Ottawa couple rides 8 hours in driving rain on solid white Road King

Lawrence Hinch and Betty Ann Wichers rode eight hours in driving rain from their home in Ottawa, Ontario, to Laconia. He was returning to the world’s oldest motorcycle rally for the second time; she was coming for her first.

It’s not hard to imagine the look on Wicher’s face when asked how she liked the ride and whether she would do it again.

Anyway, her word was ‘yes’ to the second question.

Their ‘ride’ is, except for the black rubber and the chrome engine and a few accents, a totally white 1998 Harley-Davidson FLHR Road King. Perhaps the most stunning element of this beautiful bike is the entirely white front fork and headlight assembly.

Hinch bought the Road King the way it is, noting that it has power upgrades by 'Screaming Eagle." They had to have cleaned off the road grime before bringing it to Davies’ Pinstriping and Custom Painting, one of the vendors now on the grounds of Laconia Harley-Davidson in Meredith.

Before doing so, however, they admitted to taking the 82 mile ride around the Big Lake, and both agreed — who couldn’t with the weather the way it was yesterday — that the Laconia rally is a great experience.

As for pinstriping, Hinch, presumably with the advice of Wichers, asked for the addition of the words ‘Harley-Davidson’ in black letters with a gray shadow to each side of the Road King’s gas tank.

The Davies — David, Sr. and David, Jr. — are practically institutions at Laconia Harley-Davidson. This is their fifth year practicing their specialty during Laconia bike week. For David Jr., this is his 38th year pinstriping. His father started doing his art on motorcycles in the late 1960s.

What about the change at Laconia (formerly Meredith) Harley-Davidson?

“The new owners have different ideas about how the vendors and vendor space should work, but the changes seem to be working for us. Having more vendors on the property is good for us, since more bring in more people and motorcycles,” David, Jr., said. “We have a very good following in this area. Laconia has been good to us.”

“My father and I look forward to working with Anne and Steve Deli, their staff, and all of the new vendors they have attracted.”

As for the all-white Road-King, it’s almost certain that more black stripes with gray shadows were added before the younger Davies, Hinch and Wichers were satisfied they had done enough.