FIRST RIDE: 2018 HARLEY-DAVIDSON SOFT AILS

MOTORCYCLE DESIGNERS the world over must currently be asking themselves the question famously (and repeat edly) posed by Axl Rose a few years back, which is, “Where do we go now?”

The motorcycle market has softened a bit these days as the once-spendthrift boomers begin to ponder the advantages of downsizing or develop “issues” (which used to be called “dread diseases”) and simply quit riding. Or worse yet, suddenly drop dead.

Meanwhile, the more adventurous young among the 20-to- 34-year-old millennials (now the largest segment of the US population) still flock to motorcycling, but their numbers are diminished somewhat as an increasing number choose to stare at small screens in the palms of their hands rather than embrace the terrors of the great outdoors. In other words, it’s a tough time for a motorcycle company to figure out exactly what people want and what will pull them into a showroom.

So it was with great interest that I threw helmet and gear bag into my new Alabama-built Honda Ridgeline pickup