We all remember the summer of 1976 (Well us oldies do), it was an absolute scorcher which made the paper round all the more bearable. I managed to save £140.00 and buy my first bike, a 2 year old Yamaha RS 100 and I've never looked back since.

Harley-Davidson Low Rider Myth or not, in 1977 Harley-Davidson's Low Rider was introduced at Daytona Bike Week. Dubbed the FXS, it was the first of Harley's "factory customs" that would later include the Bad Boy, Road King, Fat Boy and the epic Heritage Springer. In addition to a low seat height, features on that first Low Rider included raised white lettered tires, drag bars, mag wheels, and an oft-copied two-into-one slash-cut exhaust. The bike was an instant hit, inspiring Willie G. and his staff to create even more custom models - a trend that continues today.

Rain wind or shine, that feeling of being totally independent starts to take over. Your social circle changes very quickly and I soon found a new bunch of mates, who were just as reckless and carefree. After several accidents, I convinced myself a bigger and faster bike would be safer as I could get out of trouble quicker. (Yeah right).

So that was that, a Yamaha RD 250 with 350 heads and barrels, bored out to 380cc with racing pistons and boy was it fast. Dresda Motorcycles tested it on their rolling road and it notched 132 mph, very quick for 1978 and would blow away much bigger bikes on the Mad Mile near Box Hill in Surrey, only problem was I kept blowing holes in the pistons. After a stint on a Suzuki GT 550 I finally managed to buy a Honda K3 550 which took me all over Europe and the UK, unfortunately after a rather bad accident I had to move on a again.

To keep things short I tried various bikes, such as the Yamaha 750 Genesis, Honda 750's and even a Triumph Bonneville 750 which incidentally was at that point in time, the most enjoyable piece of machinery I had ever owned. More recent history saw me buying a Kawasaki ZX6R, I needed something that would compete with Bart (Bart Delgado profile will be coming soon), it went like stink (The bike not Bart), and scared the life out of me on more than one occasion. It had to go and I needed to grow up, so after a 4 year love hate relationship I finally purchased the ultimate Bike, a Harley Davidson Low Rider. It's a slogger, but my god does it sound good and it's 1500cc of power certainly turns a few heads. This really is the ultimate and I can't wait until June when we will be off to Italy for a week with a large group of other Harley's.

'LIVE TO RIDE, RIDE TO LIVE' is the Harley motto, and I think I now understand the real meaning of this. My only regret is I wish I had ridden a Harley years earlier.

Motorcycling gives you a real sense of freedom and really does allow you to forget the stresses and strains of modern day life, if only for a short while.

I am a believer that motorcycling should be fun and that's exactly what it is to me and my better half. I have a car so I don't need to go out in the rain, so I won't if at all possible. If that makes me a fair weather rider then so be it. Happy Biking…