How hard can it key?
YOU’D IMAGINE IT TO BE A straightforward process: to get a key cut. But no. It’s not a key to a safe, nor a key to a penthouse suite at the Dorchester. It’s a Harley-davidson ignition key. Surely nothing comes simpler than that. Simple, maybe. Available, no. ‘I’m afraid we will have to order the blanks in,’ says a locksmith. One week later. ‘They’re not the right blanks.’ I decide to take my business elsewhere, already mildly baffled at how this centuries old routine is stalling at the first hurdle. How hard can it be? I know what, I’ll get the blanks on American ebay. Number 97 looks the go, two of them, BUY IT NOW. Job done. Go to locksmith number two. They’re the wrong blanks. Again. ‘Let me have a look round the back,’ he says. He reemerges from the recesses of his market stall brandishing two rust-encrusted blanks as if he’s just plucked then from the wreck of the USS Oklahoma. ‘It’s only a ’91 bike,’ I say. ‘Haven’t seen these in decades,’ he replies. Well, yes, it is 27 years after all. Eight quid later and I still have to file the ends down to get them safely into the barrel. Slave to The Great American Freedom Machine. Again.