John Wheeler takes a look at a legend of motorcycling
In the world of motorcycling one name stands apart - Harley Davidson. Love them or loathe them, the name has to be one of the world's best known brands. They are so very different from the mainstream of motorcycles - large, shiny, stoical, conservative and distinctly noisy. The makers even considered patenting the distinctive exhaust note.
They have been called "agricultural machines". Indeed the exhaust note is reminiscent of a vintage Fordson tractor, "Milwaukee Road Locomotives" is another tag, and a well-known designer said of them "from the waist up the Harley is Roy Rogers, from the waist down it's Union Pacific".
These truly American machines really only make sense on a prairie road that stretches straight to the horizon. The point is that you cannot look at a Harley dispassionately. Its cussedness is its charm; its train-like spirit is its allure; its horses persona is a call to abandonment. Big men fall at its feet, small boys are enthralled; whether its design makes sense or not just does not matter.
Now the world's oldest motorcycle manufacturer, these days Harley Davidson makes more money from the licensing of the brand name than manufacturing motorcycles. The logo can be found on virtually anything you care to mention. There's even a "Harley Davidson" Ford pick-up truck.
On this side of the Atlantic the actual number of Harleys is relatively small, but to their owners they are the only "real" motorcycles.
Non-Harley owners, who probably wouldn't be seen dead on one, will admit that for sheer panache and crowd-pulling ability they are without equal.
Rarely would you see a Harley used as everyday transport, they take too long to clean. Here they are strictly "recreational vehicles".
Nor is it recreation on the cheap: Jim Wade, the proud owner of a 1998 Harley's 95th Anniversary Ultra Classic spent €28,569 buying his machine, and has since spent another €12,000 or so on modifications and add-on extras. That kind of commitment is evidence of the great affection these machines produce. Though some would say that having spent so much on the bike, you just had to like it.
In a time when technological innovation is every manufacturer's aim, Harley Davidson have usually been slow to adopt what elsewhere had long been "industry standard". That is until very recently with the introduction of what is for Harley Davidson their revolutionary "V-Rod" machine.
Designed to meet new noise and emissions standards, which the signature V-twin engine could not meet, "traditional" Harley lovers regard this newcomer as being as different as chalk and cheese. It will be a long time before it is considered a "real" Harley.
At the heart of all the "real" Harleys lies their massive, air-cooled V-twin engine which looks as if it had been sculpted out of a solid billet of metal. That, plus the distinctive noise and the laid back, "cruiser" style has enormous appeal. So much so that, for all that other manufacturers might deride Harleys, most had come up with Harley-look-a-likes.
Those who ride Harleys say what attracts them is "the look, the sound". Others mention the amazing diversity of people who ride them. Others point to the fact that Harleys are somewhat basic is part of the appeal. They add that these machines hold their value remarkably well, that the majority of Harleys ever made are still around, that they were made to be repaired.
And there is the social scene. The Harley Owners Group's Ireland No 1 Chapter, whose members gather most Sunday mornings at the Thunder Road Café in Dublin's Fleet Street, talk of their ride outs, taking part in the St Patrick's Day Parade and how each year they go off to distant parts of the world - this year 34 of them went to a Harley rally in Venice's Lido di Jesselo.