Motorcycling USA.

Size isn't everything, but apparently it makes a difference.

My motorcycling experience started when I was sixteen, back in the sixties when crash helmets weren't compulsory in the UK. I come over here and see that crash helmets are not compulsory in some states. Although I don't deny the healthy life saving properties of encasing ones skull in plastic, seeing these guys riding out on a weekend does give me pangs of nostalgia. It is a lovely sensation feeling the breeze in your hair - as long as you don't fall off.

Sensible with helmets.

Then I got to thinking about the different styles of riding. For many years I regarded Harley Davisons with disdain. As far as I was concerned they were relics, which didn't handle well, didn't brake well and didn't have half the power or speed of modern machines. In fact the only time I have been held up on the roads of Britain by a motorcycle, when I was driving a car, was by a couple of Harley riders, threepenny bitting it round the corners of an English country road. They looked faintly ridiculous with all their glitz and chrome, passing through quaint little country villages.

Hands up.

But this weekend I saw them in their natural environment - the American Highway, and they looked positively desirable. They were obviously weekend machines, without a rain spot on them, but that didn't matter. Here, with speed limits just about everywhere, and with careful US driving habits ingrained, they were most definitely the right tool for the job.

I'm buying shares in chrome polish manufacturers.

 Middle aged men with large midriffs sit spreadeagled across their customised Hogs, their women perched behind. I suspect that they have very respectable jobs during the week, but come Saturday they they take the bike out and cruise at a sedate forty miles an hour, looking real badass…

Only one more wheel to go...

For the first time I get it. There aren't that many corners in this part of the world, so why do you need a steed that handles well? Most of the time you're restricted to forty five or so, so why have a speed machine? If I lived here I wouldn't want a high performance bike. I'd be out there on my cruiser, enjoying the sensation of the wind in my hair and the sun on my face.

Look - no helmets!

At home it's very different, so I ride a very different machine. But now I realise that there's a  place for everything, and things only look ridiculous when they're not in their place.