It's a bike with a soul which reveals its owner's personality. Anne Lucey visits the rally for Harley-Davidsons in Killarney and finds some unexpected bike fans among the 10,000 in town
Is yours a Screamin' Eagle "drenched in chrome and custom paint", a Softail Fat Boy or a Dyna Wide Glide? The answer would tell a lot about the owner of a Harley-Davidson.
Some 5,000 Harley-Davidson bikes are in Killarney, Co Kerry this weekend for this country's first European Hog (Harley Owners Group) rally. Last year the rally rolled into St Tropez, France. Previous stops have been Barcelona and Amsterdam. It has also hit Venice and Lake Garda in Italy.
More Easy Rider, or Robert Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, than Hell's Angel, the Harley-Davidson owner can be anything from "a dustman to a doctor", according to organisers.
Judging by thebig warning signs around the central stand area at the Gleneagle Hotel complex that read "Photographers are working at this event", the famous are not far off either. The unofficial chatter is that Edge from U2 is expected and Harley fan George Clooney "is definitely in town".
Some of the international gathering choose guided tours of the Ring of Kerry or the Macgillycuddy's Reeks for a ride out. Others sit around, shooting the breeze with beer in hand. Most check out the decidedly cowboy- and cowgirl-style merchandise, where starting prices for soft long leather skirts are €350.
There's a choice too of American Indian roll-up blankets, dog tags, fringed waistcoats (leather of course), pen knives, silver wristbands, stirrups, bumbags, torches, pens and bottle openers for the road - much of it with the distinctive Harley crouching eagle.
Naturally, the Eagles' Hotel California provides the musical backdrop. In late afternoons the laid-back feeling revs up as Suzi Quatro, The Commitments and a Rolling Stones tribute band give live performances.
According to Nigel Villiers, director of Hog Europe, events such as this week's rally are a great way of changing any negative perception of bikers. Harley owners are often professional people and family oriented.
'THE THING ABOUT the Harley is everybody customises their bike. People's personality can come out through the bike. No two bikes are the same," Villiers says.
This is echoed on the field by John Hayes, from Carlow, who is manning the Celtic Thunder Chapter tent. Ireland's first Hog chapter, it is just one year old, and already has some 65 members. "Harley owners are from factory workers to company director. Nobody really cares what you work at. It's the Harley-Davidson bike that's the attraction. A Harley has a soul," Hayes says, looking admiringly at a red model parked just outside. Hayes is involved in the building trade.
"The saying is 'If you have to explain you wouldn't understand,' " he adds. The Hog is also "very 21st century". This is because Harley groups are "very family friendly". His wife Susan has a Harley.
In line with the claims that all professions are represented, the 10,000 visitors to Killarney are staying in a variety of accommodation from campsites to top-notch hotels and upmarket B&Bs and guesthouses.
The German Lahn River Chapter from near Frankfurt is staying at the four-star Kathleen's Country House. Its members spent 30 hours in the saddle to get to Killarney, not counting the time spent on ferries from Calais to Dover and Pembroke to Rosslare.
The 31-strong contingent includes a doctor, a dental hygienist, a senior revenue official and a Lutheran Church Minister.
PASTOR CHRISTIAN SILBERNAGEL has a customised painting of the Resurrection towards the front of his bike. He wears a 1940s-style helmet which bears the writing "God is my co-pilot". Harley-Davidsons are motorcycles with their own character and he likes the challenge of having to struggle with the bikes.
"They are not easy to handle," Silbernagel says. Going out on a bike with bikers' leather has a practical side for his work. "It helps me because people in my parish like me most in these clothes, in the leather," he says, as he leaves to tackle the Dingle peninsula.
Retired Frankfurt police officer Horst Pfeiffer (73) and his wife Marthel (72) have biked since the 1950s. Natalie Hartmann (21), who is in the party with her parents and boyfriend, says there is a philosophy attached to Harley biking: "Live to ride, ride to live".