hardy made, one was partially destroyed in the film's finale and the other three were stolen. Dan Haggerty restored the damaged bike and, in 2014, it sold for an incredible $1.35 million at auction.

By "Rocky III," Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is no longer a plucky underdog but a world heavyweight champion with ten title defenses. This has brought fame, acclaim, and especially money, a fraction of which he invests into a Harley-Davidson FLH 80. 

The bike, which has a 67 hp 1337 cc engine and black and yellow paintwork, appears prominently after the death of Michael "Mickey" Goldmill (Burgess Meredith), Rocky's old trainer. Bereaved, Rocky takes his bike through Philadelphia, cruising past the landmarks of his life, namely the recently unveiled statue in his honor, which he strikes with his helmet.

The FLH reprised its role in an interview with Barbara Walters, who rode on the back with Stallone. She was nervous and so was Stallone, who hadn't rode the bike in a while. "At that time I was playing Rambo, so I was just gutsin' it out," Stallone explained in an interview posted on Heritage Auctions.

"Sons of Anarchy" is a gallery of Harley-Davidsons. Flatheads, Fat Boys, Sportsters, Street Glides, Softails, Road Kings, XLCH 900s — they're all there. The show even goes off-brand with a Triumph Bonneville and a Piaggio Vespa. None of those bikes, however, are as prominent as Jax Teller's (Charlie Hunnam) Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide.

The show's lead character, Teller rode the bike for six of the show's seven seasons. The 660 lb bike was manufactured in 2003 and has a V-twin engine with a displacement of 1449 cc. Teller's bike does not have the flair of "Captain America" from "Easy Rider;" but consider the amount of exposure this FXD Dyna Super Glide received. After all, "Sons of Anarchy" presented Teller and his Harley to an audience of millions, hour after hour for the better part of six seasons — an incredible starring role for any motorcycle.

Incidentally, Teller's new bike in the show's seventh season is a rebuilt 1946 Harley Davidson EL Knucklehead, which is a beautiful museum piece closer to the grandeur of other bikes on this list.

The "Fast and Furious" universe is generally concerned with cars rather than motorcycles, but there is an exception in "Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw," the 2019 spin-off starring Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). As a proud British mercenary, Shaw drives a McLaren 720S, a 710 hp supercar capable of 212 miles per hour. Naturally, to convey his American masculinity, Hobbs rides a customized Harley-Davidson Softail, which can't claim the same performance as the McLaren but it is a very fine motorcycle all the same.

The bike used in the film was made not in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but by a specialist team in Lewes, England. Finished in all black, the Softail has many customized features including 16" wheels, lowered front forks, a modified Sportster tank, a fabricated rear fender, and a performance machine open belt drive primary. 

During a road test, a driver from MotoNewbRider from Sykes Harley Davidson praised the twin-cam 110 engine and commented on the ride, which he likened to a "giant Sportster." The only problem, it seemed, is that you have to be built like the Rock to comfortably wrestle the bike over long distances.

The Harley-Davidson WLA's service in World War II is a foundation of the Milwaukee brand's all-American image. The bike was a useful tool for reconnaissance, patrols, communication, and transporting personnel and light equipment. Also, with the Liberator moniker, the motorcycle was a symbol of American strength, engineering, and industrial capacity. 

Recognizing the form and function of this beautiful bike, Marvel Comics incorporated the Liberator into their iconic character, Captain America, reinforcing its the motorcycle's heroic image.

Many decades later, in 2011, Marvel took the patriotic superhero and his trusty Harley-Davidson to the big screen in "Captain America: The First Avenger." The production was very mindful of finding an authentic bike that was true to the comics and the period that inspired them. The solution was contemporary Harley-Davidson Cross Bones modified to appear like a 1942 WLA motorcycle, complete with an ammunition box and leather details.

In "Happy Days," the sitcom about a suburban family in 1950s America, Henry Winkler plays the Fonz, a pastiche of mid-century youth icons like James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" and Marlon Brando in "The Wild One." With his catchphrases and bombastic manner, Fonzie does not share the earnest personalities of the characters who inspired him, but he does share their affinity for vehicles — especially Brando's.

Quickly, a disclaimer. Yes, Fonzie rode Triumph for most of "Happy Days," but he started the show on a 1947 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead, and it was as vital to his shtick almost as much as his easy charm. Performance isn't so important to a man like the Fonz, but his Harley has a two-cylinder engine with a 989 cc displacement producing around 40 hp and speeds up to 95 mph, which would ruffle even Fonzie's greased-back hair.

In 2023, the owner of the show's original Knucklehead — a Monroeville, Ohio man named George Roeder, Jr. — exhibited the famous bike in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was a 'happy day' indeed for anyone who saw it, as Mr. Roeder had restored the expensive bike to its full glory.