Topic: Harley-Humour Thread: My First

[oldbiker]

I don't understand how a bike designed by Fred Flintstone can have such a big following!

thats why you dont own one or two.

No, the reason is, if you gave me one or two I would sell them and buy a proper motorbike.

[medic09]

Well, my ride home on Friday afternoon was in rain and hail.  At one point, it looked like there might an accident up ahead.  Big gathering on the shoulder.  As I got up there, it turned out that the guys riding 'garage ornaments' (aka the Swipes) up to the Red River bike rally were pushing their bikes up into a covered trailer that accompanied them.  Other riders were pulling on rain gear to continue slowly (as I did), or stopped under the nearest bridge to wait it out.  I saw one other group using an accompanying trailer as I rode by.

When I got to Cerrillos Road, almost flooded to the foot pegs, I thought for just a moment that the trailer might be nice for a few minutes.  The thought quickly vanished, never to return!   

[Peterbylt]

Getting back to the original subject Harley Humor.

A couple of years ago I drove my 550f and my friend drove his 750k over to Daytona for Bike week. That night we were in Dirty Harry's on Main Street and I got into a conversation with this guy who had on HD Boots, HD jeans, HD jacket, HD Tee, he even had an HD logo wallet chained to his belt.
 
I asked where he was from and he replied," Jersey."

I replied, "Must have been a cold ride down being February." He said he had not rode down.

I asked," Did you trailer?" He replied," No." So I had to ask, "You do own a bike don't you?"

He responded, "Well um, No."

I had to ask, "You have ridden a bike at least once?"

His reply," Well umm, No. But I'm buying a Harley this spring"

My friend and I had a laugh but ended up drinking with this guy for a while and convinced him that old Honda's are much cooler than any Harley. About this time a pretty girl dressed in tight leather came up and we started talking.
She looked us over and said," I am sick of these wanna be biker harley a$$holes."

I asked," How can you tell we actuarially ride?"

Her response," I look at your boot and see the shifter mark, I can see by the marks on the shoulder of your leather jacket that you have been down at least once. I can tell by the lack of logo's you don't ride a Harley."

Then she turned to our new friend and said," But this a$$hole over here!!!"

At this point he said," I've had enough abuse and walked off."

Peter

[tbone]

Reading this thread has left me smiling with many a fond memory! 
When I bought my first Harley (69 Electra glide) in 1975 you were pretty much
considered a "dirt bag" if you rode a Harley. The whole bad boy/outlaw mystique.
With the influx of corporate yuppie fools on brand new overpriced Harleys that's all changed.
That's why I sold my last big twin (131 c.i.) and decided to do a custom 750 SOHC.

If you can't even change your own oil or adjust your own chain then I'd rather not ride with you! JMHO

[burmashave]

...About this time a pretty girl dressed in tight leather came up and we started talking.
She looked us over and said," I am sick of these wanna be biker harley a$$holes."

I asked," How can you tell we actuarially ride?"

Her response," I look at your boot and see the shifter mark, I can see by the marks on the shoulder of your leather jacket that you have been down at least once. I can tell by the lack of logo's you don't ride a Harley...."

That's marriage material, mate. ;-)

[martini]

I don't really care if someone wants to ride a Harley and get dressed up in all the Harley clothes and look like all the other clones (actaully I do find it quite funny) but what really gets me is the refusing to wave thing. Do they teach you how to be an #$%* when you buy the bike or does it just come naturally to these people. I don't like to generalize but about 90% of the Harley riders around here refuse the wave, which in my books makes them look even more ridiculous than they already do.

[martini]

MY brother has Harley clothes for his dog (some kind of minature poodle cross)! How funny is that? Real bad ass.

[Raul CB750K1]

I have five bikes. A modern Suzuki GZ250, a CB750K1, a CB350twin -in restoration- and two spanish-made Sanglas bikes. The 400cc thumper has been nicknamed "the spanish harley" for its distincitive exhaust note. It's a bad ass; many people has got broken shins when kickstarting if the ignition is too advanced. All in all, for us spaniards is more or less what Harley is for the americans: a simbol of the spanish motorcycle industry, but the Sanglas is truly a legend because the marque disappeared almost 30 years ago.


