Conversations With Cook
Conversations with Cook
UP FRONT
David Edwards
Cook, I'm afraid your misspent youth has come back to haunt you again. As you may have seen in the September issue, Harley-Davidson has come up with a 35th-anniversary edition of the Super Glide--we even used your inscrutable mug from Cycle's 1970 test of the original as a backdrop to one of the photos. Anyway, we now have a testbike and wonder if you'd like to fly out here and write the story. Be a good chance to reminisce, to comment on how far Harleys and the whole H-D phenomenon have come, etc. Any interest? Promise we won't dress you up as Capt. America and make you stand on the seat... Best, David
Morning, David. Yikes! Lemme think about that one. Was that first Super Glide test really 35 years ago? Not sure I can come to California--can the bike come here for, oh, three or four years? I haven’t ridden anything in a while, but I don’t think I’ve forgotten everything necessary for the preservation of some of my vital functions. Photography back here might be staggeringly beautiful if you can wait ’til late Sept, or early Oct. (autumn foliage in Vermont cannot be overrated).
BTW, the “standing on the seat” shot in the old test was done at New York’s National Dragway, where oncoming traffic was at a low level. There’s no reason it couldn’t be replicated, although I must confess I find myself haunted by a photo of Cycle’s ex-publisher Floyd Clymer, then in his 70s, riding a motorcycle while sitting backwards, the old huckster’s favorite stupid bike trick. Do I want to be another Clymer, and if so, do I need to be incarcerated for mail fraud in order for the replication to be genuine?
Let’s chat, Cook
Cook! I wouldn't get all hung up calling this a test of the bike! or worrying about comparing it to anything new! or how current you are on modern machinery. Let's just call it an essay on ''Things Harley as seen from the saddle of the E00L Super Glide! written by the first non-Motor Company payee to ride the progenitor some 35 years ago-''
Harley tells me we have the only available EOOL Super Glide in the country! so if we want you to have it we'll have to ship it to VermontIf you're agreeable! I think we can pull this offIf you haven't ridden a Harley in awhile! this should be an eye-
openerReal brakes! vibration control and! new this year! a positively girly clutch pullAs for a delivery dropoff for the bike! the more I think about it! the less I want Milwaukee involved (permission will have to go through three vice-presidents and a janitor)! so let's pick a spot other than a Harley dealerSuggestions? -DE
Of course, I’m on. Best place to ship to, convenience-wise, is a little shop in the middle of town, called Dorset Sports Antiquities (sort of appropriate in this case, huh?).
A quick, random thought: The bike shows up here. I ride around, go places. Me and the photog do all the requisite Autumn in New England photography. Then I mount up with a credit card and a toothbrush and ride it to Milwaukee to touch base with Willie G. Davidson. We chat (not just about the Super Glide, but all the events that have impacted H-D since 1970). Give ’em back the bike. Fly home. Type. Send story. Will need a plane ticket from M’waukee-unless CW’s budget demands a bus or hitchhiking; I know how that goes. -CN
Cook! love the idea of riding to Milwaukee to see Uillie GWe’ll start the legwork on thatHey! we’ll even spring for airfare and hotels--this is Big Time Journalism! ya knowAllied tells me the bike should be in Vermont first part of next week-DE Super Glide’s here. Have put a couple hundred miles on it. Impressions so far? 1) It handles OK (so did the original). 2)
It has plenty of power (ditto). 3) It looks good (ditto).
A sight you don’t see every day: I was committed to play in a golf tournament today at a very upscale club called Ekwanok. I arrived in their posh parking lot on the H-D, my golf bag strapped to my back. They didn’t know whether to shift or go blind. -CN
Cook! saw low-rez images of the Super Glide action shots todayLooks like you're crankin' that thing along right smartly-DE
I’m really having a good time with it, and gradually some of my riding skills are coming back. I was a bit surprised to find myself this morning back in footpeg-grinding mode. I thought I was done with that in 1979!
Most recent mileage check: 48.9 mpg. Not bad for a device that can inhale every other vehicle on the highway (except a few other motorcycles). I know you guys are used to 400-lb. motorcycles that make 150 bhp, but in the real world, my little Hogley-Chufferson does just fine. -CN
Cook! been away on a E00L Gold Wing intro (luckily! no occasion to deploy the new airbag)Everything go good back at Willie World? No pressure! but deadline is fast-approaching and I'm staring at 10 blank pages-DE
My story is already done; all I have to do is write it. I’m dying to see how it turns out.
Have to say I was impressed by everyone and everything back in Milwaukee. Harley’s selling upwards of 330,000 motorcycles per year, which means that their gross sales revenue for bikes alone amounts to something like $4 billion.
Not bad for a little Midwestern company that was literally minutes away from bankruptcy 20 years ago and which today builds products that are quite pricey and, by some measures at least, functionally uncompetitive. But their stuff is spiritually competitive. To Harley and to us all, that means everything.
At any rate, David, it’s been a blast. Thank you again for trusting me with this project. -CN
As always! Cook! the pleasure has been all oursHey! keep the riding gear we sent you--never know when it might come in handy again--DE E2
