I thought I would start this thread about what memories or influence made you buy or build a Harley, I will share my own experience and hope you add ure own.
Let me set the scene, I was 12yrs old and my family and I where camping (xmas Hols) at the Ashley river outside Christchurch NZ (yes I am a Kiwi) anyway it was about 7-30 - 8-00 on a friday night when a pack of Harleys, triumphs and nortans roared into the campsite, about 20 -30 bikes.
They were a chapter of the Hells Angels (shit this was 30yrs ago) anyway all of the family campers freaked out and pulled the kids indoors and shivered in their tents and caravans while the bikers partied all night and had a good time, I had always benn fasinated with motorbikies, i cant remember why
In the morning at about 10am I ventured into thier campsite and stared at a HD Pan, jet black, big upswept pipes with fish tail ends ape hangers and leather tassles and huge sissy bar and raked front end, after about 10mins of me staring at the bike this 9ft tall biker came up to me and asked me what I was doing, I stammered could you please take me for a ride.
You could imagine my parents shock and horror when they see their 12yr old son on the back of a Hells Angels Chopper zooming past (i would pay a thousand bucks for the look)
After the initial shock of me on a back of an outlaw bike screaming in absolute joy, the bikers and my parents started talkin and had a few things in common (cant remember wat) the whole campground got over the preception of outlaws and had a massive party on the river bank and to this day 30 years ago was one of the best nights of my life I can still remember it like yesterday. NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY THE COVER
Anyway that is my shortened story and how I fell in love with HDs although I am drawn into the older bikes, but that is my personal opinion, I have also owned Triumph Tiger and a Norton Commando.
Please share ure first HD experience
Cheers
Woody
Was looking through an old box of my stuff at my parents house a few years ago and found some old school books from year 7,must have been about 13 and while all the other kids used rock star and surf pictures to cover their books I was using Dave Mann centre folds out of american biker mags. Not sure what started me but I can remember being at a newsagent and flicking through an "Easyrider" or "In the Wind" mag and their was heaps of cool looking guys mostly riding harleys along with a generous spattering of semi naked chicks, the illustrated freedom and lifestyle would have been the inital attraction. About a year later a bike club stopped at my oldmans country pub to clear the dust out of their throats for a few hours and I spent most of that time checking out their bikes, these bikes would have been the 1st Harley's that I had seen all together at one time and from that point on I new I would ride a Harley. Was always abit of a mongral kid.
The oldies had bikes when they were young before i was hatched, and said that if i ever bought a motorbike home they would put an axe through the tank and burn it..ever since then i wanted one(shit of a kid). I alway wanted a Harley because you could customise them, they didn't look all the same, and they were loud. My mum won a trail bike so the next day i went and bought an XR motorbike and said if it's good enough for you it's good enough for me. It took me a long time of winging to let the wifey let me get a bike.She said "if the bank will lend you the money get one", the female bank manager loved Harleys and gave me the money....end of story.
Getting into bikes in general.... Hmm growing up in a small town, I got rides from kids on their farm bikes. Lucky bastards had all the space and room and little 50/100cc bikes to hoon around before they were even ten.
My brother got a big Jap roadbike up in Hay, NSW and I also had my sister's almost-fiance killed on the Westgate Bridge in 1986 when I was about seven. That hurt, naturally. Though I have never subscribed to the 'coffin on wheels' bullshit you hear bandied about.
Having always been fascinated by motorsport, I find that engine notes and power are just killer. Nascars at Calder Park were a great summer treat. Wayne Gardner. Mick Doohan. Stoner v The Doc. But nothing beat seeing a Harley next to you at the lights, just idling and let everyone know that nothing beat those big American engines. When a group passed you on the highway, you (and your dad as well) surely would daydream would it was like to be one of them.
I got to being 20 or so and thought 'sod this, I'm going for my bike licence'. A Honda V-twin custom 250cc served me well and of as the last fortnight, it got turned into a Harley XL1200.
Put simply, right now n back then. I can't be frigged dragging at lights (unless its avoiding the small percentage of certified wankers in cages), I don't wanna break land-speed records. I don't wanna touch my knee on the road in a turn. No monos either. I just like riding on the world's best (and coollest) machines that are made for long and comfy miles. And freedom. HD - no brainer.
Well lets see, I was at the Glengarry pub in Victoria with my old man and there was an old Indian and Knuckle parked out the front. Man they looked fantastic as they just stood out from any other bike around. Then I saw my first softail in 85 and thought I'm going to have one of those, after getting the crutch rocket syndrome out of my system with Ducati's, my wife went out and bought me a 07FXSTC hey I picked the bloody colour! Since we first got married I've always told her that I would eventually have a softail, it must of stuck in her mind for she paid lock stock and barrel for the lot, yeh I know what your asking, where can you find a sheila like that and does she have any sisters. The funny thing is she hates the bike and will not go riding with me, talk about being a luck bastard.