So I have a bit of spanish nostalgia, a bit of modern-day reliability, and a lot of 70's power and style. But, anyway, I have been bitten hard by the Sportster or Street Bob bug. I love those bikes. I don't care about Harley paraphernalia. I have quite a few t-shirts, that I've bought on my different travels, but that's it. I know I can sell all my bikes and get me a decent, reliable new Harley that I could tune -I rather spend my money on the engine rather than on chrome-. The little devil over my left shoulder tells me I owe to myself a good bike, and stop working on those old bikes. The angel over my right shoulder tells me with the money of a new Harley I can afford to have 5 bikes, and with the insurance of a new Harley I can pay insurance for five bikes, so it's a no brainer. And even then, I think about those two Harleys.



Raul

[burmashave]

I have five bikes. A modern Suzuki GZ250, a CB750K1, a CB350twin -in restoration- and two spanish-made Sanglas bikes. The 400cc thumper has been nicknamed "the spanish harley" for its distincitive exhaust note. It's a bad ass; many people has got broken shins when kickstarting if the ignition is too advanced. All in all, for us spaniards is more or less what Harley is for the americans: a simbol of the spanish motorcycle industry, but the Sanglas is truly a legend because the marque disappeared almost 30 years ago....

Raul

Pics of the Sanglas, or links to pics, Raul?

It's only humor to me, too, but I just figured out how Harley could make more merchandise money than it already is.  They need to come up with a line of "pre-stressed" riding gear in the way that jean makers do.  It'd be a cool business idea (to buy Harley gear and age it), but you'd be out of business the minute Harley realized the value.

[merc2dogs]

Kind of like the old saying, never trust a carpenter with new tools, he ain't used them enough to know how.
 
 If the bike is new, the clothes are new, the boots are new, and the tats are new, you aint a biker.

 but you must have good credit.
 
 My old leather, more sentimental value then anything now, I've had since I was about 16, and it shows, faded scuffed and some of the stiching is loose, but it's so comfortable I can't bear to get rid of it.

Ken.

[Raul CB750K1]

My Sanglas Thumper, 100% spanish made




Sanglas Twin, Yamaha engine, last ditch effort before bankruptcy. The driver in the picture is me.





Back to the original topic, by luck or hard work, in Milwaukee they have suceeded in creating the brand name. It has happened with Disney, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger and many other brands out there. Companies with strong brand names realized long time ago, that they didn't need to live with the drudgery of fabricating things, when somebody else could do it and they would just buy from them and re-sell at a profit. Harley is doing that with the merchandise -and probably some bike parts-, and the only reason they are not doing it with the actual bikes is that its brand name relies on the "Made in U.S.A." tag. In fact, better than "Made in U.S.A." should be "Assembled in U.S.A". Do we know if the engine castings are made in american foundries?

The ilogilcal aspect of it is that the more expensive they get, the more desirable they will be. We human beings tend to yearn for what we can't afford and despise what we can get without much effort.



Raul

[nickjtc]

Sanglas Twin, Yamaha engine, last ditch effort before bankruptcy. The driver in the picture is me.


Raul

Interesting that this is the route that several companies have chosen whilst writhing in their death throes. I can think of Norton/Villers/Triumph and Indian off the top of my head.

[edbikerii]

As much as I dislike HD's "mystique" and "lifestyle" marketing and the stupidity of many of the "HD bikers" toward riders of other brands, I've got to say that the V-Rod is actually quite a nice bike.  As an American, I was very excited to see such an innovative design come from HD.  The idea that they collaborated with Porsche to design the engine seemed like genius to me.  It gave me a glimmer of hope that we would once again try to be competitive based on performance, features, and reliability, rather than BS.  Unfortunately, the V-Rod doesn't seem to be as popular as I'd hoped it would be.  I guess it is the price.  If you want the whole HD marketing BS, AND performance and reliability then you really must pay through the nose.

[Raul CB750K1]

As much as I dislike HD's "mystique" and "lifestyle" marketing and the stupidity of many of the "HD bikers" toward riders of other brands, I've got to say that the V-Rod is actually quite a nice bike.  As an American, I was very excited to see such an innovative design come from HD.  The idea that they collaborated with Porsche to design the engine seemed like genius to me.  It gave me a glimmer of hope that we would once again try to be competitive based on performance, features, and reliability, rather than BS.  Unfortunately, the V-Rod doesn't seem to be as popular as I'd hoped it would be.  I guess it is the price.  If you want the whole HD marketing BS, AND performance and reliability then you really must pay through the nose.

