{"id":7053,"date":"2014-01-06T12:43:38","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T02:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeme.tv\/?p=7053"},"modified":"2014-01-16T20:54:32","modified_gmt":"2014-01-16T10:54:32","slug":"the-king-and-i-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/the-king-and-i-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"THE KING AND I \u2013 PART 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"h-d&bolt<\/p>\n

It was New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n

The roads were swarming with Highway Patrol eagerly loading revenue into the coffers of the state.<\/p>\n

I rang Kel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat Panhead of yours,\u201d I stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about it?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably need to take it out and smear some oil on the Queen\u2019s highways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat idea,\u201d Kel replied. \u201cI\u2019ll let you ride it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI might let you essay the King in return.\u201d<\/p>\n

And thus it was agreed.<\/p>\n

\"h-d&bolt

What the Hell is there not to love here?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"h-d&bolt

First cousins, without a doubt.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"h-d&bolt

So close…yet, so far…<\/p><\/div>\n

I met Kel at a civilised hour and we proceeded, as civilised men do, at a civilised pace to Manly beach, where I reasoned a goodly proportion of the city\u2019s babe population would be rubbing oil into its lady parts and getting its New Year\u2019s Eve suntan on.<\/p>\n

Seemed like a good place for two leathery Harley riders to be.<\/p>\n

And so I bestrode Kel\u2019s 65 Panhead \u2013 the third Panhead I have ever ridden \u2013 explained to him how the King likes to roll and that he has two more gears to play with than he has on the Panhead, and off we went.<\/p>\n

You know something?<\/p>\n

That 50-year-old Pan is a gem of thing.<\/p>\n

The work that Kel has done to the engine is rock-solid. It pulls like a train, and vibrates almost not at all. I was astonished at how smooth it delivered its power and how easily it banged on when I twisted the throttle.<\/p>\n

\"h-d&bolt

He loves it. The screen, not so much.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"h-d&bolt

Yes, it does come with a centrestand.<\/p><\/div>\n

For his part, Kel was smiling like a murderer on the King.<\/p>\n

The similarities between the two bikes are astonishing.<\/p>\n

There is no question that the DNA of the Pan is extant in the DNA of the King. Certainly, the King\u2019s a much younger and more robust DNA, and there is certainly the question of handling and brakes, which the King has lots of and the Pan has very little of \u2013 but there is no doubt they are part of the same family.<\/p>\n

The Pan feels smaller than the King and its handling is certainly intriguing. Its lack of meaningful stopping power is even more intriguing. Wooden is a good word to describe what\u2019s going on there. In fact, it’s the only word that doesn’t have swearing in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should have ridden it before I put the disc on the front,\u201d Kel explained. \u201cIt was diabolical with the drum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"h-d&bolt

One of the most handsome engines ever built.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"h-d&bolt

Kel was of the view that the King’s front-end would bolt straight onto his Pan.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"h-d&bolt

I told him to stand back or I would throw a rock at him.<\/p><\/div>\n

We proceeded with great dignity, circumstance and some pomp to beach, and we only paused once for some minor repairs to the Panhead\u2019s gear-shift lever.<\/p>\n

Being an old warhorse, Kel chose a nice shady spot in a deserted schoolyard to make these repairs. Nothing sucks more that doing repairs in the summer sun. As a former Shovelhead owner, I can attest to that.<\/p>\n

The gear-lever suitably affixed, we docked at a very crowded caf\u00e9 opposite the beach, and with an excellent view of the public shower, and ordered coffee.<\/p>\n

\"h-d&bolt

I failed to detect a smile from this angle…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"h-d&bolt

…so I tried this angle. Still no luck.<\/p><\/div>\n

A young fellow brought the coffee and wanted to know whose Panhead it was.<\/p>\n

Kel declared ownership and was told that the young bloke had seen him many times in the past months cruising the beach on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been here in years,\u201d Kel told him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sure about that?\u201d I asked, concerned that maybe his memory had begun to fail.<\/p>\n

