2007 July blog

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Some video from NYC for you below. The Rocker. Summer is usually a quiet time when bike launches are concerned. With exceptions as this is the time of year when Harley-Davidson and Buell usually launches the bulk of new bikes. With the Harley's done, attention will shortly fall on Buell's new 1125R sportsbike. I have received my ticket to San Francisco with a transfer to Laguna Seca already and I can't wait to go! In less than a month you can read about the new 1125R right here and see video of it etc. A big revolution for Buell this bike. I shall shortly publish more NYC pictures for those that are interested here in the blog. I am now only waiting for a green light from Triumph to head down to Hinckley to collect a Street Triple 675 for a longer road test here in the UK. Got news about the 07 BMW Megamoto as well. The UK press office has been given/bought or whatever only 1 single Megamoto for the entire fleet of UK motorcycle press. BMW is seriously underestimating its most exciting new bike of the year. If you're still interested by that time, I shall be testing it in September. If it could only stop raining first... TS

After two days on the road I am now back in New York City at the Hudson Hotel. Did a lot of work yesterday and this morning in York. Then we transferred from York back to NYC through the very dry state of Pennsylvania. In this Hamish town on the way back from York we stopped to get some beers, but that proved to be very difficult as it's only a very few outlets selling that beverage. We finally found one, but could only buy a case of 24 so we did. They're now on ice ready for consumption in Central Park. Knowing the Americans we'll probably be arrested and miss out on the Saturday night in NYC, but Ulf and I will give it a shot anyway. More later. TS

Did some more action imagery between Princeton and York on all the bikes in very pleasant weather. The humidity of yesterday had gone and it was just warm and nice most of the way. Today I also rode the 105th Anniversary Ultra Glide Classic and Bill Davidson joined our group for the final leg into York. Bill explained the new ABS system to me on the way and it's very interesting how Harley-Davidson keeps finding new solutions, re-inventing or customising the wheel all over again. Being 105 this year Harley was not far from actually inventing the wheel. But for the ABS system there's no sensor rings or other ugly external parts. It's all within the wheel hubs with magnetic sensors specially designed for Harley with some help from friends at the Brembo factory in Italy. Harley-Davidson's ABS system is not linked so if you use the front brake only your rear wheel still rolls whilst the ABS system deals with the front wheel and visa versa. Then we arrived in York and had a great time in the Softail assembly halls where there are no public tours. We were only the third group of external people, all from the motorcycle business, to have the Tour at the Softail assembly line. The official tours are all in the Touring bikes factory. The new plant in York is very high spec and sophisticated, a good and clean place to work in for the employees but still a factory at the end of the day. We were even allowed to use our camera equipment inside the factory which was great. I'll post some shots as soon as I have downloaded them from my camera. I am now sitting at the Sheraton/Four Points in York writing this and working like a madman to get copy in for deadlines over the weekend. Tomorrow morning I'm heading back to the Hudson in Manhattan and this time I will check out the nightlife in NYC on a Saturday night. Should be good! TS

5 O'clock in the morning is so bloody early! But after a couple of cups of coffee I was ready to ride. The whole group then walked over to Central Park where all the bikes were waiting with former NYPD officers as our guides through New York City. It's a city where you can't take too many liberties anymore and hence we were not allowed to do any kind of riding shots in the city itself. Only static by the Brooklyn bridge. I would have loved some night shots riding the Rocker through Times Square but will have to save that for some other time. For such a big and busy city the traffic was rather civilized particularly since we didn't actually start riding until early rush hour! New York City is nowhere near as difficult nor hectic as neither Paris nor London and much slower. But that suited me just fine onboard a 2008 Harley CVO Dyna Wide Glide and Rocker C. Due to that gas blast the night before we had to alter the route a bit, but it didn't cause us any major problems. After passing Times Square, the Empire state building (we weren't allowed to do any burnouts or anything unfortunately...), Brooklyn Bridge, the awful city tunnel (we were not allowed to filter...) that leads to Ground Zero we headed through the Holland tunnel over to New Jersey side and Ellis Island. After having the biggest bloody packed lunch ever (good food!) we started doing tracking shots with the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline in the hazy background. When all that was done and dusted we started on our journey to Princeton where we stayed over the night before setting off to York and the Harley-Davidson factory there. Princeton is a beautiful place with a very distinct architecture by the way. Today I rode the Rocker and Rocker C, Fat Bob, Nightster, CVO Dyna Wide Glide, CVO Softail Springer 2 and Road King 105th Anniversary. Thanks to Jennifer Gruber for being a sport. TS

