I bet you had a great new year celebration with laughing, drinking, talking, dancing and staggering.
I didn't. I had one of those 360 reviews. Well it was more an 180-degree review where the boss and the HR person told me all the things I was doing to bring the paper — sorry, global multimedia platform — into disrepute and how what I wrote last year was offensive to most people in the community.
Anyway, as you know not only is my business editor a motorcycle maven, the new editor-in-chief is one and so is the ultimate boss. So, in my 360 that was really a 180 I had to promise to write more about bikes.
Today the world's five best road trips. The most expensive bike sold at auction was one of four Captain America Harley-Davidson choppers built for the 1969 movie Easy Rider. Starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Phil Spector and Jesus, the film has no plot but wonderful scenes of gratuitous violence, sex, drug taking, motorcycle riding, drug running, jail cells, anti-establishment behaviour, shootings and majestic scenery.
Investor Michael Eisenberg bought the remaining bike from Grizzly Adams star and bike and animal wrangler Dan Haggerty. In 2014, Mike sold the bike for $1.5 million.
A little lighter on the pocket is the 1951 Vincent Black Lightning Bonhams sold to an Australian reader last year for $1.3m. One of 30 made, the original and unrestored Vincent set an Australian speed record in 1953 when Jack Ehret rode it to an average speed of 227km/h on a public road outside Gunnedah.