Walk a mile in their shoes.....

It’s easy to find drivers, and riders, who can give you a horror story about their treatment at the hands of the police.

Some would have you believe that police see it as their life’s work to make life hard for drivers, to issue tickets at every possible opportunity, and to act as road vigilantes, using every trick in the book to target drivers who “have done nothing wrong”.

And there ARE police like that.  I’ve met a couple myself.

But let’s be fair.  In my part of the world, the overwhelming majority of police are honest, hard-working people with a thankless job.

For every police officer who views writing tickets as a game where he who writes the most wins, there’s a thousand who can’t believe the stupid, dangerous things people do on the road.

It’s a stressful job.  I know cops who’ve had cars driven straight at them.  I know of at least two incidents in my home state where cops have been killed – one run down deliberately, and one shot while doing traffic duty.  I know plenty of others who have been injured so severely that they have been forced to retire.

Pity the cop who’s first on the scene and is confronted with a car travelling so fast it broke into four pieces on impact. 

Or how about the one called to an accident where a poor biker has gone off the edge of the road, and down into the gully, with a likely fractured spine? 

Or how about the one who attends an accident where a biker has been decapitated by the tray of a container truck?

Need I go on?

As a bike rider, I prefer to think that these guys are in a position to help us.  We’re vulnerable to the stupid things car drivers do.  I know I’ve been hassled by cars on the road, and occasionally, nearly been run down by idiots.  It helps to view one of the roles of police as keeping the morons under control.

Every time I’ve got a traffic ticket from the cops it’s been for speeding – and I was guilty. (Oops!)  The cop has been polite and, in a few cases, has actually written the ticket down for a lower speed – meaning a lower penalty.

I do need to declare that I have a lot to do with police professionally.  You'd be surprised how many ride, and you'd be even more surprised by how many ride Harleys!

So next time you get pulled up by a cop on the road, try to remember that they’ve got a pretty ordinary job.  Try a little respect – it can’t hurt.  You’d better believe that all cops apply what they refer to as an attitude test.  It exists!  If your attitude is bad, that’s exactly what you’ll get back.

Those warnings don't apply to me, do they?

Lately, I've been thinking about how, as motorcyclists, we're vulnerable to lots of things beyond our control.

Most of us ride around as if we're immortal and the "Ride Carefully" warnings don't apply to us.  Recently, a couple of things have happened to shake that attitude a little.

Firstly, I ran into a guy at my local Harley shop and, as you do, we started talking bikes.  Turns out he was a member of a HOG chapter just south of where I live. He was using a walking stick, so I asked him about it.

He told me that, after a long riding career with no incidents, he'd recently had an accident where a car came straight through an intersection and centre-punched him.  His bike was completely written off and, were it not for the skill of the doctors, so was he!  The body trauma and internal injuries were massive.  His arm was torn completely off but the doctors were able to reattach it.  He's got major scarring on his torso and one leg is longer than the other.

He attributes the whole accident to the fact that he wasn't wearing his lucky helmet!

That same month, one of our guys went off the edge of the road and 3 metres (10 feet) down an embankment during an extended club ride.  No-one can figure how it happened.  We checked and double-checked the road and the corner where it occurred.  The road surface was even, with no potholes or corrugations.   The camber was nice and even.  The approach had good visibility.  In fact, as he was at the back of the line, the whole chapter had gone through the same corner in the minutes before he went off.  He can't remember the details of the accident, and so can't throw any light on it.

The jury is still out on the long-term extent of his injuries.  The doctors and nurses are, by all accounts, doing a great job, but nobody's making predictions. 

Both these incidents got me thinking how it could happen to any of us, at any time.  An unexpected road surface change, a miscalculation of the speed into a corner, a car disputing your right to be on the road.  These, or a thousand other factors, could throw you from your bike, ending your riding career for a while, or forever.

I'm not suggesting that we stop riding, or ride so cautiously that there's no fun in it.  Really, I believe that it's just as dangerous to ride TOO carefully.  Doing that can throw you out of rhythm, losing your line and balance, potentially causing the very accident you sought to avoid. 

What I am saying is that, as Warren Zevon said, you should enjoy every sandwich.  We can't know what's going to happen tomorrow.  Give thanks (to whoever you believe in) for what you have.

And look out for your mates.

What is it about Harleys, anyway?

I had a revelation the other day.  Not everyone likes Harley-Davidsons.  There, I've said it!

Shocking as it may seem, it's true - for a whole lot of reasons.

Over the years, I've heard lots of negative comments about Harleys.  Comments about handling, price, speed, brakes, technology or even their appearance!  I once overheard two guys on anonymous-looking Japanese bikes describe Harleys as "spanner attractors".  Never mind that the truth these days is generally pretty different. 

Harleys DO handle pretty well.  You don't see a lot of Harleys wedged under the Armco on a corner because the rider has tried to go round it at double the posted speed.  They DO stop.  These days, Harleys are very well equipped for braking with double discs, ABS, new frames, and so on. As for technology, you've only got to look at the V-Rod, designed with help from Porsche engineers to take on and beat the crotch rockets.

As far as price goes, surely value is a very subjective thing.  Many people are quite happy to buy cheap, nondescript clothes at their local discount supermarket. Others, though, prefer to buy particular brands for reasons of style, fit or durability, and they are prepared to pay a premium for that.  The same applies to Harleys.  Sure, a Japanese bike is cheaper - stands to reason, really.

I once had a guy say to me, "I don't need a Harley.  I haven't got a boat big enough for an anchor that size".  Of course, the guy was a real estate developer who went bankrupt six weeks later.  Karma.

When all is said and done, none of those things really matter.  The real joy in owning and riding a Harley is in the intangibles.

Like style.  Once you get past all the advertising guff that the ponytail guy churns out, the reality is that Harley-Davidson is consistently stylish.  They've managed that almost-impossible trick of evoking the past without looking old-fashioned or out of date.

Like people knowing and loving Harleys.  It's one of the best-known brands on the planet.  If you tour on your bike, you will have had the old guy come up to you and start reminiscing about the old days.  When you ride on the highway, kids wave at you from the back seat of their parents' car.  The guy in my local fish and chip shop says, "You ride a Harley?  That's my dream."  I just can't imagine someone saying that about a Suzuki.

Like the sound - that rumble as a bunch of Harleys approaches, and the Doppler-like effect as you hear the echo long after they pass by.

But the thing I love most of all about Harleys is the brotherhood.  The 1-percenter clubs have it in spades, but they're not alone in the desire to belong, to share experiences.

Harleys ride together.  In wet weather, you will often see other bikes struggling through the rain, cold, wet and alone.  You'll see Harleys in the rain, too.  Cold and wet, but not alone.  They're still riding with friends.  Sure, the lone biker escaping society on the highways is not a myth, but they are the exception, rather than the rule.

If you see more than three bikes together on the road, the odds are pretty good that they're Harleys.  Where the group size is 10 or more, it's almost certain that they're on Milwaukee iron.  To my mind, there's nothing more enjoyable than riding your Harley with your mates, sharing those "How good was that?" moments - from the meeting point, where we repeat the ritual of welcome and inclusion, to the Thor-like roar as a bunch of throaty v-twins screams into life, to the sheer joie de vivre of owning the road.  I love it!! 

You know, it's just possible that those who profess to dislike Harleys just haven't ridden one.