Not a troll post, but something to think about

[Rickster]

I would have walked over and asked him if he would like me to go and find some Harley riders to help him pick it up.
There's just no excuse for that kind of attitude.

[Dave Nadeau]

Sounds like a "WILD HOGS" wannabe.............

[Rickster]

I agree, you mostly see that type of attitude from someone that has just bought there first HD, and usually comming off a metric.

[palanon]

My brother in law had to sell his Harley. I offered to loan him one of my bikes. He refused, said " I can't be seen on a Jap bike. " So, he's still not riding but, he looks cool in his Harley T-shirt and jacket.

[Clint]

LOL. What a dork.

[wookie]

I usually wave at all bikes, sportbikes, cruisers, metric, HD, etc....

If the rider waves bike, cool. If not, cool too.

As for whether or not HOG people give me the 1-finger solute, well, whatever that floats their boat. I will just stay away and let be. That's what's great about this country.

[Low&Slow]

I can honestly say I have never run across that attitude, sure there's a lot of good natured ribbing but nothing like what some of you have discribed. I can however say one thing, a one fingered salute is going to get you a bike race and you better not let me win.

[DragonRider]

Originally Posted by wookie

I usually wave at all bikes, sportbikes, cruisers, metric, HD, etc....

If the rider waves bike, cool. If not, cool too.

As for whether or not HOG people give me the 1-finger solute, well, whatever that floats their boat. I will just stay away and let be. That's what's great about this country.

Same here I wave at everybody,even scooters. I really don't even look to see what thier riding. I don't care really. It's that they are riding....
I do have to say at least in this area. I have been waved at by about 85% of the Harley people. Talked to alot of them up in the mountains. All nice people. I've never had any HD guy say anything about my bike at least not to my face,most give compliments "nice looking bike" or "what kind is that?" So I can't really say anything bad about them.

[TFee3]

The Harley dealer here also sells Suzukis. My friend bought a new Softtail Classic for $19,000, and I bought my new C90T for $10,000. Then, he had to buy a windshield and saddle bags to match what I already had on my new bike. His is red and is a beautiful bike, but my metallic silver makes his bike look very small when we sit side by side.

I also have a friend who has a Fat Boy. It looks pretty neat, but I thought I had a small gas tank until I rode with him one day. After about 90 miles, he started looking for a gas station. Also, that big tire was so close to the ground that he slowed way down on some of the curves here in the Ozarks, and on one, I almost ran over him. That Fat Boy is a beautiful bike, but I needed something I could ride and not worry about. I'm a hard core cruiser and like to go long distances.

[kay]

I must say that the company promotes that attitude too.
Like they will send HD pins and badges, organize HD-only events and even in their printed material, they will have phrase like "Welcome. Now you have become one of the HD family!" Here, HD riders can get "points" whenever they attend HD events, and then based on accumulated points, you can get HD stuff that are not sold anywhere. The company also sells a lot of branded items, to further enhance the loyalty of "followers".

So it's a technique in marketing. Keeping a captive audience which is adopted by many companies. Another one that is fairly keen on doing this is BMW but no way near the level that HD has achieved over the years.

It's all planned and manipulated.

[palanon]

Don't know where I heard this.

HD owners - The largest group of people you will find with the incessant need to get together in large groups in order to express their individuality.

[XL-Rider]

Well, having owned 4 Harleys (2 big twins and 2 sportsters) and currently a 883, I do agree some H-D riders have an attitude theres no doubt. And in the Harley world Sportster riders are second class as well, even though I think they are better bikes, better handling, and are more reliable than the bid twins.

I bought my first Harley out of a dealer in cinder block garage in the days before the boutiques, motorclothes, and credit card riders, I am old school. I guess lived the Harley experience before it became fashionable.

I don't ride with the HOG groups, to be frank, they are too slow paced for me, plus the superior attitude is annoying. Many buy into the hype. I ride with a mixed brand club, and there is a lot of kidding about brands, but its fun. At 33,000 miles in less than 2 years my bike has never been in the shop and I don't think many of my club mates can say that about their oriental cruisers, but they still percieve Harleys as leaky oil burners and unreliable and we kid about it.

I always wave (even scooters) and most of the time get waves back. Out on the road we face the same things. The real motorcyclists, the ones who really ride their bikes and bought them to ride and not the image, are most always friendly to all riders no matter the brand. Its the posers that have the attitude. I have ridden around 250,000 miles and have owned many bikes, Jap, British, a BMW, and Harleys, and the 2005 Sporty I have is probably my favorite. But I didn't buy it for image, I bought it for dealer support, standard 2 year warranty, ergonomics, ease of maintainance, reliability and cost. $500 off list, 3% interest, no money down for 3 years.

