Here's my opener, as it didn't just happen, overnight. This is a snipit of a review what I wrote, after test-riding my first ever Harley-Davidson, you join us, with my wife and I, mid-ride on the A1 (freeway) heading South towards Dunbar.
Why do I ride a Pan American?
It all goes back to Feb 2015, in preparation for a US tour, I’d arranged to test-ride an Electra-Glide Ultra, thanks to Edinburgh H-D.
Around this time, I got slightly carried away with the experience, low traffic and the urge to see how quickly it could go north of 3 digits & with an earth rumbling & yes quite glorious chatter 100mph was duly dispatched and we hurtled along enjoying the straight wide road that a bike like this was designed for and I have to tell you it was pretty bloody enjoyable!
But then comes the Yang to the Ying. I couldn’t help but notice blue flashing lights way off behind us but closing. Speed right down to 65 and hope they pass? Nope it’s me, the king of the highway they’re after alright. I flick a left signal to acknowledge I have well clocked them, and my mirrors go less blue as we tick off the 500m to the layby up ahead. It’s like they planned this you know.
Marnie off, sorry dear, so very sorry¦ WPC approaches from her BMW and suggests I was speeding? Err, well, not sure about that, I reply sheepishly.
Come and have a seat in our nice warm car, she offered. Clocked me at 85mph over distance of 450m by radar. How do I plead to £100 fine & 3 points? Accepting the offer, I did confess that due to the empty road and glorious noise from the stage 1 exhaust that I might have gotten a little carried away as it's a lovely bike. To which they agreed. What is it? Harley Davidson Electra-Glide (in Gold).
Printer error! meant they couldn’t issue the ticket at the roadside, but the report to the procurator fiscal shall reflect that I did cop at the first request and I 'don’t want to go to court! Turns out I’m the first Harley Davidson Electra Glide (in Gold) rider they’ve had in their warm car, which was nice and with that we were allowed to resume our journey the last 15 miles to Dunbar, will we make it? Now back on the road at a much more legal speed, we pass the police heading back north to reset their cunning trap.
It was an interesting conversation when I got back to the dealer and fessed up about getting caught speeding; they were somewhat surprised, but cool with the whole thing in a very decent way, which I did appreciate.
For that brief moment in time, I was a slightly taller, Robert Blake, on an Electra Glide in Gold - not Blue, it was just the mirrors that were blue.
TBC.