nice story jill. mine has defining points in it that led to a dream that eventually came true after way too many years that story is in the forum somewhere . first defining point was on the way to football from Inala to souths acacia ridge there was this old fribo shack with guys in black jackets drinking laughing working on bikes all the time would of been in the mid 70's didnt matter what time we went past this place there was always a good time going on .Rumour now was it was the first Black Uhlans club house (in Brisbane)dont know if was true or not .but it certainly looked fun . mum and Dad would always turn there nose up at it and poo poo it started the rebellious side of me at a very young age . second defining point earlier 80's i suppose was TV The fonz and billy jack 2 very cool people IMO who had a attitude that was always in control of there destiny something i liked .and a video of woodstock, hippee i know but still a culture that looked a whole lot of fun and the music was the best and still is IMO again third was i went to the rebels bike show at the norman hotel when i was 16 my sister dropped me of she was scared couldnt get out of the place quick enuf i thinkm she thought she was going to be kidnapped lol was funny .that's where the dream really got a push and seeing all those bikes all those people with 1 thing in common and not giving a shit about anything except having a good time .there was a bike in the air held up by a crane with the bike show flag on it .was amazed at that at such a young age dont know y forth was whole lot of drinking and smoking with mates and meeting a guy from the Blue Mountains named Bang owned a triumph pre unit and was one of the best guys i have ever meet.I finished my apprenticeship and moved straight there to Blackheath and meet guys with manes like bang ,slim, tiny, bear . they took me in has like i was family had alot of good times ohhh the memory's and has alot to do with how i am today, they wernt into patches (not that there's any thing wrong with that lol). They were bikers and we ran a muck for along time .im going to back there 1 day when i can get some holidays by myself . Then there was a scale model of a softail heritage classic that my x got me to keep the dream alive and i would look at and say 1 day and then there were days i would look at it and say looks like thats the closest im ever going to get then i would slap myself . Just owning a Harley doesn't make you a biker its a lifestyle its a attitude its a passion for freedom on the open roads the love of the wind in yer face parties and mate ship its cleeshay i know but shit its how i sees it
This is an excellent thread and some good stories so far, some budding story tellers amongst us I see.
To me it was a long time realisation......but the clincher for me was the sound , that rumble, especially when you saw a pack of Harleys coming towards you on the highway. Wind down the window and enjoy that orchestra. Pure bliss. Like most of us I was into bikes at an early age, Bantams, chook chasers and the like and then the dream of owning a Harley.
I remember in the mid 70's walking past the Harley Dealership in Adelaide, stopping and staring through the window. The bikes looks huge, solid and mystical. At that stage I could never imagine owning one of those exspensive machines, all metal, chrome and leather, no plastic in sight.. It was way beyond my dreams at that stage.
Years later, I was living in the territory and a family that lived accross the road were in to bikes. This family were very close, they were all musical, intelligent and interestingly they had 3 Harleys, a Viargo and a Yammy 650twin. Andrew the Dad was the proud owner of a black Softail Custom. One day he took me for a ride out on the highway. I remember glancing over his shoulder to see the speedo hitting 160km/hr, it was incredible. I was hooked big time from then on. Then a cousin and his wife bought their first of many Harleys, I was envious to say the least. Like most of us, I was in the family mode, young kids, house expenses and the dream of a Harley was a priority way down the list. Well in someone's list, not mine.
Eventually I stopped dreaming, stopped buying every Harley raffle ticket and had the means to get a Harley. I had that queasy feeling in my guts about the expense involved. I looked at the Jap copies and second hand bikes. But I asked myself the question, would I be happy with a Suzi, Yammy or Kwaka cruiser? No way they just don't have that mystique and history. I thought, "what the heck, you only live once" I visited the bike shop one more time and made the decision, 2003 Anniversay Softail, Lepera single seat, T-Bars, blinker kit, slash cuts etc. Waited 3 loooong weeks and the day finally came.
My 2 daughters came along with me, camera in tow to record the big delivery, plus someone had to take the original parts for me.
I rode out of the city with a smile that wouldn't stop.....................then it rained on the way home...................but I was still smiling.
twincam88b
Ok, I'll have a crack at it, I have ridden bikes since I was about 12 years old but probably the first time I took any notice of a Harley was when I was walking home from school at the age of about 14 and passed a Renegades funeral. I didn't realise what was happenning and yelled out something stupid to one of my mates only to be stared at by about 40 Bikers, thats when I noticed the Harleys. Then I watched Easy Rider, Stone etc and loved the freedom of the whole biker thing. By my 20's I was playing in a band as part of my living and we did a Rebels gig at Wappa Rock on the sunshine coast and I noticed a blue softail sitting amongst the bikes and thought to myself when I get a Harley that will be the one. I still have a picture of it on the wall at home with the bike in the foreground and my band in the background. So after flogging every jap, pommy etc bike for the last 30 or more years I thought it was time to buy the blue softail, so I did. I eventually got sick of playing music as a living, it used to be fun when it was a hobby but unlike music and even though I am now a postie I have never tired of riding bikes. Like Jill ( I think) said earlier, it's either in you or it ain't.
