New Doc Celebrates 100 Years of Harley in Canada
Six riders from four corners of the world find common ground in Great White North.
We’re eagerly awaiting next year’s 115th anniversary Harley-Davidson bikes, but there’s reason to celebrate now. That’s because 2017 marks 100 years of Harley in Canada.
To celebrate, Harley-Davidson produced this new clip titled Common Ground: The Great White North, about six motorcyclists discovering Canada’s rugged beauty on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. It’s the longest in a series of Common Ground videos the brand has been producing lately.
While we’ve covered the individual sections of this documentary before, they have been edited together into a a great, comprehensive documentary. The series has just been picked up by Discovery, and if this doc is any indication, it’ll definitely be worth a watch.
Three of the riders are native Canadians, while the other three hail from all over the world. Each Canadian rider was paired up with an international rider to give them a taste of Canada’s raw natural beauty and the warmth of its people.
Charles-Edouard Carrier, from Montreal, represented French Canadian Harley enthusiasts. He founded OneLand, a Canadian motorcycle magazine. He was paired up with Jay Reeve from New Zealand.
While both were a little concerned about their thick accents posing a communication problem, nothing of the sort happened. Despite the difference of thousands of miles, the found out they had more in common than they thought – including a shared tendency to sing and make noise into their helmet mics while they rode from Toronto to Quebec.
‘During the whole experience of being on a motorcycle in the Canadian Rockies, your senses are heightened.
You smell the smells, breathe the air, feel the road, and you really feel the presence of nature.’
Johanna Poultney (pictured) hails from Edmonton, Alberta. Her family moved to Canada from Zimbabwe, and she is the first generation of her family born in Canada. She always wanted to ride motorcycles, and took it up within the past few years after the death of her brother, who always wanted to ride. Her partner for this trip, Eduardo Diez from Monterrey, Mexico, has also lost a sibling.
They form a heartfelt bond over this shared experience, but they also share many positive ones. As Johanna says in the video, “I knew right away we were going to get along and have a lot of fun. He’s like me. he likes to talk a lot.”
They rode through the beautiful Canadian Rockies together. It’s an experience neither of them will ever forget, due in part to getting caught in a heavy rain during their trip and becoming soaked to the bone!
“I think that during the whole experience of being on a motorcycle in the Canadian Rockies, your senses are heightened,” says Johanna. “You smell the smells, breathe the air, feel the road, and you really feel the presence of nature. I don’t think there is anything quite like the Canadian rockies.”
Daniel Ross hails from Nova Scotia, where he lives with six generations of his family. A lifelong rider, he takes Sac Vasanth under his wing, a professional entertainer and illusionist from India. Vasanth says that Daniel is a body double for Tom Cruise — that’s high praise for someone in the entertainment business!
Both are very friendly with a great sense of humor, and hit it off right away. Daniel takes Vasanth lobster fishing, shares Celtic culture with him, and even gets him his first ride on a custom Harley chopper. In exchange, Vasanth puts on an impromptu magic show for Daniel and their new friends, and teaches Daniel the ways of yoga. It’s apparently a great way to get centered and ready for a Harley ride!
With each international rider paired up with a native Canadian rider, they experienced fantastic regional roads and events, soaking in the local motorcycle culture and enjoying Canada’s flora and fauna punctuated by that distinctive V-twin rumble only a Harley can provide.
These riders represent the next generation of young Harley-Davidson enthusiasts, bringing Harley into the 21st century and beyond. Anyone who says that Millennials aren’t into motorcycles need only to watch this documentary to be proven wrong.
This younger generation of riders aren’t your typical Harley owners, and this isn’t your typical motorcycle trip. You’ll be familiar with all of the traditions of Harley rides you’ve been on: bike blessings, great roads, great people, great beer, getting caught in the rain, and camping. There’s a lot of great new traditions you’ll see in this documentary, too: lobster fishing, yoga, and a traditional Mi’Kmaq (Aboriginal Canadian) friendship dance.
As one rider says: “So, this is the next generation of Harley riders! I think we’re good for another 100 years!”
