Dear bike sellers: please make sure you take good photos of your bike. The cluttered, portrait-framed images of this Harley-Davidson S-125, don’t do the bike justice. But the ad’s worth noting because this is one of the best-condition S-125s I’ve ever seen.
Also known as the Model 125, or ─ more colloquially, but inaccurately, a Hummer ─ the S-125 was produced from 1947-1953. Ultimately the S-125 would transform into the Hummer (1955-1959), which is why it sometimes gets labeled with that latter name.
A quirky fact of the S-125 is that it is effectively a spoil of war. Its 125cc two-stroke single cylinder engine was designed by Germany’s DKW, but after the Second World War, the designs were given to a number of Allied manufacturers as part of war patriations.
It seems the bike was pretty popular with riders. One stat you’ll see thrown around a lot is that Harley sold 10,000 of these little beauties in 1948 alone. But by most accounts, it wasn’t terribly popular with dealers. Small bikes mean small profit margins.
The S-125’s three-speed engine produced roughly 3 horsepower and may or may not have been capable of the 55 mph top speed that Harley claimed. Various accounts differ.
This 1952 model benefits from the so-called Tele-Glide fork that had been introduced in the previous year, Before that, the S-125 featured a girder fork with rubber band suspension.
The ad says the bike has been “professionally restored [to] totally correct museum quality” with “original and OEM parts.” You can find this S-125 for sale in Irwin, Pennsylvania for $6,250 here on Facebook Marketplace.