scorn of the bros

[scotto]

The old XS has been getting an enema in my garage with a tank clean, carb overhaul and such. Very ugly inside, will Kreem later. Many thanks to this site for info, and for advice on filter routing.

Anyway, just share a brief story. Whilst performing the above servicing on my dearly beloved XS, I saw fit to pop out to my local bike shop to get some filters. Rode my old CX500 Honda. Not the most elegant machine but infinitely practical and not without some charms.

I passed a "bro" leaning against a bus-stop. You know the story, flannellette shirt rolled up, wifebeater singlet, scruffy beard, arms full of tough stickers - probably much like you lot!! Pretty common sight hear in North Queensland, Harley country. Anyway, he lears at me and gives me the finger. Hmmmm....

Once was a time when I would have bothered re-educating the man, but not any more. It caused me to ponder the divide between Japanese bike riders and the holy faithful of the Harley biker religion. I wonder at the poor troubled souls whose compass is to far out they would rather catch a bus than ride on a jap bike. I think they've missed the bus. Cheers. Scott J

[mro]

they've missed the bus.

I go to a few hang outs I used to go to when I was a kid.
(only a couple left)
I like to park my XS right in the middle of the harley pack.
About the worst I get is a turned up nose and that from but a few. Was fun one night had ridden the hot rod XS to the Derby. As I was leaving guy on a soft tail was pulling up next to me and preceded to rev it a couple times. Started my XS up and drowned him out.

mro

[pggg]

"98% of all Harleys ever sold are still on the road. The other 2% made it home."

What does a Harley and hound dog have in common? They both spend most of their time in the back of a pickup truck.

[prometheus578]

"Psych. 101".

Scotto...
Simple psychology... he doesn't hate you, he hates himself.
I can't recall the correct term for it, but we can dance around that for the present.
Let's examine this phenomenon for a moment, shall we?
Several key issues:
The more you work for something, the more important it is.
No one likes to admit that they're wrong.

Scotto... you wait in a long line to see a movie. It turns out to be a three hour long piece of new-age artistic crap. As you leave the theatre(english spelling), someone in the line waiting for the next showing asks you how the movie was. What do you reply?
"It was the greatest film I ever saw!"
Why Scotto? Why'd you say that?
Firstly: because you had waited outside for over an hour to get in, and you don't want to admit to anyone that you wasted your time to see a lousy movie.
Secondly: you don't want to admit that you wasted three hours of your life, for then your life is equally worthless.
Lastly: as mentioned above, the more you work for something, the more importance it should hold. Unfortunetely in the case of this movie, this wasn't true.
You have wasted your time and effort...but you're not about to admit this to anyone. One has one's pride to think of, hence, "The movie was great!"
Now, let's return to our harley rider(or walker, as the case may be)
It matters not why he was standing on the corner. Maybe his bike is at home and he had just dropped his car off at the shop and needed a ride back. Doesn't matter if he was standing there or actually riding his bike, the reasons for the harley mentality are all the same.
Somewhere along the line, he has made an error.
Put yourself in his unpolished boots for a moment.
You have bought and ride a bike that is slow, underpowered, vibrates the turn signals off, breaks down often, repair parts will nickle and dime you to death, and the only chicks you can pick up on it are morbidly obese bar-flies, etc.
You have spent a lot of time, effort and money to do this... are you gonna admit that you are wrong? I think not.
You are gonna continue to put up a facade that this is the greatest machine on the planet. What else can you do?
Every harley rider... when they get together in their buddy's garage to tinker and repair them, knows they're garbage. They freely admit this amongst themselves. But to an outsider, never.
(Four co-workers sitting in a bar cussing about the place they work at. A stranger at the end of the bar comments,"Yeah, I hear thats a really crappy place to work." The four then proceed to beat the guy to a pulp.
"You don't work there... you haven't earned the right to say that, etc."
Classic In Group/ Out Group behavor.
So... harley guy doesn't hate you, Scotto... he actually hates himself... for his bad decisions, but must project that hatred elsewhere.(One shouldn't hate one's self, so "Everyone else must be wrong.")
He even displays this attitude by his slovenly dress. "I am tough, and I don't care about anything." His unkempt and unwashed appearance my have cost him plenty, like a good job or career advancement, but he doesn't care. It's image he's after.
Everyone knows that he's made a stupid choice concerning what he rides, so he dresses to give the impression that he's beyond caring for the opinion of others; again, the "new" harley mystique.
You can see this new mystique at any harley dealership on a Saturday morning. There, are all the doctors, lawyers and weasle accountants... one day's growth of beard, wearing jeans that "shockingly" haven't been washed for two days, bandanas on their heads above their "clip-on" biker earings... strutting around, showing the world just how tough they would be, if only their wives and mortgages would let them.
Is this not why they refuse to wave at other riders on the road?
Their imaginary self image prevents them from doing this.

Once was a time when I would have bothered re-educating the man,

No, Scotto... do not waste your time. It is best to ignore them. And the best way to ignore them, is to do as I do.
When sitting together at a traffic light, I look straight ahead, check my watch, pick my nose... anything but look in their direction. (I've seen $10,000 worth of mass produced chrome accessories on a bike before, why turn my head now?)
This infuriates them, but also forces them to face the reality that no one cares about their false self-image. Soon, they will be on the road to recovery and good mental health.
And isn't this what we want for them?

[prometheus578]

Yeah, PGGG,
but the hound dog can get up into the truck under it's own power.

[pggg]

Whew! that venom was dripping and searing anything it touched, just as well we don't ride harleys then?

Prom, remind me never to get you mad

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

Prom, We may have to nickname you (wow, a nickname on a nickname, what does that say?) Lucy. You know, Psychiatric Help - 5 Cents.

