“At the time it was probably actually better, at least in
regard to mechanical build quality.”
He continues to laugh when we questioned about the
name ‘slug’. While generally replying with ‘Yamaharley’
when people ask him what it is, he fondly refers to it as
‘slug’.
“It couldn’t be called anything else, could it? Look at
it. It’s low, fat and slow.
“In their wisdom Yamaha painted it a two-tone green;
toad green and snot green,” he laughs again.
“It’s blood awful but I love it.”
In fact, the 1999 colour scheme is green and silver, yet
under certain light the silver does look something close
to what resides in the nasal passages. It’s an odd colour
combination that does seem to work.
“I got my hands on the bike about seven or eight years
ago,” explains Leigh.
“I’d seen a black version of it, and it just looked right,
but had a squillion kilometres on it so kept an eye out for
others.
“This one came up as a private sale with very low kilo-
metres. I couldn’t help myself, I ended up handing over
the cash.”
Why a cruiser? It’s hardly an ‘adventure’ bike, perhaps
not even a bike suitable for travel. At this moment I see
Leigh’s face change, a nerve has perhaps been hit.
TRAVERSE 44