For bikers like Nazar Abdul, owning a Harley Davidson has created an association of a lifetime. With ‘brotherhood’ being the only word used to describe being part of HOG (Harley Owners Group), one wonders if this was the feeling the co-founder of The Beatles, John Lennon, was aiming for when he wrote the lyrics of his song Imagine. “Owning a Harley Davidson is a dream that pervades every boundary and age. The comfort that the bike offers is unparalleled. And what makes the experience even better is that once you own a Harley, you are inducted into this brotherhood of riders across the globe,” shares the 57-year-old Nazar, who is a hotelier.
As the sixth edition of the Southern HOG Rally makes its way to Coimbatore, Nazar and his Iron 883 will be one among the host of 600 bikers who will descend on the city from December 15 to 17 for the first time. Hosted by The Western Ghats Chapter, Coimbatore, Rashad Razak, Chapter Manager, informs us that the opportunity came a-knocking because the chapter emerged as winners in the chapter of the year contest in 2016. “The Coimbatore Chapter is the youngest among the HOG chapters in India. We’ve managed to establish ourselves among the finest riding chapters in the country within the first year of our inception.”
“Though we organise bike rides every Sunday, HOG Rallies are by far the best days of the year,” enthuses Sanal Nair, Director of HOG, Western Ghats Chapter. This edition of the festival will feature two days packed with parties, music and motorcycles. Showcasing the culture of the city, the host will offer the visiting ‘hogs’ a taste of the city’s cuisine alongside a line up of live rock and DJ shows, road safety rallies and a custom bike contest.
Expected to be the most exciting segment of the rally, the custom bike contest will showcase the best of modified bikes across the board. “The criteria for the award are custom paint jobs and other body and engine modifications that have at least 80 per cent original Harley accessories. You get to meet like-minded riders and see some of the best-modified builds. I was excited to see the modified version of a Street 750 at a HOG Rally earlier in the year,” shares Raj Kishore, who owns a customised Iron 883.
The event has borne witness to stories of riders who have phenomenal travel tales and completed riding feats and iron butt challenges in India and world over, however, the underlining narrative of any rally remains the same. “Wherever you go, you are accepted as one of their own, that is, if you are a HOG. Every HOG ride across the world is exactly the same, where you share the same level of camaraderie with riders,” explains S A C Vasanth, who is the Indian Ambassador for Harley Davidson to Canada.
Besides the Road Safety rally that has been scheduled for day two of SHR, the chapter also hopes to create awareness on educating the girl child.
Harley Davidson’s SHR will be held in Coimbatore on December 15 and 16. At Le Meridien.