Rolling Thunder

A few years ago, I reviewed the official Harley-Davidson company history -- naturally, it was a coffee table book with an immense number of fetishistic photos. I noted that the official Ford Motor Company history, another coffee table book, did at least contain one shot of the Pinto with a caption acknowledging the little clunker's publicity problems but claiming its fireball dangers had been greatly exaggerated by the press.

The HD history, on the other hand, was a peculiar hymnal in that the "American bad boy" image is, of course, precisely what has sold the pig iron over the years, and it's why what my wife terms the "Hell's Accountants" -- the well-trimmed greybeards at the diner down the street whose hawgs probably cost more than our house and who occasionally whip down our street, endangering the children and pets -- it's precisely why they've recently taken up riding these gleaming farters. But that same "Wild One" image is what the company wants to play down because, obviously, it doesn't reflect the great many middle-aged, "recreational" outlaw/customers.

So I noted that among the book's more than 100 photos of Harleys and their "ride free" riders, only one biker was even smoking a cigarette.