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My road name is Buzz. Road names are given to bikers by their peers. Usually there is a story, an unfortunate occurrance or some other explanation for a particular name. Brother Wolf, from Oklahoma, came up with "Buzz". He said I buzzed around the country on my bike like it was my own back yard. Works for me!

I've been riding motorcycles of one kind or another for the better part of my fifty-some years. Dad got us into dirt biking at an early age. Mom, my brothers, and my sister...we all rode! We had lots of fun on campouts in the California deserts. Those were the days when there was no such thing as "environmentalists. Or at least you didn't hear much of them. You could ride freely without restrictions. Off- roading today isn't really what I would call off-roading. You can go off road but it's usually on a dirt road. A "designated trail" is what I think they're calling it these days. It's just not a paved road. It was lots of fun when you could take off and blaze your own trail through the desert. I'm sure there are a few places you can still ride like that. But not near as many as in the 1960's when I was a kid.

I got my first Harley-Davidson in 1985. There's many of you out there who have been riding Hog's a lot longer than me. But there is a gazillion people out there who haven't been riding nearly that long! Probably about 90% of the Harley owners today have been riding less than 5 years or so. That leaves a smal number of us who consider ourselves something other than "Newbies," "R.U.B.'s," or "Yuppies". I'm not picking on anyone. I'm just quoting facts I've read in various publications. Were it not for the aforementioned stereotyped rider, Harley-Davidson, Inc. probably would not have evolved to where it is today. i.e. producing good reliable motorcycles!

My first Harley was a 1979 Sportster. I traded an old Mustang for her. I was happy riding her until I saw my reflection in a store front one day. I looked like the proverbial monkey and the football you hear so much about! The Sportster was too small or I was too big...either way, we had to part company. I found my next bike, a 1979 FLH Classic, in the classifieds also. I traded my/our Jeep for it. A hell of a deal! She had less than 10,000 miles and looked great! Of course, the first thing I did was take off all the unnecessary garbage she came with. Saddle bags, fairing, trunk, mufflers, etc.. all of it went! Straight pipes and ape hangers...now we're talkin'! Nothing sounds quite as good as a shovel head with straight pipes... ask anyone who's ever riden on my right side! Can you say, "Ear bleed?"

I had the FLH for a few years and decided to sell it one winter. It was bad timing on my part. I figured I could pick up another bike fairly cheap the next spring. WRONG! That was just about the time the Harley craze kicked off and prices skyrocketed. I found myself unable to afford a bike! I went a little over a year without a bike until I was able to come up with enough dough to get another one. This time I had my eye on a 1984 Wide Glide, the last year for the shovel heads. Ape hangers, purple scallops, and straight pipes. All for only (gulp!) $8800.00. A couple years earlier the brand new Harleys didn't even cost that much! Damn Hollywood and that Arnold Schwartzenegger. See what happens when you put something as beautiful as a Harley on the big screen? Instant popularity...prices go up! It's the old supply and demand thing. There was much more demand than supply back then. As a matter of fact, it stayed that way for quite a while. If you don't believe me, just ask anyone who had to wait a year or so for their new bike and pay inflated prices for it.

The Wide Glide was a great bike. But ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I don't keep anything for very long. That's just me. I decided it was time to try one of those new Evolution motors I'd heard so much about. So I bought my first brand new bike. A 1998 Road King. What a difference! Was I a sell out to the old shovel head crowd? Some might think so, but I don't. Hell, if we didn't change with the times we'd all still be driving Model T Fords! The Road King was a great bike. Notice I said, "...was a geat bike?" After a trip to Sturgis, South Dakota for the annual Sturgis Rally and Races, I decided I'd like to try something with a few more amenities built in for the long haul. Hey! I had the Road King for a whole year! It was time to move on to my current ride! A 1999 Ultra Classic. Yes, the motorhome of Harleys! The Geezer Glide! Call it what you will! It's a hell of a touring bike. As of this writing I've had it for almost 3 years now and have just about 42,000 miles on her.

Man, the time can sure get away from us, can't it? In the above paragraph I ended with owning a 1999 Ultra Classic. As of this date, 3-08-04, that was two years ago!

Well, I eventually sold the Ultra and bought a 2002 Road King. I thought I was done with fairing bikes and wanted to get back on a Road King. I threw my leg over the Road King and knew right away I screwed up and should have stayed with a fairing bike. It's not so much the protection from the fairing that I missed; it was the overall feel of the bike. The Road King just didn't feel right. I had the 2002 Road King for only a few months before selling it. I bought a 2003 Electra Glide Standard...had to have a 100th Anniversary bike, you know. Now the rest of the story is correct!

That pretty much brings you up to date with the bikes I've owned. However, it doesn't take much coaxing for me to go out and buy a new one! No, I'm not talking about the new water cooled bike Harley is coming out with this year. I've seen the pictures and really don't think it much resembles the heritage drenched Harley-Davidsons we've come to know. I realize H.D., Inc is trying to compete for the younger generations business but did they have to do it by copying the Japanese motorcycles? I know it's German engineered but it sure looks like most of the Japanese brands out there. Isn't it ironic that all the foreign motorcycle manufacturers have been trying to copy H.D. for several years to capture some of the cruiser market only to end up being copied by H.D., Inc.? That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it!

Here's my current ride.My 2007 Electra Glide Standard FLHT

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