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It is beautiful isn't it... The Countach was my poster car as a kid though. Funny you mention pricing, I remember seeing a Ferrari Dino ( the original 6 cylinder one ) that was almost affordable many many moons ago and thought ....should I? Rationality prevailed and I realised I couldn't afford to maintain it! Jeezuz I'd probably still be living on cheese and crackers and cheap red now, and I'd never have been able to indulge my two wheeled obsession. But every time I see a photo of one....Or read Peter Egans tale of driving one cross country in winter something in me stirs.... Cheers

Rode in that sort of weather a few times as a teenager and still the thought of black ice gives me the jitters! As a silly ole git now.... no way in hell. Thankfully, we don't see it here, unless you go looking for it in the high country in winter. Cheers

When we went to Bandera TX to pickup our flags for the Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas, there were a few trikes, but the vast majority of riders were on two wheels, and the main brand was HD. Independently of this particular snapshot, which is certainly not representative, there was something common to all the riders, with the exception of a few: mostly "senior" citizens. This is something I have noticed since I do the Texas tour. Very few youngsters. When I was 16, all my friends were into motorcycling. We just have to admit it; the younger generations have different interests.

I got a 2019 ultra classic last year did a few simple mods and rode it 6000 miles. Had 3200 when I bought it. The bike is nice with a lot of features for the long haul. Easy on the back and sciatica. I to am not good with the Harley culture still only wear full helmet and gear so the machine is fine, start the turn early and end a little late. Still have my MG but the Harley was a pleasant surprise.

I also remember seeing somewhere fairly recently that Harleys primary money maker isn't the actual products but the finance arm of the company. They are basically making bikes to feed the finance business. Phil

helluva setup there Tom! Just arrived in Minnesota tonight, tomorrow making the drive to Houston, Minnesota, to see where the norwegian ancestors came over to establish the "bridgehead to america" around 1850. Probably be more fun to be in norway in your garage.

My favorite too. The beautiful Miura is proportioned so well, you can't appreciate how low and ground hugging it is until you are standing next to it, towering over it. Although they weren't crazy expensive when new, they sure are now. Well above my budget, so I enjoy driving my Toyota MR2 Spyder instead.

Oh, no. Not me. I never even heard of (The) Mississippi Queen . . .

Well done, that man.

Tell us about the MR2, @alannn!

I looked into the Pan America 1250 last year with a new motor design with 150HP, on paper it sounded like a solid plan. That was until I Googled "Harley Davidson Pan America 1250 problems". They had major engine failures in 21' and many other recallable issues to sort through the following years, leaving me to sort through low mileage used bikes for sale, some with new engines. Getting a read from the forum, Harley financing pushes warranties heavily on their bikes up charging you before you can leave the dealership. The sad reality is you need the warranty to maintain one on the road. Harley has failed to reinvent itself with new products because of quality and design flaws. For instance the electric HD LiveWire with 70miles of highway range, I would have trouble getting home from the dealership . The new HD Road Glide and Street Glide look teched up with features for 25', I hope history doesn't repeat itself.

I remember when hitching was a thing

Demographics. Their customer base is graying out. They'll soon need an Electra Glide hearse.

Tell me you've never watched 'Two Lane Blacktop'. Seriously Next you'll say you don't have 'Dirty Mary Crazy Larry' or 'Vanishing Point' on DVD

Alright. Ya made me look . . .

David Bowie?

There was interest. They came with the Livewire, and it was a stellar hit *in testing*. Then they took 2 years to release it, ruined the look, made it $5k too expensive. Then all the Indian/Japanese/whatever the smaller stuff was, which was ugly slow and still expensive. There was nothing wrong with Sportsters as first bikes, except They want scarcity, they'll get it. Until they can source American parts, of which there are very few.

Earlier on this evening I had a look at the Hardly Rideable website, I think for the first time ever. Would I own one? Definately not. Never interested me, most likely never will. It amazes me that they, with such a limited customer base, have managed to survive for so long.

And that brngs me to this. Sorry....

@Lucky Phil got me on to Johnny Cash, and the next clip on the tube was this. I love this song. although I'm not sure if I maybe like this version better

Don't know what you're getting at.

IDK what that H/D is going to do because they make one thing and one thing only. Then make 27 variations of the one thing with the prices going UP UP UP. This bike is made for one customer base and one customer base only . I have friends that ride them and respect their choice . Would I own one. Prolly not. I will have to quote James Mariner "Harley makes the best kickstand of all time" !

Michelin is also running a Spring 2025 promo on tires, ending soon . . . ! Michelin Promo

I suppose they're really gonna take it, along with the US riding community, once these tariffs kick in.

Will the last Indian standing please make motorcycles?

Piaggio is a pretty big company. But Aprilia is a pretty small part of Piaggio. So it does not get the resources for this that it needs. A classic example is that for much of the time until now Aprilia fielded two MotoGP bikes as required by the rules but they basically had one good one made with the best parts and the other was made with the parts that were left over. When you are custom making parts there are always going to be differences in quality of each part, some will be better and some will be worse. If you have the resources, you throw away the ones that are worse. But if you can't afford that you keep all the parts you make, and then decide which bike you use the worse parts on, saving the better parts for the A bike. Aleix rode the A bike for many years, with whomever was the B rider riding the B bike. There was always a massive difference in performance between the two bikes (actually two sets of bikes, if you want to be correct). It was a massive step for them to start actually fielding two sets of equal bikes. And now they are building four sets, although how equal they are remains to be seen. From what I have heard, as well as what I have seen, a good judge of a teams financial resources is how many people work for it. And Aprilia, for a factory team, has the fewest number of people working for it.

My little tart-of-a-roadster has been at my specialist shop for ten weeks. With these beautiful spring days, I miss her spritely ways she cheers me up on the lovely backroads and winding country lanes. The wife said, "Why don't you just sell it ?" It's okay, I still love her. The wife? Yeah, keeping her, too.