Cheers To A Century Of Hog Heaven
The Age
Thursday March 13, 2003
Ernie Weston is a big bloke with a big beard and a big Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He has had a dozen Harleys in his life. He would sometimes even say that Harleys are his life.
He loves the size and the power. The ``thump" he says. The grunt.
Last year, however, he went on his holidays to Greece, with his wife Roni. They stayed on four islands for a week each. A month in the Mediterranean sun. Pretty hard to beat, except for the transport options.
How do tourists get around on those Greek Islands? Motor-scooters. Little 50cc jobs. A Yamaha, maybe, or a Suzuki. The polar opposite to a Harley-Davidson. Imagine the indignity. A beast of a man, a stereotypical Harley rider, reduced to a scooter. He sat on it with his knees around his ears, like a clown on one of those tiny, circus bikes.
``What can you do?" says Weston, 53, of Port Melbourne. ``Put up with it, I suppose . . . I can laugh about it now."
There won't be a scooter in sight this weekend when Weston joins fellow Victorian Harley riders in convoy to Sydney to celebrate the motorcyle's 100th birthday.
There's a two-day event at the Sydney Showground and Sydney Olympic Park featuring INXS and Jimmy Barnes, plus the Open Road Tour, which has ridden all the way from Milwaukee, where the Harley was invented in 1903 by William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson. Willie G. Davidson and Bill Davidson, descendants of Arthur and current owners of the company, will also be in Sydney for the event.
The Harley is, of course, the very symbol of outlaw-hood, of rebellion, and of living by your own rules. It's that ZZ-Top kind of imagery, the urban rebel on his steel horse. The accessories heighten this - the bandannas, the leather, the beards, the boots and belt buckles.
But, to Weston, it's not about the image, although he wears the gear all the time. In the end, he just loves to ride, plain and simple. A beautiful piece of engineering, he reckons. Great engines. A real rider's bike. Fat and meaty; plenty of guts.
``There's a true saying about Harleys," he says, ``which is: if people ask you why you ride one, well, if they ask that question, then they don't understand.
``Put it this way," he says. ``Any other bike feels quiet and boring. A Harley feels like a real bike. The new BMWs and all that, they even have heating, heated handlebars and heated seats, but we don't go for all that. We just want the rumble and thump. They call it rolling thunder, a convoy of Harleys. That's what we want."
He bought his first at 17, a war model, a 1942 WLA. ``But then a mate wrote it off." He had a couple more, on and off, then he ditched motorcycles for 10 years while he worked running supermarkets and taxis. Then Weston had a major health scare. His doctor told him he had two years to live. But, it turned out the doctor was wrong and, as soon as Weston found out for sure that he was all right, he went straight down to a store in the city and bought a $16,000 Harley.
Since then, he's never been without one and has travelled Australia - he goes to the country music festival at Tamworth every year.
In 1991, he set up Melbourne's first Harley Rides company, after seeing it done around Uluru. He did weddings, Christmas parties and birthdays for 10 years until the insurance premiums became too much to handle. His best customer, he says, was an 86-year-old woman. Her late husband was a biker and she wanted to experience it all again.
Weston's current bike is one of only six in Australia. It's Harley's 100th anniversary model, the silver-and-black Ultra Classic. Weston ordered it four years ago to make sure he didn't miss out. It cost $33,000. It has a CD player, four speakers, CB radio, mobile phone input and 1450cc engine.
``You know what?" he says. ``Sometimes I ride up around the Black Spur in the Dandenongs. And on a good day it makes my whole body tingle - being on the Harley, feeling the power, all the smells, the trees, the ferns, the chimneys. There's music playing. It's the best feeling in the world."
Ernie Weston and Melbourne Harley riders leave in convoy for Sydney today. Harley Davidson's 100th anniversary celebrations begin in Sydney on Saturday.
© 2003 The Age