In my opinion, the problem with the V-Rod is that the riding position is not adequate for the sheer power the bike has. I have ridden one and you get thrown back by the wind. They tried to fix it with the Street Rod, with a more upright position, but it fell in the middle of nowhere, it was not a cruiser nor a sport bike. The V-Rod is a perfect stoplight racer and not much more.

[eldar]

I feel compelled to write something here. Seldom do I feel compelled.

Some here seem to make fun of guys the have new gear. Why? What is wrong with new gear? What if I went out and got new gear and I show up somewhere and you do not know who I am? Am I suddenly some poser because I have new gear, even though I have ridden since I was 10?

Merc, you talk about some leather jacket, but it was new at some point in time wasnt it. I have never seen used leather from a factory. Sooner or later everyone gets new gear. Does this also extend to new bikes? If you get a new bike, you are not a biker? I mean if that is the case, I will have to make sure I never buy anything under 10 years old, so it has the appropriate wear on it. I mean I would not want to buy a new bike that I might enjoy and risk being called a poser now would I.

point is that just cause a person has new gear or a new bike does not mean they are not a biker or some other such crap. What if the person has never ridden before? It makes sense for them to get a new bike so they have the factory support AND a bike they do not have to worry about working on so they can concentrate on learning to ride.

So maybe before you just auto classify a person as a poser, maybe find out their story. Maybe they laid down their old bike and totaled it and shredded their old leather and had to get new stuff. You don't know until you ask.

Now I am not saying this is always the case, but until the person proves otherwise, thru actions or attitude, then maybe you should not be so quick to judge.

[edbikerii]

Wanna talk about posing?  Back in 1984 I bought my first "riding jacket", a beautiful Schott "MC" right from their factory on the lower east side (probably in Malaysia now).  My buddies and I then proceeded to scuff it up good by dragging it by a chain behind my bud's CB650 for a couple of blocks to make sure it looked well worn!

Couldn't be seen wearing an MC jacket without scuffs, right?

I still have that old jacket.  It is still more comfortable than all my other jackets, but it doesn't have any of the body armor.  It would look good at Mods'n'Rockers, though!

I got plenty of real scuffs on my other jackets over the decades, though.  And worn down the outside toes of my Tim's, too.

[eldar]

I have known people to do that. For me, I dont care one way or the other. I must say though that I have seen just as many posers with scuffed jackets and old bikes as ones with new. They got em from their daddies I suppose.

Just saying that I have seen it both ways so I try to never judge by dress or ride but by their attitude and actions.

[merc2dogs]

I feel compelled to write something here. Seldom do I feel compelled.

point is that just cause a person has new gear or a new bike does not mean they are not a biker or some other such crap. What if the person has never ridden before? It makes sense for them to get a new bike so they have the factory support AND a bike they do not have to worry about working on so they can concentrate on learning to ride.

  Mostly not one to judge either, but it is normally pretty easy to tell when someone is going for the 'image', I mean when some guy with new leathers rides up on a new bike and starts talking about his first bike being a 1979 panhead he bought brand new, it's kind of self explanatory, and it's kind of fun to start leading them to see how far they'll take the stories.

  Very seldom will you find a real high mile biker that is wearing a totally new outfit on a totally new bike, if he's wiped out and had to replace everything he's normally got a good story to tell, and a few scars to show for it. 

 What I realy have to laugh about is when someone walks up in full harley dress, and then goes out and straddles a japanese cruiser.

 I've owned Harley, triumph, BSA, honda, yamaha, and kawasaki,  But I don't own a single stitch of clothing with any bike brand names, the ONLY clothes I've ever owned with a brand name on it was my cut before I went solo that had my wings, and a tshirt that had kawasaki on it I got as a gift from a friend.

   Yeah I do know plenty of real bikers that have jackets and shirts with the bikes brand on it, many of them with new leather,  but they normally stop short of the personalized HD under-roos, And none of them approach the total immersion of the new wannbees.

