The other bikes are assembled on a traditional assembly line, called the "main" line, where one person will, say, attach gas tanks to every bike as it passes by. Teams on both lines produce over 500 motorcycles each day.

Snyder's first job at Harley Davidson was as a mechanized assembler on the main line. He then worked as a specialized assembler before becoming an Inspector General on the Dyna line. His job is to lead the team and inspect every part they install. As I watch, Snyder adjusts a motor on a Springer. He has to make sure it it precisely true. How much leeway does he have in making this motor straight? Well, just how straight would you like your motor to be as you're doing ninety down that Montana highway? Thought so.

Keith Clinton, in his third year with Harley Davidson, started out making tanks and fenders and now enjoys his work as a Builder on the Dyna line. "Here we're building the bike from the frame up - the whole bike," he says. "It makes you feel good when you're building the whole motorcycle." Clinton's favorite bike to assemble? "I like the FXDX. It's like what we call a sport bike and it's a very nice looking bike." But does he really enjoy working here? "I just hope I'm here to retire. It's a great place," he says. (Photo: M. Gunarich)

There is almost no need to try to explain the elaborate quality control procedures Harley Davidson uses, as the product and the market tell that story. Harleys last much longer than the average motorcycle, they hold their value much longer and their owners practically enshrine them. Every part is inspected during and after its manufacture and before, during and after its installation. One final inspection involves a rolling test, where the inspector reviews all aspects of the motorcycle's performance and condition.

How does Harley do it? It's the attitude. Everybody, from the top executives to the designers, to the line workers has that attitude. "It's all the people staying together here that's really making it work," says machinist Michael Gunarich, my tour guide today. "The people on the floor are the one's that run this company, because they listen to us."

The York plant is mostly union, with over ninety percent of the 2,700 workers, members of the International Machinist and Aerospace Workers Union, Local 175. Gunarich is quick to point out that the factory is more than just the line. It is also carpenters, painters, waste treatment workers, power house people, chrome platers, warehousemen, machinists, pressmen, welders, painters, inspectors, set-up crew, tool and die makers, janitors, groundskeepers, plumbers, security and office personnel, and he will certainly let me know if I have left anyone out.

In his two decades at Harley Davidson, Gunarich recalls only one short labor strike, and he remembers a period when workers received only an insignificant pay raise over seven years, opting to stick together so the company could survive. That's attitude.

The Harley popularity was exemplified for me the day before this interview, after I had taken the public tour of the plant. As I left, two grown men arrived, after evidently traveling a great distance to get here. They gaped at each other with giddy excitement and one of them blurted out; "We have reached the top of the mountain!"