harley factory tour york pa

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The Vaughn L. Beals Tour Center in York, PA, features exhibits detailing the manufacturing and assembly process.

Learning How Motorcycles are Made at the Harley-Davidson Factory in York

There are few more iconic brand names than Harley-Davidson. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1903, the company has been making motorcycles for more than 100 years. While their headquarters are still located in this midwestern city, many of their motorcycles are produced in York County, Pennsylvania .

Harley-Davidson began manufacturing motorcycles in York in 1973. Today, the factory produces Touring class, Softail, and custom vehicles for the U.S. market. Visitors wanting to learn more about the classic American company or who just like to see how things are put together can take a tour of this impressive factory.

Tours of the Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations Plant in York start from the visitor center. Here, you can sign up for a tour, visit the gift shop, or check out the small museum. If you do take a tour, make sure to arrive early enough to look at the collection of motorcycles and displays in the visitor center first. This will give you a good overview of what types of bikes are made in the factory and how they are made. There are also some simple kid’s activities here (It should be noted that factory tours are limited to those 12 and over).

My favorite part of the visitor center, which you can visit without doing a tour of the factory, was the ability to sit on a motorcycle. As someone who has never ridden one before, it was fun to get a quick feel for them and to get a photo of myself riding one.

Free tours of the Harley-Davidson Factory in York start off with a 10-minute video. This video is half commercial and half company history, but does give a good overview of the the company for those who aren’t familiar with the history of the company.

Before entering the factory, visitors are given eye protection and a headset. Even in small groups, the noise of the factory can make hearing the guide difficult, so the headsets come in especially handy to make sure that you can hear all of the information.

Tours of the factory last about one hour and walk you through all of the steps involved in the making of a motorcycle. The process is surprisingly labor-intensive, with robots assisting with most aspects, but actually completing very few of them. It was interesting to watch the factory workers complete the different aspects of bicycle assembly from welding to fitting motors into the bikes and even testing them.

Along the way, guides explain what is happening at each station. There are even videos to show you parts of the process that can’t be seen along the tour route, such as painting or the welding that is completed by robots.

The most interesting part of the tour was the assembly line. Here, workers are lined up along a central track that moves the motorcycles from station to station. At each stop, workers have 80 seconds to complete their jobs before the bike moves onto the next station.

The Harley-Davidson motorcycles enter this assembly line as little more than frames and come out as fully assembled bikes, complete with any factory customizations. From there, they head to the testing area, where the luckiest workers in the factory get to sit on the brand new bikes and run them through a series of tests.

While the free tour offers a great look at the Harley-Davidson factory, there is also an in-depth tour that is offered twice daily. The Steel Toe Tours last twice as long and allow visitors to actually walk through the assembly line and get an even more detailed look at how motorcycles are made.

I’m not a motorcycle guy, have never ridden one, and despite enjoying sitting on one at the visitor center, probably never will ride one. However, I still enjoyed my tour of the Harley-Davidson Factory in York. It offered a great chance to see how these complicated machines are put together, which I always find interesting regardless of the product.

If you love motorcycles or simply enjoy seeing how things are made, the Harley-Davidson Factory Tour in York County should be on your list of things to do in Pennsylvania.

Note: Photos are not allowed inside of the factory. In fact, you aren’t even allowed to bring cameras or cell phones on the tour. They can be left in your car or in the lockers inside the visitor center.

Harley-Davidson Factory Tour

See map below for other area attractions.

Great places to stay in York County

• Home2 Suites - The city's highest-rated hotel on TripAdvisor .
• Grace Manor B&B - A popular B&B near the center of town
• Candlewood Suites - A great value with excellent reviews
• Heritage Hills Resort - A relaxing property with great ammenities
• Find more great places to stay on Airbnb!

Click the map to see more nearby things to do

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Jim Cheney is the creator of UncoveringPA.com. Based in Carlisle near Harrisburg, Jim frequently travels around Pennsylvania and has visited, written about, and photographed all 67 counties in the state. He has also traveled to more than 30 different countries around the world.

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Harley-Davidson Vaughn L. Beals Tour Center

Rev up your knowledge of the world famous Harley Davidson motorcycles on a behind-the-scene tour of the factory! The Harley-Davidson Vaughn L. Beals Tour Center offers two tours: the Steel Toe Tour and the Classic Factory Tour. Groups will get a glimpse of the bike assembly line and designated manufacturing areas in exhibits and on tours of the factory. The Steel Toe Tour is offered on Monday-Thursday and the Classic Factory Tour is offered on Monday-Friday.

