I have a confession to make...

I've always prided myself on never shying away doing anything on a bike: Tail of the Dragon and back in six days or twelve hundred km in a single day? No problem. All 'round Europe on an FJR1300? Sign me up. Race a Honda CBR250R for a season? You don't have to ask twice.

I've ridden dirt, motocross, trials and track, and I've done more street miles than I care to recall and I love it so much, I even teach riding. But there's one thing I've never done: Ridden a Harley Davidson further than around the block.

I should say, this is not entirely by choice. Growing up in England they're not a common bike and I was dirt poor at the time. I rode mainly rat bikes from Honda and Yamaha. A Harley, even if I could find one, would have been out of my price range.

Since moving to North America, I've mainly gone the new bike route, but I've stuck to what I know: Sportier machines from European or Japanese makers.

It's not that I don't want to ride a Harley. I've ridden my share of other cruisers - I've done seat time on V-Stars, Honda Shadows and Gold-Wings, Suzuki Boulevards and others. For some reason, I've just never had the chance at Milwaukee's finest.

I do also have cruiser rider friends, but they all seem to have the Japanese equivalents. When asked why, it's a cost decision. Or a reliability decision. Or they like the fact the technology is newer, faster, better. Or, more often than not, they simply do not want a Harley. Even cruiser riders come in tribes.

@teramuto is (i think) the only one of my friends who does ride an HD Road King, but he lives in Ottawa. He's also the source of my single experience on Harley when he let me ride his hard tail chopper around his neighbourhood last year. My kidneys still hurt to this day.

To be fair, that wasn't the best way to experience the storied marque. @teramuto's machine is a labour of love and he's built the entire thing by hand. He's done an amazing job, too but a hard tail frame in Ottawa's bumpiest neighbourhood was made worse by an unsprung seat. There's more give in a block of concrete.

Mind you, it's not that I want to ride them either. I've never liked the cruiser riding position. Feet forward highway pegs put all the weight in my butt and lower back and I've had more all-day comfort on my old Daytona. The controls also seem big and clunky and in the wrong places, and thus feel inaccurate: I find the brakes squishy and the steering heavy, not to mention the lack of ground clearance in corners.

I also don't get the image either. I'm a fully paid up member of ATGATT and there's something about the way cruiser riders tend to ride around with little but a denim vest and fingerless gloves that scares the bejesus out of me. I tried it once in Mexico on a 125. Never again.

There are some Harley's I don't mind, but they tend to be the ones without batwings and running boards - the XR750/1200 springs to mind. I understand they're not really a sports bike as I know it and probably not even a Harley as you know it, but there's something about them that screams fun. Maybe it's the passing resemblance to Evel's old XR750. I can't be the only one that's dreamt about jumping a bus, can I?

Talking with Randy at Laconia HD recently, he told me it's a lifecycle - In a nutshell, "you sell your sport bike because it's too much for you, you buy an HD and never look back to the day you die", all of which sounds fairly odd to me. While I'm on my third Triumph in a row, I can't ever imagine being that loyal to a single brand. Next years rival will be a better bike than yours, no matter who it's made by. Then again, I think that's part of the allure of Harley, that they've barely changed in 50 years to the extent that they're not sold on performance at all. Next years bike will just have a shiner paint job, or slightly differently stitched leather.

[cid=18698,http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/Pu_dgqFiAMU/hqdefault.jpg]

But I've recently got a glimpse of the attraction when I saw Robert P Lation's XL1000 recently at Laconia. For the very first time, I actively wanted a Harley. It was a weird feeling. Granted, it's not your run of the mill machine and chances are if the paint wasn't on the tank, you might not even know it was a HOG. But still, it's made me seriously think. If only I could have afforded it. I also seriously doubt it would have lead to a Dyna Glide.

It's taken me a while to write this. For most of you, I suspect this viewpoint is tantamount to heresy, but I don't mean it that way. I just want you to understand that I don't get it, but I've seen a glimpse. I'd love for one of you to explain it to me. More than that, I'd like to experience it for myself. I'm told the way to do it is just to take one, hit the highway and pile on the miles. It's about time I called Harley...