A few weeks ago the whole idea of riding from John o’Groats to Land’s End was made even more exciting when Lincoln Harley-Davidson offered to lend me one of their demo bikes for the trip.
Up until that point I was going to be sharing the riding with my husband, Allister, as we share a bike – a Suzuki SV650s. He would ride some with me as pillion, and I would ride some with Allister going pillion on one of the other bikes (as I’m not strong enough to hold him on the back!). But all that changed when Eddie from Lincoln Harley phoned me at work to say yes, they would lend me a bike!
Lincoln Harley-Davidson
I had emailed them just a couple of days before to tell them about what we were doing. I thought it was worth a try, but wasn’t expecting anything. A couple of months before that I had written to some of the manufacturers but had either got a negative or no response. But that was ok, as the trip was going to be great anyway. Looking back now the fact that I had a bike to ride made it a whole lot better, the opportunity to ride such a bike over that distance through some of the best scenery I’ve ever ridden in was just amazing.
I don’t think Lincoln Harley realised, but riding a Harley has been a dream of mine ever since I was very young. When we lived in Devonport (Plymouth), my friend’s mum had a Harley that lived outside their house at the bottom of the road… all I knew at the time was it was purple and chrome and big and noisy and gorgeous and I wanted one! So the very fact that I was being lent a Harley-Davidson made it even better than if I was being lent any other bike.
We picked the bike up the day before the trip. Allister and I work in Lincoln so we took his bike so we could ride home together. After filling in the necessary paperwork and being shown the indicators and dipstick we were away… and I was riding a Harley-Davidson for the first time ever. The bike I was riding was a Sportster Nightster 1200cc, a lovely looking bike that sounded good and would be just perfect for this trip.
It would be fair to say that I was quite nervous to start with and it did take me a good few miles to get used to the riding position and style (it’s very different to the SV), but once I relaxed into it and understood how the bike rode I really enjoyed it. I definitely got more used to the bike as the trip went on, and my confidence as a rider is now much improved.
Me and the Harley at John o'Groats
We certainly gave the Harley some challenges along the route to test it out and it really is an all-round bike. It loves trundling along the highways, as you would expect coming from the land of the straight road, but we didn’t really do too much of that. Thankfully it also loved the twisty A roads you find lots of in Scotland and England – coping very well as they got tighter and more frequent, especially on the east coast road from Wick to Inverness and the “Atlantic Highway” along the north coast of Devon and into Cornwall – or at least as well as the rider! It even managed 1:4 climbs and descents. It was exactly the right sort of bike to take across Glen Coe and was right at home over the hills of Dartmoor National Park… and it looked just the part in the sunshine on the sea front at Penzance.
One of the best things about this Sportster Nighster was the riding position. I have recently had problems with my shoulders and neck, and there was absolutely no pressure in those areas at all. I am also quite short and could get my boots down on the floor very comfortably, which makes a big difference to your confidence when riding (and stopping!). The seat was excellent too… after over 2,000 miles in the saddle at least one of the other riders was complaining their seat was too hard, but not mine, I reckon I could have ridden double the distance before my behind started to hurt!
The Harley-Davidson Sportster Nightster, with our SV650s behind
It wouldn’t be fair to miss out a couple of niggles I had with the bike; this is a review after all. I found that the clutch was a bit heavy. With this being the only Harley I’ve ridden I’ve got no idea if this is to be expected, but it did make getting stuck in traffic through town centres even more of an annoyance than it would have been normally. I also found that in first gear it ticked over at around 15mph which again made traffic jams a challenge. Obviously the bike is designed for the open road and not for commuting through cities, and this didn’t cause any problem apart from when there was a jam. However, I think it would have benefited from a lower first gear!
But those things aside I still enjoyed the bike. I liked the way I was sat, the sound that it made, and the presence it had on the road. I also appreciated features such as self cancelling indicators and an automatic alarm/immobiliser that was linked to the key fob. Overall the bike performed very well and was an excellent tool for the job it was given.
I will be forever grateful to Lincoln Harley-Davidson for making this trip special and memorable for me personally as well as being a fantastic opportunity to raise money for two very worthwhile charities. They helped me tick off two things of my “list of things to do”… completing the iconic John o’Groats to Land’s End journey AND riding a Harley-Davidson. Thank you!!
The Harley in the sunshine
You can visit Lincoln Harley-Davidson on the web here.
- Lincoln Harley-Davidson
And don’t forget we’re still raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support in Lincolnshire and The Salvation Army in Boston via our JustGiving page.
