We’ve just hit 1,000 YouTube views on the Untitled feat. Harley Davidson 48 short we produced last week, so a massive thank you to all who have watched and for your comments.

It was all a bit of Sunday morning experimentation really, but I like how the multi-medium mix of poetry, video and music can be used to heighten all three arts. After some very positive conversations, here’s to developing more works in the future.

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Rain. That incessant, unyielding kind that I thought only the Lake District could produce, has somehow made its way to London. And on the same weekend I have borrowed a Harley Davidson 48.

It’s only then, weird plastic murmur tapping on my half hat, that I realise it’s an odd argument as to why anybody would prefer to ride two wheels over four. It’s always colder, usually wetter, more dangerous, there’s no radio, no bluetooth for your phone, you can’t really chat to your passengers, you look a bit of a tool arriving at work and, as I recently discovered at an airport check-in, all the time you’ve gained on the road threading through traffic is lost having to strip off your multiple layers of kit.

But having grown up on the smell of two-stroke scooters, I just can’t seem to shake the habit. I value the perspective I get from a bike and, now I’m older, I can finally get insured for less than the price of a small house.

To my surprise, the Harley 48 has proved to be the most most remarkable town bike. The frame is compact and narrow enough to weave in and out of traffic. The chunky tyres, seat and suspension have been set up to make no drama out of potholes and the 1202cc engine has so much torque (98NM), you find yourself just burbling around in any of those five gears. It’s a massively infectious riding style and one that keeps your license in tact.

Equally surprising is just how useless the 48 would be on a trek to the Scottish Highlands. The forward pegs and wide bars get uncomfortable at prolonged high speed -  seriously, anything above 60mph and the vibrations hit you hard and the burly ‘potato potato‘ thrum becomes inaudible. All your ears pick up is the apparent ticking noise of an old cinema projector.

The most frustrating part would be that piddly 8-litre ‘peanut’ fuel tank. The range is supposed to be around the 100-mile mark, but in the city, I was seeing the fuel light flash on after half that. Come to mention it, I find it quite weird that a bike with an odometer and a trip computer does not also have a fuel gauge. I could imagine becoming quite paranoid if I was ever planning a route out of town. Keep this bike in the city however, and you will fall in love.

• For more discussions on the Harley Davidson 48, please listen to our Gas Station podcast at Podisode.com

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My two-wheeled dream ride has just moved from being a Moto Guzzi to a Harley Davidson.

I won’t bore you with the details but after visiting Guzzi specialists Corsa Italiana in south London, you’d think that they weren’t keen on selling you a bike. Pretty lame when you consider that new bike sales figures are already struggling with only a trickle of new riders wanting to join our embattled gang. So it was onwards to Shaw Harley Davidson in East Sussex to show them how customer service is really done.

While buying a Harley may pigeonhole me into some demographic, I would like to think my choice of wheels was a mute and useless indicator of the content of my character. I don’t want to join a Hog Chapter or grow a porn star goatee, I just want to ride. The staff at Shaw H-D could see that and were incredibly knowledgable about what bike would be right for me.

The 48 (pic above) is an attractively priced introduction to Harley Davidson ownership. It’s still A LOT of money to mentally come to terms with, particularly when you consider what you could buy with four wheels, for the same pot of cash.

But the physical and psychological sensations are more persuasive than any practical argument. For example, the noise the 1200 makes when you cut the pipes is off the scale! Plus I will be cherishing this bike for the long haul.

But at Shaw H-D, it’s not so much what they can sell off the shelf that’s so appealing. It’s how they can help you develop the bike afterwards. Shaw H-D recently entered the International Custom Show in London and took the top two podium places in the Modified Harley Davidson category (more on those amazing bikes another time).

Half of the appeal of owning a Harley for me is the ability to customise and an unscheduled tour of the Speed Shop, courtesy of Dealer Principal Steve Willis, has caused my mind to work overtime at the possibilities. The stock bike is simply a blank canvas.

Brethren, after much deliberation I think I’m pretty close to making a decision. So if you’ve got any reservations about Hog ownership, speak now or forever wear your ear plugs.

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TT 3D is the best documentary I’ve seen about this incredible road race on the Isle of Man. The main thread is the 2010 campaign of everybody’s favourite underdog, Guy Martin. There are several other narrative strands, however, featuring TT heroes John McGuinness and Richard ‘Milky’ Quayle that offer some very personal insights into why this race, with all the inherent danger, is such a drug.

With 3D footage to complement such frank and honest answers -- before every TT trip, John McGuinness confesses to mowing the lawns and completing odd jobs around his family home in case he doesn’t come back -- I guarantee this film will open your eyes that little bit wider and leave you with a newfound respect for every single TT rider.

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Here then, is the bike I dream of buying. Or might yet buy and to hell with the bank manager. [pending test ride]

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Nature wasn’t kind to the BMW F800 GS. Symmetry is supposed to be a sign of smooth physiological development, of probable health and fitness thanks to an immune system resistant to parasites that could cause uneven growth. Yet beyond the Gonzo-esque snoot and tricolore war paint, here we are observing one of the biggest lazy eyes in motorcycle history.

The F800 GS may not be a looker, but it's one of the most robust and versatile bikes on the market

OK, it probably has a lot more to do with BMW’s designers but we’re passed finger pointing. I happen to think there’s an industriousness and nontraditional beauty to the F800 GS but regardless, I don’t want to mate Bavaria’s Quasimodo, I want to ride it.

And that’s where the BMW F800 GS excels, both on the road and in the dirt. So what if it doesn’t have the glitzy Charlie Boorman-ator status of the R1200 GS Adventurer? The 85hp 800cc unit, a symmetrical parallel twin, is punchy, beautifully linear in its delivery and more than up to the job.

On/off-road versatility of the BMW F800 GS is tempting my budget away from four wheels onto two

Plus, when you’re not on a six month sabbatical to the Andes (which due to factors like ooh, I don’t know, ‘a job,’ will be NEVER) you’ll actually praise the bike’s lighter weight and narrower profile with those wide enduro bars for making it a synch to manoeuvre through traffic. It’s also considerably cheaper, though sadly not cheap enough. Soooo, would anybody be prepared to lend me £7,650?

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