Abby Harper

The First Weekend The parking lot was empty except for a scatter of orange cones and a row of small, slightly battered training bikes. It was early, the kind of cool, grey morning that makes coffee feel more like medicine than comfort. Eight of us stood around while two instructors—both with sun-creased faces and the relaxed posture of people who have spent years on the road—explained how not to embarrass ourselves. We started with basics. How to mount the bike without kicking anything...

In Donald Shebib’s twin landmarks of Canadian cinema— Goin’ Down the Road (1970) and its sequel, Down the Road Again (2011)—the road is never just a strip of asphalt. It is a measuring device: of ambition, of disappointment, of the uneasy hope that we might still repair what we have broken. Anyone who has ever chased a horizon on two wheels will recognise the emotional terrain, even if the vehicle here is a worn Chevy Impala rather than a motorcycle. The adventure, the risk, the willingness...

Harley-Davidson’s story begins in 1903 when William S. Harley and Arthur, Walter, and William Davidson built their first motorized bicycle in a modest 15-by-10-foot shed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although its origins were unassuming, the brand soon gained renown for mechanically reliable bikes with distinctive styling. Over the 20th century, Harley-Davidson rose to become an American icon. Its heavyweight cruisers, defined by their deep V-twin engines, appealed to a generation of baby boomers...