Nice looking ride. My stable only has 2 and that's a lie because the other bike belongs to my wife. Some day I'll have more than one (bike, not wife). Maybe if I had a stable I'd add a Harley, but it's a couple bikes down the list right now.
My best riding buddy is a Harley guy. I love the guy but I gotta be in front of his noisy assed bike, though. Back in the 70s I thought they were pretty cool. You had to be a good hand with a wrench just to keep 'em on the road. As time passed, the quality slowly began to improve and the CPAs and lawyers (no offense intended to anyone, I think FBI agents are mostly lawyers and CPAs) started buying them. Then they started making more and more of them. Now they are, what, 60% of the bikes on the road. It's not like Honda with a gazillion different engine and frame combinations. They are all V-twins. If you're not a Harley guy and don't see the nuances ("it's not a panhead, it's a shovelhead"), like me, they pretty much look the same except for paint and accessories. And that's OK. While the quality of the product has come a long, long way and they make some fine motorcycles anymore, most of the ones I could afford are still paint shakers. My TBA is easily my favorite bike ever. If I was handed $20,000 that I could only spend on a bike it wouldn't be a v-twin (and I rode a v-twin for the 12 years prior to my TBA). Maybe one of those BMW spaceships. One of the things that first grabbed my attention was that the Triumphs look different. It was the look that got me to take the test ride. I guess it's like hip-hop music is to me, as well. They all look (or sound) more or less the same. That is a beautiful bike you have there, though. The Sporty's handle real nice, as I recall.
Reminds of a line that I read in a magazine article years ago, "and then the rugged individualist went out and bought a Harley...like all the other rugged individualists."
BTW you have a quality friend, there.