That was very insightful.

All my cousins ride Harleys and this weekend we got together and rode. All I heard was "Why don't you get a Harley?" My answer, "Only conformists ride Harleys..."

It's like the "Rebel" teens who wear their baseball hats backwards and slouch when they drive so they are "Different". Count 'em someday, they ain't so rare.

[mro]

"Only conformists ride Harleys..."

will have to remember that one.....


mro

[prometheus578]

BLUEJEEPLAB,
There are only three types of people: (Most are influenced by the opinions of others)
Those who conform to every fashion and fad, for they must follow the herd.
Those who pride themselves on "being non-conformist". Though they think they are different, when the main herd changes direction, they are still under it's influence, as they then must change their direction, though in an opposite way.
And finally...
Those like me, who enjoy sitting back, pointing my finger, and laughing at everyone else!

No hatred involved, PGGG... just "enlightened observation".

[UncleSpot]

I've owned 7 Hardly Driveables - 51 Pan, 53 Pan, 73 FX, 84 FLHT, 69 XLCH, and 2x 45 trikes - I would ***NOT*** trade my 80XS11SG for ***ALL*** of them together! I got tired of buying overpriced parts, constantly working on them BEFORE the ride, DURING the ride, and AFTER the ride.

my next door neighbor just got herself a sportster and tells me (leering at my XS11), "Well, at least you're riding". I just tell her "you believe EVERYthing you hear don't you? The marketing 'hype' has got you brainwashed." (she's pushed her bike home EVERY time she's gone riding... )

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

I will have to say that most of the Harley riders I fall in with here in Ohio are at least friendly about their snobbery and you should have seen their eyes bug at the results of my little stoplight drag with some kid on a Ninja. He pulled up level with me in the other lane and did that little throttle blip the rocket riders do, then kind of rolled his head at my old bike. Oh, it's on now!!!

Anyhow, long story short, he and the Harley gang were pretty shocked when that 28 year old Yammy lifted his front end off the ground, tore off for the next light and was waiting on them at the next light. Same story at that light. The rocket rider turned left at the next one and I got lots of comments at the next stop. Love IT.

[Crazcnuk]

In my town there was an old school group of bikers, back when I was high school. Myself and a couple friends, who had jap bikes, used to pop into thier clubhouse on a regular basis. I had a 750-4K at the time, buddies had a 650 Maxim and a GS850L.

After a while the 'leader' of the group started calling us 'Hardcores'. We thought it was a mild attempt at an insult and ignored it for the longest time. Everytime we came into a party, or just on a friday afternoon, they would call out 'the hardcores are here'.

One day, while out hunting with Yuha (yes that's the leaders name he was once deported from his native Finland as an undesirable) I asked him why he called us hardcores.

He said it was because, even though we rode ricers, we had no fear of showing up among the tried and true harley riders, and we made the transition back and forth between the biker crew and 'regular' society w/o batting an eye, and we rode our bikes more than the 'bikers' did.

My Honda Shadow 1100 showed up on the cover of at least 2 local Harley newsletters, and on CBC TV in the Ride for Sight Parade coverage. Oh, and it's also on a few RCMP videos for going to parties that they were watching...

[cajun31]

It's about riding

Not what you ride. I own one of each. As I have said in previous posts, the reason I bought the LG was because the Harleys of that day had very poor quality control and had all sorts of problems. I decided to buy the Harley in 02, because speed doesn't interest me and the quality of the bikes is much improved. I have never had any problems with mine and the ride is very smooth with the new counterbalance engines. I don't get the Harley attitudes and there are some out there, I prefer to ride with folks who don't care either way. My riding attire does not change regardless of which bike I choose to take out on a given day. Both are enjoyable rides and of course the LG still gives me the torque that the Harley just can't do. Of course I didn't buy the Harley expecting any more then I got. Between the two bikes the Harley is easier to work on, not that I have had to do any other then performance mods, carb exhaust, etc....

[MAXIMAN]

The end of the Harley reign?

When I rode to Big Bend a couple weeks ago I met up with an biker buddy of mine. He is a hard core Harley fan...but NOT an A-hole.

He did tell me the price of used Harley's are dropping like a rock off a cliff. He sold a Road King a few months back that he invested about 18 G in. He barely got 12 out of it. Today he has a friend with one and the guy has had it on the market for 4 months at 12 grand and hasn't even had an offer.

Apparently Harley's demographic is the same old crew. They aren't getting any younger people into the market. I read a survey that found every 12 months the average age of Harley riders goes up 10 months! And the average age is mid 50's.

He told me he thinks Harley is in far huge fall over the next several years.

Doesn't surprise me. I have no use for any of them. Of all my riding friends only two ride Harley's. The others are on Sport bikes, touring bikes, or classic/vintage stuff like the Eleven.

I'm sure Harley will be around a long time. But I think the "fad" maybe coming to a close.

Have you ever noticed most Harley's have very very few miles. Occasionally you'll find one that some one has really used. But more often than not they have few miles. I think that is because most Harley riders are'nt really riders. They are weekend warriors. They like to put on their "clip on" ponytails, fake tattoos, and "acid washed" leathers to play some bad boy roll.

Having said all that...scotto...I really haven't encountered too many of them that were belligerent. Most are pretty friendly over here with me. They look kinda goofy with their do-rags, chains, and tassles hanging off the ends of their bars...but other than that pretty harmless.

[LoHo]

You know, I've only had a couple of Harley guys even comment on my XS, and both were "Nice bike. I had a buddy that had one of those in the '80s. Fast as hell back in the day...."