The XL Forum Sportster of the Month - April 2005

Shark Doctor - 2004 1200 Roadster

Owner - JEFF CARRIER (aka “Shark Doctor”) from Albion Michigan.

Jeff has had this Sportster for 1 year but also had a 1968 that he was holding onto for a friend who was overseas.

When asked why he chose a  Sportster here is what Jeff had to say, "The Sportster has a legacy and pedigree of its own as the longest, continually produced motorcycle production model, now approaching 50 years. Nevertheless it has retained its link to the past as a road-worthy motorcycle with an almost infinite capacity for modification and personalization. To know one is to love one. To own one is to shape it to fit one’s own style and personality, more so than perhaps any other model of motorcycle and subject to whom you might be on any given day. For example, my basic bike with its solo seat is low and threatening in its crouch. If I decide to travel I can add a windshield, saddlebags, two-up roadster seat, and sissy bar and change its appearance to the equivalent of the family station wagon within a matter of minutes."

Jeff also has owned the following motorcycles and has been riding for over 40 years ever since one of his best friends loaned him a 1962 Cushman Husky.

1966 Honda 50 cc

1967 Honda 450 cc

1968 Harley-Davidson “Rapido” (125 cc)

1970 Harley-Davidson Sprint (350 cc)

The 1200R that Jeff currently rides is the first motorcycle he has personally owned in 20 years but he did not have a break in riding since he has some great friends who were always willing to let him borrow one of ther bike. He even has a friend with TWO Sportys!!!

In the near future Jeff is considering additional engine modifications, a different solo seat and maybe even the handlebars off of the 2005 883L.

When asked if someone offered to give you any other bike (other than another Sportster) what would it be an why Jeff answered, "Tough question. My riding partner has a nicely tricked out Fat Boy that catches my eye, and I might be persuaded to look closely if one was offered."

I asked Jeff to tell me about his "Dream Bike" and "Dream Ride" here is what he had to say, "I’m 58, have been reasonably successful to this point in my life, and I bought, modified and now own the bike I’ve always wanted.  Every ride IS on my dream bike!"

Michigan has a significant amount of wilderness land in spite of large urban areas such as Detroit, and my happiest riding moments are into these areas. Once away from the sprawl of city life, the back roads are almost unparalleled in their natural beauty. While mostly flat or modestly rolling terrain, Michigan lacks the twisties of eastern and western mountainous regions. But the lakeshore rides in both the lower and upper peninsulas during spring and autumn offer a very different and unique perspective for the rider who also wishes to escape the chess match of city traffic.

In early spring, the daffodils line the roadsides and raise their yellow trumpets as if to herald the passage of each bike as spring begins to appear. The smells of newly turned soil and the colors of newly emerging plant life are accessible to bikers in ways that the senses are never stimulated inside a car. The rivers’ songs are as noisy as finely tuned exhaust systems as winter melt adds richness to waters that teem with trout and salmon. 

In the autumn months, the smells of leaves in the final days of their lives are as welcome as their spring emergence. The colors of fall, the reds, yellows, and even shades of brown, paint a tapestry on the northern Michigan landscape that even the foremost impressionists could never suitably capture. As a biologist, spending time in wilderness areas – above water on my Sportster or underwater in the tropics – is the best there is, and it is captured as well in the freedom of a motorcycle as it is in the freedom of diving."

You can see from the paint job on Jeff's Sportster that he likes sharks...well saying that he likes them is probably an extreme understatement!!

When Jeff is not riding his Sportster he is engaged in his passion for biology and sharks and is well respected worldwide in the field of shark studies. 

When I asked Jeff about these other activities he told me, "I have been a diver since 1960 and have been fascinated with sharks all my life. They are far more than something I study as a biologist: they are all-consuming. They represent power, freedom, and mystery in ways that defy description. To study them professionally allows me to combine diving with a passion for photography and a love of the outdoors, at the same time calling this my “job” when in reality it is the convergence of everything I like to do in my “spare time.” Just how could it get any better than that…?!"

After he told me that, I can understand why he also enjoys being in the wind on his Sporty, for those of us that are fortunate enough to have a Sportster also, we can relate to the "Power, freedom and mystery" that Jeff speaks of.  And our Sportys also give us a feeling the defies description!

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© 2005 - The XL Forum - Bert Linson

Photos copyright and courtesy of Jeff Carrier