Miles ahead

Two riders who’ve recently surpassed the 200,000-mile mark on their Harleys share some of the experiences they’ve had along the way

Paul Bromhead 
I can’t tell you everything about my adventures – what goes on on tour, stays on tour! At the time of writing my total is 212,767 miles and counting. I’ll be adding a couple of thousand to that when Ollie and I pop over to Thunderbike Harley-Davidson^® in Germany for Rumble and Thunder 2024 – I’d always wanted to visit Thunderbike and do the NC500, but Covid-19 put a stop to that!

My spreadsheet shows that I’ve owned and registered 15 Harleys since 2004 and in addition I registered an American hire Street Glide^® in 2008 when I rode parts of Texas and Louisiana. 

Most of my miles – except for the last few years – have been UK-based. My longest ride was around 500-600 miles, travelling up to Scotland from South Wales, but with a significant detour across Yorkshire to collect some H-D^® poker chips from the dealership in Leeds. We then continued north, passing near Newcastle, before turning east to Penrith, then on to Scotland. I felt sorry for Carlo, travelling with me on his Street Bob^®. 

I’m also quite happy to pop out for the day on my own and cover more than 250 miles. At one stage I was commuting to Gloucester in the winter doing 1,000 miles a week, plus a weekend ride-out on an Iron 883^™. That was in 2009, and when I finished that job and the commute (leaving at 5am and arriving back around 7pm), I rolled my Iron 883 into the garage, binned my riding jacket and didn’t take it out again for at least six months. Great bike – I did 24,840 miles on that with no issues, but I lost the enjoyment of riding at this time.

Even after trading in that bike, I was only doing around 2,000-3,000 miles a year. In fact, I was without a bike for at least a year when I part exchanged a lovely Road King^® Classic for a Porsche Boxster. 

I passed my direct access in 2004 aged 46 and registered my ’04 Sportster^® 1200 Custom straight away. I’ve been collecting miles ever since, but I’ve covered up even more miles than registered – such as on service/demo bikes, plus my 2022 Street Bob lost its speed sensor and odometer going through a flood… now replaced but I lost a couple of thousand there. Oops!

I clocked up 100,000 or so miles in my 10 years with Great Western Chapter Cangen Cymraeg (the Welsh branch) and the rest with Black Mountains Chapter Wales and Welsh Dragon Chapter, Cardiff, since inception. I’m a charter member of both. 

Foreign trips on a bike have included the Europeans in Ireland with Great Western, Prague with Black Mountains and Budapest with Welsh Dragon. I have ridden overseas with Welsh Dragon quite a bit in the lasts couple of years, visiting not only Budapest, but Brittany and Normandy and I’ve just come back from Morzine with another 1,786 miles on the Road Glide^® Special. This year alone I’ve spent about a month riding in France and, no, I’m not retired!

I ride in all weathers and rode to Cheltenham for a service in snow and -5°C a few months back. I dread to think how much these miles have cost me in fuel, consumables, servicing, depreciation, parts and trading bikes but it has all been worthwhile; it has been and continues to be enjoyable.

I customise all of my rides. Currently I have a 2017 103hp Cholo Heritage Softail. I traded in an Indian Scout after three months of ownership in 2019 and the donor bike came with just 766 miles, now on 9,042; a ’22 model 114 Street Bob^® bought in May 2023 showing 8,740 miles (but in fact it has done close to 11,000 without a speed sensor); and a ’19 model Road Glide Special currently showing 62,631 miles – a great bike and my mile muncher.

I’m the only member in Black Mountains with such a high mileage but I’m sure I’m slightly behind Ian Mead in Welsh Dragon, who has done more European trips than I and is quite happy to ride to Cornwall and back for a pasty or to Scotland to wear his kilt! 

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Ian Mead 
I have been riding motorcycles on the highway since I was a teenager have owned various makes and models over the years, finally purchasing my first Harley-Davidson Heritage in 1996. I got this as a three-month-old bike from a local motorcycle dealer and kept it until 2003, when I changed to a new anniversary  Dyna^® from Riders of Bridgwater (this came with my first membership of H.O.G.^®). back then I mainly rode in the UK – it wasn’t until 2006 that I ventured further afield and travelled with friends over to Killarney for Ireland BikeFest.

The following year my wife, Kay, and I joined Great Western Chapter Cangen Cymraeg and this is when the bug bit. We received a fantastic welcome and soon made lots of friends, who we still have to this day. I changed my Harley again – following a back injury – to a Sportster 1200 and went on my first overseas riding trip in 2007. I went all the way to Fuengirola, Spain, with Great Western Chapter. 

In 2008, having our youngest teenage son in tow, my wife and I flew out to join Great Western Chapter in Lake Garda, Italy. It was around this time that we became life members of H.O.G. and, in 2009, with my back returned to its full strength I changed bike again, this time for a Softail Springer^® 110 Screamin’ Eagle^®, which I still have to this day. After 22,000 miles it’s still in the same condition as the day I bought it!

We attended numerous rally’s together over the years in the UK. With a young family, Kay was unable to travel further afield. However, I was fortunate enough (with her agreement) to attend Swiss Harley Days in 2010 on the Springer. Later, we decided that touring was becoming something we loved to do and subsequently purchased a CVO^™ Street Glide from a local rider. It was then that I joined the mileage programme with our chapter.

While remaining members of Great Western Chapter, we also rejoined Bridgwater Chapter and later became charter members of the Black Mountain and Welsh Dragon chapters. We continued to ride throughout the UK, Europe and the US – although, like the majority of tourists, we rented bikes in the US. We’ve travelled to many places across the US, both with UK chapters and by ourselves. To date, we’ve been to California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado and Florida – one year, I was even fortunate enough to join seven mates and ride the whole of Route 66! We’ve been to Daytona Bike Week 12 times and Sturgis Motorcycle Rally twice.

In the UK we attend numerous rallies each year, from the Cider Rally in Somerset to Thunder in the Glens in Scotland – my current CVO Street Glide has more than 80,000 miles on it! I’ve had numerous models over the years, including a 2003 100^th Anniversary Heritage, which I personally stripped and customised in 2014-2015. 

Unfortunately, back in November 2021, Kay and I were out touring the Keys in Florida, when we stopped for traffic outside Bert Barracuda Harley-Davidson and were hit from behind. Sometime later we recovered and got back home, then by March 2022 we were back in the saddle. They’ve now covered 243,000 miles (and counting!) and are looking forward to more adventures on the road.

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