List of a biker’s dozen

We all do it, think about the what if I had the dosh? What would the hanger look like?

So having been thinking about it for ages I thought I’d come up with my biker’s dozen, the top twelve bikes I’d be out looking for once when those six numbers came up.

We went round to hear he’d just sold his pride and joy. His highly tricked out firebreathing Kwacker. ‘Why?’ we asked.

The answer was simple.

‘There comes a time in a bloke’s life,’ he told us, ‘when he has to buy a Harley.’

I was struggling a bit with finding an image or a video to illustrate this one but then I realised why. It’s because the Harley I (or you) want probably doesn’t actually exist, in all its details, until I find it and build it to just the way I want, to match the dream, the ideal Harley I’ve been hankering for and constructing in my imagination ever since I was a kid.

That 50’s bobber look (again!). I can see the fat bob tanks, the soft tail suspension, that particular rake, the bars, the rear fender that’s just right. Whitewall tyres, gotta have those, and running boards...

And it’s nowhere. Nothing will ever be exactly right, until it’s built just the way I want it.

Meanwhile, sit back, crack open a beer and enjoy the video/ride.

We all do it, think about the what if I had the dosh? What would the hanger look like?

So having been thinking about it for ages I thought I’d come up with my biker’s dozen, the top twelve bikes I’d be out looking for once when those six numbers came up.

As a young rocker roaming around SW London / NW Surrey in the early eighties there were places of pilgrimage. The Winning Post for the biker night, the Graveyard in Twickenham for spares, Motique in Chertsey for chop bits, and Jack Lilley in Shepperton to press your nose up against the window and lust after what was on show.

The Ducati 900 SS dressed in its slinky black and gold was simply sex on wheels.

They had the full faired tricolor Mike Hailwood replica, but it was the stripped down long leggedness of the pure street racer that had me in its thrall from the moment I saw it.

It looked sexy, it looked exotic, and I wanted it sooooooo badly.