“Milwaukee Vibrator” is a fitting nickname for Harley Davidson. With that massive, air-cooled twin engine and fists-sized pistons, the whole bike shakes.
I used to joke with my wife about our motorcycle: “Sure, it has plenty of miles left in it, but honestly, we’re running on empty. What are you doing with this thing?” We always found that funny. But now, I’m the one getting teased.
I own a few bikes, and the Harley doesn’t see much action these days. Usually, I don’t wear my cage when riding. However, since it’s still Locktober (even though I started late), I’ve been locked up for two weeks straight. So today, when I needed to get my hair cut, I decided to treat myself by taking the Harley out while caged.
The afternoon rush hour was building up on the way home, with about four traffic light intersections ahead of me. I ended up stopping at three of them. There I sat, idle in traffic, boots flat on the pavement, jeans squeezing my cage against the saddle horn… and HOLY COW! It finally makes sense now. I thought to myself that if I had to wait for two more lights like this, I was going to burst.
In fact, I could feel significant leakage starting. The final three miles through our neighborhood were smooth sailing—no stop signs or traffic lights, and very little traffic—so I just cruised along at roughly 30 mph with low engine revs. I swear I could picture those heavy pistons chugging up and down. What a magnificent ride! When I pulled into the driveway and swung my leg over the Hog, the puddle of leakage slowly trickled down my thigh. I was WET. And it felt great.
That right there was an excellent ride. The old HD deserves much more attention in the future. Lots more. Oh, and yes, I WILL be caged.