Does it have to be a Harley?

I have owned a few different brands of motorcycles this lifetime. Some I liked, some I loved. They all served their purpose for the time and I enjoyed the two wheels for what they were, ..... my "ticket to ride".

My first bike, 1965 Yamaha 60, was of course .... my best bike to date and at the time it didn't occur to me there was anything better! Well, of course, I soon wanted more HP and a larger bike. It was a brand new 69 Yamaha 175 Enduro. Now I had power aaaand style!

It was stolen in my senior year, from school of all places. I really liked that bike and I blindly went right out and bought a bigger one! I parked it in the living room. Had no garage. What would you do? It took a few years for that one to get stolen. Right off my front porch. It was a turning point. I decided two things. One, I was done with Yamahas and two, I needed to move.

Now, I'm not going to drag you thru every bike I've had. That's not the point here. (I'll let you know when I get there). But a turning point in my view of motorcycles came about in the mid 70s. A friend of mine had a Sportster. It was not the first time I had seen one, but it was the first one I rode. I had to go about 25 miles to visit Mom, and Jim said, "Take my bike". Now I'll be honest with ya, it kinda scared me. This was a BIG motorcycle! It dwarfed my Honda Elsinore and had a 'HUGH" motor! But I was up to it.

I took off, headed for the freeway, and soon found myself settling in to the feel of a "heavy" bike. And about then it set in. I was riding a Harley Davidson! I was cruising down the freeway on a Harley Davidson ..... I'm Easy fuckin' Rider! YEAH!! And of course, it was the turning point in my two wheeled life.

I can recall when I decided to be a musician. Fifth grade. Got my first drum. I can trace my entire musical career back to that moment in time. Well 10 miles out on my first Harley ride, I made that life changing decision. I was meant to be a Harley man! And I let that moment .... ride.

15 miles out, I noticed the motor was running a bit rough. It seemed to be loosing power and I began to get concerned. The mirrors are shaking so bad, I can't see what's behind me, but, I realize they have been doing that since I left. I pulled off the freeway and things seemed to smooth out. However, it was enough of a concern to pull over, check the oil, ... pose a bit .... make sure I wasn't burning it up and carried on. By the time I got to Mom's, I was back into the whole fantasy in my head and I thought nothing else of the "red flag".

Close to dark and I've gotta get back. Everyone comes out to see me off ..... on the Harley .... and it won't start. Battery is dead and I cannot get this thing to start! Pop brings out his battery charger and we determine if the generator is working. All I need is a few amps to get this thing running and I can get out of here. Plenty of time to get out a brush and try to clean up all of the the oil spots staining Pop's driveway from .... the Harley. And within an hour or so, I was on the road. And of course, at the halfway point, I am once again running out of battery and loosing power. Feeling like the commander of Apollo 13 on a dying space craft, with too far to go, I decide to conserve power and turn off the headlight. A pretty harrowing experience on a California Freeway at night. That helped and I limped it off the freeway where it promptly died. Luckily I only had a 30 minute push home. Jim, explained that yea, he'd been having problems with one of those wires and didn't really know which one but, a battery charger, a few beers and Jim was down the road.

To this day I have vivid recollection of that ride. And that decisive moment in time. Which brings me that point I was leading up to. Even with the disasters of that first HD ride fresh in my memory and a sore back from the push, I knew back then. There are motorcycles and then there are Harley Davidsons. Not everyone on the planet thinks that way, thank God! But just as every woman has a man out there somewhere who thinks she's the most beautiful Lady in the world, every motorcycle has it's enthusiast who loves their bike. To me, HD makes the best looking production bike on the planet. The configuration of that V twin supplies the torque and the sound I love. Yes, there's a camaraderie that develops around any brand. I see groups of cafe' bikes carving up the mountain all the time. Or the Gold Wing guys cruising in packs with their antennas crackling bike to bike transmissions. Or these folks on the gold Wing Trikes we met at Four Corners National Monument. They came from the Carolinas and were covering 27 states in a month! Now to them, they have the ultimate ride. And that's really what it's all about. The ride.

Yes, most of my friends ride Harleys. Not all, but most. This holds no significance to me. I don't care what you ride. Does it have to be a Harley? ....... For me it does.

   See ya on the road .... no matter what you're riding.

Beej

 

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