Travelled from Manchester to New York (Newark) this morning after a 2 hour delay with Continental. Then a transfer from the airport to the Hudson Hotel just next to Central Park south. It's a pretty cool hotel designed by Phillippe Starck. It had been heavy showers in New York earlier in the day and it was really humid. The first thing that I did after checking in was to head into Central Park for a walk and to chill out a bit after the 7 hour flight. Then I hooked up with the UK journalists that had just arrived back at the hotel from JFK. In the afternoon we all headed into a theatre in Chelsea where Harley-Davidson held the 08 model year presentations headed by Bill Davidson after he entered the stage on a Fat Bob. The Motor Company are very proud about its heritage and is celebrating with several gorgeous 105th anniversary models. We were told that we would head out to a nearby diner just after 5 O'clock in the morning the day after so I switched to soft drinks and went to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel after the presentation. No party in New York City just yet...

Dear readers, I have been a bit quiet lately. Simply because I have been very busy getting some new business in from places that are unknown for me in relation to motorcycling. We are talking places like Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Russia, Turkey and more Eastern European countries. The biggest newspaper in Yemen even got an E-mail from me today! Not that I expect a lot of Middle eastern newspapers to show a great deal of interest in motorcycles, but Harley-Davidson, Ducati and Triumph seems to be of interest globally. As you know I'm heading over the pod again tomorrow morning to ride the 08 Harley-Davidson models in New York City and later to York, Pennsylvania where Harley's largest assembly line is located. On Thursday the schedule is packed quite tight and I'll be riding one of the new bikes from xxx very early in the morning! I'm not going to give to many details about the schedule right now as we are living in sensitive times, but it's packed full with spanking new Harleys, well known places in Manhattan, photography in the City and on the way to Princeton. Then on Saturday I will write at least one copy before hitting the Meatpacking district with force! As soon as this launch is over and done with I promise you that there will be no more American bikes until the Buell 1125R launch next month at Laguna Seca. First I have the Triumph Street Triple, then I promise I will test a Japanese bike. Probably the Honda CBR600RR as I'm longing for a sportsbike now. TS

Terror attacks has been on the news this weekend with bombs in London and Molotov coctail doctor dudes in Glasgow. Well educated my arse, perhaps in the Koran but not in much else. Lesser educated people pulls this of every week in Iraq and Afghanistan. And why the hell Glasgow? If they really were clever they'd isolate England in all of this. Certain Republican elements would still have been happy to be neutral at the very least and this can only support the British armed forces in my point of view. But I couldn't care less apart from the fact that no life was lost (thankfully) and the fact it will disrupt travel plans this summer. I am dreading the airport security queues already. I usually try to smuggle a lighter or matches with me. Sometimes security confiscates it and sometimes they don't. But I do feel like I'm living in a stupid new world when I have to remove my flip-flops to get them scanned as happened in Minneapolis. One of the major reasons for wearing flip-flops is just to keep nice and cool, travel light and to avoid having to bloody scan my shoes! I don't enjoy flying at all and haven't for some time. It's just a necessity to get to places I want to and need to be. Prepared some videos of the 2007 Triumph Bonneville America and Harley-Davidson XL1200R Sportster this weekend and published today. Whilst waiting for the 2008 Suzuki reports this evening enjoy this first... TS