There are two kinds of motorcycle at Daytona Beach; Harley Davidsons, and the rest. And there are two kinds of visitor to Speed Week; Harley owners, and motorcycle enthusiasts. This sweeping statement might give the impression that the two sets of people are mutually exclusive, and that isn’t necessarily the case. In general though, most of the visiting population will fall neatly into one of the two groups. An impression starts to form during the cruise southwards to Daytona on Interstate 95. There are bikes on the road, riding in groups of three or four in the seventy mile per hour traffic flow, but for every motorcycle travelling under its own power there are maybe a dozen strapped securely onto trailers or lashed into the back of pick-ups. America is a big country, and much of the mid-west is still gripped by winter, but there are very few out-of-state license plates heading south for the sunshine. Most of the people making this journey are within a single day’s travel of their destination. There are full-dress tourers on trailers too, not just ‘motorcycle as art’ low-riders or peanut tanked sportsters. More... |
© 1998 Martin Gelder