\u201cPositive,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what do you reckon about the King?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d he smiled. A little wistfully, I thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a joy to ride. I could ride it to Melbourne right now,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe suspension is great, the brakes are awesome and it\u2019s got some grunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all relative, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect two hundred words by sundown tonight,\u201d I said. \u201cThere are no free rides here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"h-d&bolt

Kel looks out to sea to see if there were any whales breaching and cavorting.<\/p><\/div>\n

As good as his word, Kel sent me the following:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cMy name\u2019s Kel and I haven\u2019t had a new bike since my 1982 FLHS. My personal compliance plate reads DOM 1961 but my odometer is stuck on 30, if you know what I mean. So when Boris asked if I was up for a ride on a perfect summer day, I jumped. He had the new Road King and I was keen to see it up close. See, I currently ride a 1965 Panhead that I rebuilt from a neglected mule bought in the US. I love the fucking thing with all its faults and it\u2019s probably the pick of the twenty-odd Harleys I\u2019ve had over the years.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We met in the morning and to see the RK was a surprise. Super-neat finish and excellent paint. I even saw some variances in the fine pin-striping so there must have been a human hand involved, which I thought was great in this age of decals.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I waited for him to throw me the key but there ain\u2019t one, apparently. There is some fob thing with an alarm thing, so all I needed to do was hit the starter button. With lots of buttons on offer I stabbed at a few until it fired up.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now keep in mind the only reference point I have for comparing the Road King is my 50-year-old Pan or one of the other showcase of shitboxes I have owned, built and sworn at for over 30 years.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

First impression? It\u2019s tall and the centre of gravity feels high for a Harley. I\u2019m over six foot in the old money and had no issues with the height; it was just different for me.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It sounded only just OK; very over-muffled, but I guess that\u2019s by law rather than by design and there is a massive aftermarket industry to help fix this. I\u2019d be straight into that market if it was my bike.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We trundled off and I thought: Geezus this is OK. Torque was instantly there from idle and it just came and came and came. Really super-smooth and linear.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is this big screen fitted that I couldn\u2019t get used to. I\u2019ve never had a bike with a screen and found it annoying cos my eyeline was right on the rim. If it was my bike the screen would be on eBay that afternoon.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We navigated out of the traffic and I got to run through the gearbox. There was six fucken gears! Who needs six gears? Anyway the tranny is a joy with all of the same traits as my old four-speed ratchet top, like a clunk into first and a vague resistance to finding neutral except at rolling speed. Some things don\u2019t change in 50 years and it made me feel at home.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the road the suspension and seat comfort is perfect; definitely the nicest stock Harley offering. Apparently it\u2019s an adjustable air-ride rear, but it was spot on for me and I found myself looking for bumps to marvel at how good it was. It\u2019s something that you could ride to Melbourne on just for a hamburger. It\u2019s just that comfy!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I was reluctant to give it the berries as it\u2019s not my bike, but when Borrie got away from me in traffic I was forced to. Fuck, what a motor! Again the poor thing is running super-lean and could do with a tweak to the air\/fuel ratio. That would also help with the heat that was being pumped out onto my leg. It was definitely running too lean. When we pulled up for a photo and swapped back, I was a little disappointed to give it over.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What a joy that Road King is.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Would I have one? Fuck yeah.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Would I buy one? Nope.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not that it\u2019s a bad thing. It\u2019s not at all. It\u2019s just not what I like.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I like smelling burning fuel and oil and having vibrations and rattles and shudders. That\u2019s what makes me smile!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"h-d&bolt

The King loves the beach.<\/p><\/div>\n

If I was unkind, I would say there wasn\u2019t a lot of smiling when Kel was cable-tying his gear-lever back on, but I\u2019m not unkind.<\/p>\n

And he will come around.<\/p>\n

One day.<\/p>\n

Probably.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ufeffI met Kel at a civilised hour and we proceeded, as civilised men do, at a civilised pace to Manly beach, where I reasoned a goodly proportion of the city\u2019s babe population would be rubbing oil into its lady parts and getting its New Year\u2019s Eve suntan on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[219,67,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7053"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7095,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053\/revisions\/7095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}