I couldn't resist today and hit the sunshine...



I took the great grandson of 'the bike that won the war' ( ) for a change and covered about 125 miles all told...It really was a perfect riding day punctuated only by a stop for a pasty and an ice cream with a flake and clotted cream on it for dinner...Mmmm!...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

The bike that won the war ?
That was an M20.

Of course...I was refering to the extravagant Harley Davidson advertising slogan of the time...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Why isn't it green?

You could have wandered off for a pee, and never found it again on the way back

In fact the Sportster isn't a bad bike..Mine is a 2000 model so no fuel injection, ABS brakes or rubber mounted engine etc....

It's somewhere between a Triumph T140 Bonneville and a Norton Commando in 'feel' and performance, vibrates and makes a nice noise...

Of course you have to ignore all the Harley 'hype' and 'lifestyle' rubbish, the jibes from riders with 'real mens' Harleys and everyone else who's never tried one but knows they are crap to free up your mind to appreciate it for what it is... ....

For now I'm happy enough to have it in the garage along with the old bikes..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Ian, is that a belt-driven sy-reen next to the rear wheel...or is it the rear wheel ? If a bike is to win a war then it obviously has to have a sy-reen, just as a Jeep does.

I don't think it will win any wars...but maybe it deserves to win something next year for being in continuous production for 60 years?...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Probably needs an award for the best motocycle exhaust noise.

Years ago I was on a trip through the Somme region; in the early hours, around 2am, I had stopped for a pee, side of the road, french fashion, and a group of three backpatch chopper types I had seen on the same ferry earlier came past.

It was if a flight of WW1 fighter planes had come past, at that hour, in that deserted area, quite eerie.

I can still recall the sound.

I was one of those who listen to others going on about 'Tractors' and all that bull and I believed it because I didn't know any better. Around the millennium I took my Ducati 900 Monster to Faro, along with my youngest son and we were not sure of how to get out of Santander and onto the right road for Portugal. We got chatting to several bikers who were in the same predicament and eventually met a Harley rider who had some sort of lowrider (don't know one model from another, I'm afraid). He said he was going to Northern Portugal and would point out the correct road for us to take, he also warned that as he was on his Harley, he would be a bit slower than us.......

Jeezus.... Going over the mountains (Picos De Europa) before the motorway was built, I had the bike down to the footpegs. That guy could ride and his bike was like a rocket sled on rails, that journey forever changed my perception of Harleys.....

email (option): stinkypete80@hotmail.com

I'll swap Ian my WD G3L for it.