How did I get here?

Well at 66 years old its been a long journey! I started with a few mopeds; many of which were ridden illegally which meant by the time I got a licence I already had 3 endorsements.

I then went onto Lambretta’s and had several; most of which spent their life in bits; my mum’s garden often resembled a breakers yard. I then went onto trail bikes; A Kawasaki KE175 and a Suzuki TS185. After passing my bike test (the day before my 18th Birthday-god it was easy back then) I got my first proper road bike a Yamaha XS 1100; the biggest of the super-bikes at that time.
I then swapped that for a Kawasaki Z1100 and after a short break I then bought a brand new Yamaha VMax (full power).

Life took over a bit at that time and I sold the VMax 3 years later at a profit!) with just 3000 miles on the clock, as it was simply not getting enough use.

I then had a break for around 15 years but always hankered after another big bike and saw the Victory range which I thought (and still do think) were works of art. in 2014 I was casually looking through a brochure one day when my wife said, “I’ve got some pension money, why don’t I buy you a bike?”

Before she has a second thought we were in the car and off to Freedom Motorcycles where I bought a Victory Vegas. It was a great bike but I had bought it in haste and the model I really wanted was a Jackpot, and so when a brand new one came up on EBay with a hefty discount I could not resist and bought it. The tricky bit was telling the wife that the bike she bought me was going! The Jackpot (JT) is a really great bike and I can never see me selling it;

We took it on a tour of France and Spain last year and had such a great time that we knew we wanted more. However as good as the Jackpot is, it is not a great tourer. at least not for the passenger. Jaded by the way that Polaris treated Victory owners, there was no way I could bring myself to buy an Indian and so earlier this year I bought a Harley Ultra Limited (Jaffa) from Lind Newmarket. We have already toured Belgium, and have been to Harley runs in Budapest and Aviemore. We have become so seduced by the whole Harley HOG thing that I decided a needed another bike (well you cant have too many can you?). I had been looking at V-Rods when I bought the Victory, and when I saw my first Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod I knew I just have one; it has all the bling of the Jackpot with a Harley badge. I saw a few this year, but none were quite right and finally I stopped of at West Coast Harley in my way to Aviemore and bought a VRSCE2 there on the spot!

Its early days but I am really enjoying “Mel”. Totally different than any other bike I have had and different from other Harley’s. I can (almost) understand why V-Rods split opinions. However I think she is here to stay; certainly the best handling bike I have ever had; I’m already looking forward to next years summers trips.