Yes, okay, so we admit it: not everything we ride was built on the other side of the pond, and while it might seem to dilute the content, it doesn't half do a good job at setting the context.

Take Amanda's FT500 for example. Replaced the Yam XJ750 Seca that she really just couldn't get in with: far too fussy, busy and complicated than it had any right to be, she grew to hate it. The FT has not been without its teething troubles – it's a classic bike, for heaven's sake, at twenty-seven years old – and it arrived just in time for the cold snap, but she loves it. Simple, light, easily manageable.

If you wondered where AmV38's editorial came from, a pitch for Harley to build a set of single-cylinder cases to use Sportster engine components, look no further than this. As simple as it is, imagine how much better it would be with a 600cc Harley single motor in it?

As part of the deal, I've ended up with an XL500 - the original trail bike that spawned the FT - which will hopefully hit the road sometime in the summer as a street tracker in the current Japanese style (the bike to the right from the Japanese shop Matsumaru – see link above), and will slot in between my bicycle and the Buell for nipping to the post office and local errands.

And then there's a XS1100 outfit, although that's too loose a term currently: it's dead, running on three cylinders, hasn't got the sidecar fitted and will take weeks of work and hundred of pounds to finish, but will be an excellent moving shot and video platform when it's finished ... if it's ever finished: it's not a priority.

And then there's a Triumph 3TA with a 500cc big bore kit, bolt-on hardtail and an engine in a hundred pieces, that will be a Tiger 30.50 one day.

At least Graham's T140 Bonnie is in one piece, even if it's SORN'd.

Other stuff will come and go.

Quick update: having realised we can't post images in the comments, I reckoned it was worth slipping in a pic of a conceptual Buell Blast-powered Mac Motorcycle referred to by Lofty in the comments.

This is what would have been their "Spud": a minute's silence, please, for what might have been.

It remains to be seen whether they'll continue with an alternative powerplant. Sadly Harley have ruled themselves out of supplying Blast motors, which I'd have thought would be an avenue worth exploring, and could even provide the basis for a range of Harley-Davidson singles – even resurrecting the Model A, B and C designations – but Harley will have a long term survival strategy that will take precedence over everything else right now.

We've been talking paint to one specialist, and while she's off the road getting that done, I had a quick look round to see what I might be able to pick up, chancing on a set of black ceramic 2-inch drainpipes masquerading as exhausts. They were cheap because they lacked brackets and baffles but they are for the older 92/5 model with their wider engine cases, so that shouldn't present too big a problem.

There was a K&N air filter and perforated air-box cover there too, and a genuine workshop manual - always a good investment - and by the time she sees the road in time for Spring she'll not only be wearing a new clothes, but will be staged and sounding like she ought to, with just enough baffling to keep the peace.

And obviously, we'll update this posting as we go ...

9th Jan 2010 

We’ll be picking up the concept of engine upgrades for more modern motors in AmV39 - due out in early February - but in the meantime, I’ve decided to give myself a bloody good Christmas present.

So, I’m going to start talking to dealers about what is possible and for how much. I guess what I really need first is some kind of bang-for-buck matrix.

To work…

Knocked this up a couple of issues ago and delighted to say it's working well ... except for the first time I ripped the aluminium jar off it's well-supported lid while putting the bike on the ramp: luckily that came as a set of six.

What I really need to do now is reseat the anti-siphon ball bearing so it's not needed as frequently - which will probably make a single page feature soon - but we all know that the best cure for 'sumping' is to ride the bike ... so I am.

Tech feature from AmV Issue 37

I bought this bike way back in June 2002 after spotting a near unbelievable ad in Motorcycle News: a fairly low-mileage 1994 Road King for private sale at (then) a very low price of about £7,295, and although the paper was a week or two old I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained and rang the number. It was based in South London and was amazingly still unsold, so I made the trek south to see it.

A 1994-registered Road King, it is the very first of the FLHR line, introduced for the 1995 model year to replace the Electra Glide Sport, and is therefore in the distinctive (and yet to be bettered) black and silver livery with the subtle red pin stripe. It seemed in pretty good nick and rode well enough, but unfortunately was bedecked with lights and gee-gaws, Live to Ride bolt-on 'goodies', a massively over padded long-haul two-up seat and was missing its windshield. Negotiation beckoned, he settled for £6,500 cash, and finally I was the owner of my own Harley-Davidson heavyweight Big Twin - a far cry from my previous beloved Sportster - heading back the following weekend to pick it up, two-up with Andy on a 2002 model Road King.

I was utterly made-up for the first hundred miles and the bike ran like a dream, but the utter shame of riding such a tastelessly accessorised 'Grand Wazzoo' gradually overtook my sense of achievement and I indicated to Andy that we should pull in at what was then 'Wheels International' on the A5, grabbed my Sportster's old tool roll and began un-accessorising with a vengeance. I half-heartedly tried to off-load the teetering stack of offending items at the dealership - and unsurprisingly failed - before resorting to stuffing the panniers to overflowing. The Road King was already now looking like a bike I would own.

In pretty short order Andy located the original seats and screen for the Road King, languishing at a custom shop as as 'take-off parts', and I bought standard handlebars, grips and mirrors and arranged for a set of decent tyres. Since then the bike has seen new switchgear, a Bubba Cross Dresser exhaust system, a set of GMA differential bore calipers on floating discs up front, lots of tyres and lots and lots of miles.

I've also started a cupboard under the stairs which is slowly filling with other purchases like a set of oval-section S&S silencers which will get bolted on when I locate a set of standard down-tubes, a brand new TC88 chaincase that will bolt straight on and a one-off adaptor knocked out by John Reed so the later chain case WILL accept the Evo Derby cover. It's an ongoing project. I'm thinking of taking the Road King over to my mate Tony at Classic Approach in Leicester for his magic touch at some point, but it won't be anything radical, I've more or less taken my Road King back to standard (with some obvious improvements) because, basically, I like it that way.