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Review Highlights

“ Count my wife and I in that group of people very pleased with the Steel Toe Tour . ” in 6 reviews

“ The gift shop has just about any kind of Harley-Davidson memorabilia you can want, and then some. ” in 5 reviews

“ Anyway, they have a cool gift shop and museum and the staff is all nice. ” in 7 reviews

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This was an amazing opportunity!!! The staff were all warm and welcoming. Seeing the behind the scenes was very interesting even if you aren't a motorcycle enthusiast. We will definitely go back !!

Fantastic tour. I'm not a "motorcycle guy" by any means, but found it all to be very interesting and exciting. Highly recommend a visit.

Wow! My son and I took the Steel Toe Tour with our really great guide, Janice. What an impressive operation. The factory is an ode to quality American manufacturing. Every Harley-Davidson on it's assembly line is a special order from a individual or a dealer. So the line builds motorcycles individually: first a green Softail headed for Canada, then a Black CVO built to California standards. The factory has a tight mix of automation and human quality control. For example, a gas tank is welded first by a automated machine, then the gas tank is filled with air and submerged in a water tank to test for leaks. This operation is performed by a welder who fixes any leaks on the spot and tests again. The quality control is of the highest standard. Even if you are not a hog man, you will leave the factory wanting to own one of these beautiful machines...

Really neat tour, I would definitely recommend it if you're into motorcycles or technology at all. After checking out a few Harleys and viewing a short flick on the history of Harley-Davidson you're given some protective glasses, a headset, and a tour guide to lead you through the factory. The whole process is really impressive, and some of the technology and machines you get to see while touring are really remarkable. This is definitely an interesting tour that I think anyone would enjoy.

Nonmilitary Friendly Plant Tour: For a company that prides itself on being Pro Military... I did not see it at all on this $40 Steel Toe Tour. ZERO appreciation on the ticket price, tour equipment was not working 15-25% of the time, & Larry (16yr HD vet) the ADD Tour Guide mumble about 20% time and constantly referenced something (SQUIRREL!!!) but was distracted by something else in a different location... This was second time I visited the HD plant here but I would just stick to the FREE tour since in the end... it is just a Product Tour.

Most all of the other reviews hit the nail on the head. Fantastic tour. We had the first tour that showed the 2014 models. They take you right out on the line.

The Steel toe factory tour was really an amazing tour and our tour guide Barry originally from the UK and who really loves the Amercan made Harley Davidson motorcycles made it really interesting. He gave us an excellent tour going in depth on the inner workings of all the different areas of the York PA assembly plant. He explained things really clearly as we walked through the assembly process from start to finish and by finish I mean seeing them actually being loaded on tractor trailer to be delivered all over the U.S. This tour is a must for any Harley lover and last stop of course was the gift shop which was pretty nice too but they also give you a reflective safety vest with the Steel Toe Tour and Harley shield graphics on back which I think could be actually used for some extra visibility when out riding you also get a couple of nice pins you take home. You really can get up close and personnel with a few nice photo ops sitting on some new models that are on display stands in the lobby before or after you do the tour but no photos allowed once inside the assembly area. You do need to reserve a spot for the steel toe tour and I don't think there are any tours on weekends and check the schedule online for available tour days, times and dates. Hope you enjoy this tour as much as we did!

Not worth the money or effort. - Our tour guide was unenthusiastic and passionless. I was ready to be swept up in the legend of the company and bike, and yet left as blah as our host. The ear amplifier we were given to wear so that we could hear our guide in the factory turned her voice into a shrill painful sound. The worst part was that when we asked questions, her answers were, "I don't know, I'd like to know.... I don't know, no one has ever told me.... I don't know, that would be good to know." Very surprising coming from someone who has been doing this since 2002.

Went on the factory tour with a couple of friends today. This was hands down the worst factory tour of any product that I have ever been on. I have been riding Harley's for over 40 years. I love Harley Davidson motorcycles. I have been to dozens of Harley dealers all over the country. I have yet to find one that I didn't like. I have spent hours at dealers looking at the candy also known as Harley Davidson motorcycles. Don't waste your time going to the Harley plant in PA. The tour guides did their best trying to explain from photos on a wall how a Harley is built. The only actual part we saw being made were tour bike fenders. They made it a point to tell yawning visitors how much the machines cost that make the bikes. They actually lined people up to explain how a assembly line works. What a joke! If you really want to learn how a Harley is built, go to a Harley dealership. The buffoons who designed this tour should be ashamed of themselves. If your in the area, you would be better off visiting the Ocean Spray plant. You actually learn something about their products when you take their tour. I wish there were a way to leave zero stars..

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Vaughn L. Beals Tour Center at Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations