I'm currently visting my brother here in England and as we were out and about yesterday I made several comments about the lack of HDs here. There were tons of other makes and scooters, just very few HDs.

Well, today he and I took off for another day of sight seeing and he surprised me by bringing me to Warr HD. The sales guy was very polite and didn't hesitate to talk with us about Harleys in England, along with the very bizarre licensing and driving rules.

I have to say, this was a great surprise.



Here are a few of the gems they had in the store:

77 Cafe Racer:





Gray Ghost:




Modified Xbones:

 

There's maybe 3 obvious reasons for that (I live near Warr's by the way)

1. Buying HD is not a patriotic choice in the UK - there's Triumph if you want to do that
2. HD pricing is much, much dearer in the UK - especially accessories
3. Riding styles, roads and congestion in the UK are better suited to smaller, more manoeverable bikes (plus if you want to do 1000 miles in the day you will run out of land quite soon so a mega-tourer is less appealing)

Still, I hope you enjoyed your trip to our soggy little country

 

Hey Jake, just noticed the name change. I guess this means you're back in the states for good!
Did you see any of these bikes at Warr's? http://www.warrs.com/harley-davidson...ustom-shop.php

 

Looks like a dealership with a lot of History. The stories that building could tell ! At least they have'nt closed this one down...nice pics thanks.

 

I'd say that "patriotism" doesn't really play a part in buying & riding decisions because it doesn't play a large part in British culture anymore.

And I'd add a fourth - the biking public are more receptive to the range of manufacturers models, albeit with a penchant for plastic race reps (driven by the bike press here in Blighty).

Harleys are, and will remain, a niche market in Europe.

 

I like the treatment on the cross bones.

 

Was there last fall; took in the Ace Cafe as well...lot's of history around that place, too. Finally got to ride the XR1200 at Sturgis; well refined, esp for a Harley. Stricter licencing laws here wouldn't be a bad thing, I think. They put a lot of miles on under tougher conditions than us over there.

 

ah yes we are much more exclusive riding our HDs here in the UK! What do you mean bizarre driving rules, I'll have you know we drive on the correct side of the road, just most of the world happens to drive on the wrong side

 

I enjoyed it immensely. The stop at Warr's was just the icing on the cake for me.

It was amazing to hear about licensing for different size CC engines and to watch bikes weave in and out of traffic. You could never do that back home.

 

Yeah, about that...someone from the states could get killed over here stepping out into the road to cross because of the direction of travel. I had a problem of looking to the left when I should have been looking right...lol