Ken.

[eldar]

Well again, that goes to attitude and actions.

  Mostly not one to judge either, but it is normally pretty easy to tell when someone is going for the 'image', I mean when some guy with new leathers rides up on a new bike and starts talking about his first bike being a 1979 panhead he bought brand new, it's kind of self explanatory, and it's kind of fun to start leading them to see how far they'll take the stories.

Last year I got a brand new jacket. I have been riding for a few years, just never had one. Would that be a poser? What if you waited till you knew I had been riding for over 20 years?  See what I mean.  Now if a person rides up like that, talkin smack, well then there is your answer.

I most certainly agree there are posers and such, quite a few actually, on ALL bikes. I just try to find out before I label them as such. Although having hd stuff and riding metric is rather funny.

All about attitude and actions and I dont mean trying to be a bad-ass!

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Hey, I gotta get this off of my chest. I was out on the Fat Boy (Harley) Saturday and I waved at a couple blue Japanese sport bikes and they didn't wave back?! Does this mean all sport bike riders are #$%*s, Japanese bike riders are #$%*s, or blue bike riders are #$%*s?  .  OK - I'm kidding of course but it did happen. I find this very ironic considering all the flack us Harley riders occasionally get for this very conduct. Bet they thought why was that #$%* Harley rider waving to us.   

[edbikerii]

Maybe they were paralyzed with shock!

Hey, I gotta get this off of my chest. I was out on the Fat Boy (Harley) Saturday and I waved at a couple blue Japanese sport bikes and they didn't wave back?! Does this mean all sport bike riders are #$%*s, Japanese bike riders are #$%*s, or blue bike riders are #$%*s?  .  OK - I'm kidding of course but it did happen. I find this very ironic considering all the flack us Harley riders occasionally get for this very conduct. Bet they thought why was that #$%* Harley rider waving to us.   

[nickjtc]

I'm saying this in a very, very, quiet, tiny voice. I like riding in factory fresh, brand new gear.

Makes me feel sort of reborn. I guess it's because I know that within a matter of time it will be bug splattered, dirty, possible melted by hot exhaust pipes, dropped on the ground and generally pretty scungy looking.

[edbikerii]

Yeah, of course.  But you aren't riding a $30K Screaming Eagle Harley, either.  Somebody riding an old Honda CB is obviously not concerned about posing.  I don't think any of us bought our old CBs because they would win us popularity points.

I'm saying this in a very, very, quiet, tiny voice. I like riding in factory fresh, brand new gear.

Makes me feel sort of reborn. I guess it's because I know that within a matter of time it will be bug splattered, dirty, possible melted by hot exhaust pipes, dropped on the ground and generally pretty scungy loking.

[Raul CB750K1]

Crotch rockets have a hard time waving. They lean forward and put much of their weight on their wrists, so it's hard to get one hand out of the handlebar to wave.



Regarding the "new vs old", I remember when I was a kid we had just one pair of shoes and one pair of sport shoes, and you would get a new one only when the old ones were worn out. Obviously, whenever somebody in the class brought new sport shoes they were so clean and shiny that you were the center of attention. We used to watch our steps for a couple weeks to enjoy our "15 minutes in the limelight". Once the sportshoes were not new anymore, our moment of glory would be gone. The rest of the guys would try to step on your new sportshoes to stain them, and you would have to watch for others trying to step on your shoes.

I remember the best time of the new sportshoes were after a couple weeks, when they were still new but not just out of the box. The same goes with cars, there is people so envious that will scratch your new, shiny car. But if you let it stay a little dirty nobody will do anything to it. If you keep it shiny it tells everybody how much you care for your car, so people who want to hurt you will do it with what you care the most. But if you seem not to care about your car and keep it dirty, nobody will touch it because doing it won't hurt you.


The only wrong thing I see on Harley clothes is how expensive they are. This was suppoused to be a humor thread and is becoming another Harley sociologic study. In my opinion, Harley is the only brand in the world that have achieved true icon status, and the one who have the most loyal followers. I can't think of any other trademark that people would tatoo on their skins. If you can get somebody to tatoo your name, you can sell him anything.


Raul

[seaweb11]

"I feel compelled to write something here. Seldom do I feel compelled"