So don't group all Harley riders together. Some of us are pretty decent folks.

Higgy

[SoCalCruisin]

Originally Posted by XL-Rider

So don't group all Harley riders together. Some of us are pretty decent folks.

Higgy

Welcome XL Rider. I hope you don't see this as ragging on all Harley riders. If you haven't read the whole thread, see mine (#20 I think). It was just one guy. I occaisionally ride with a couple different groups that include all bike makes and we all get along just fine. I know this guy was the exception. I too will acknowledge all bikes on the road, yep, even the scooters.

[Rickster]

Originally Posted by TFee3

The Harley dealer here also sells Suzukis. My friend bought a new Softtail Classic for $19,000, and I bought my new C90T for $10,000. Then, he had to buy a windshield and saddle bags to match what I already had on my new bike. His is red and is a beautiful bike, but my metallic silver makes his bike look very small when we sit side by side.

I also have a friend who has a Fat Boy. It looks pretty neat, but I thought I had a small gas tank until I rode with him one day. After about 90 miles, he started looking for a gas station. Also, that big tire was so close to the ground that he slowed way down on some of the curves here in the Ozarks, and on one, I almost ran over him. That Fat Boy is a beautiful bike, but I needed something I could ride and not worry about. I'm a hard core cruiser and like to go long distances.

MSRP on a Softail Classic is $17,800, and the classic comes stock with a windshield, and saddle bags, your buddy got hosed if he had to pay extra for them. Nobody in there right mind pays MSRP. My 06 Road King was discounted more than $1,000, I paid $16,600 out the door.
Your 07 C90T lists for $11,500, so $10,000 plus tax and license sounds about right. As far as the Classic looking small next to your bike, you must have a real good eye for measurements, because your bike's wheel base is only 2.4 inches longer than the Softail. I don't know, is bigger better, in another post, you complain about how your bike is too big, and gets to be "a real horse to park".
As for Harley's not being able to go the distance, that's just plain My 13 month old Road King has a bit over 18,000 miles on it, and my riding partners 97 Softail Classic just clicked over 100.000 miles,. I'm sure these numbers don't mean much to a real hard core cruiser like your self, but just for grins, perhaps you would like to share your mileage with us. I'm sure that if I wanted to search, I could find a post where you listed it some where else, but I'm being lazy, so I'll just wait for your answer.

[Bowtie18]

Wow. I've just gotta say, as I always do, that I just never have these issues. But that could have to do with the fact that my neighbors are both Hog members. The husband is the head Road Captain, and the wife is another officer. Maybe the fact I ride in there with them gets me special attention, but I've honestly never had any issues. I don't do every ride, maybe 3-4 a year.

I just think this area may be a bit more open to other types of rides.

I get a comment on occasion, just out by myself, but not much.

I find that I have gotten more stupid comments from people who don't ride at all. The biggest being "If I couldn't afford a Harley, I wouldn't bother."

Whatever. I guess that is why they are sitting on their couch, while I'm out living my life on the road!

[dlrshort]

Hi, I bought a 2007 HD Softail Deluxe last month after riding a C50 for several months. I have to say that out the door the C50 has a much more appealing sticker. But I'd like to offer my 2cents about MY EXPERIENCES with both bikes.

The experience with the dealership can't compare. The Suzuki dealer basically said here's your bike and if you have any questions look at your owners manual...The HD dealer went over the bike with a fine-tooth comb explaining every small detail including inspection before I picked it up. I know some would say that you have to pay for customer's service.

The C50 was a very comfortable bike but I hated the brakes and did not feel comfortable crusing above 50 mph. The HD has the 6 speed, heavier and obviously more cu ins.--overall a nicer ride.

The look of the HD and some niceities on the bike including self cancelling turn signals, a 'grown up horn' are superior in my opinion to the C50.

Although the C50 is a handsome bike, In my opinion the HD is far superior cosmetically (and that is important to some people).

But having said that H-D does also stand for hundreds of dollars and I am expecting to have to pay more for repairs and accessories.

Perhaps if I had gotten a bigger cc metric I would have been happier, but being an older guy and only getting back in to riding after many years, I wanted to buy a more inexpensive bike at first and then get the bike that I thought I would enjoy the most later on if I still enjoyed riding. The C50 gives you a lot of bank for the buck, I am enjoying the HD far more.

In a nutshell.....to each his own. If we all liked the same things there would be one car maker, one motorcycle manufacturer etc.

My advice is to buy the motorcycle that you feel gives you the most value (perceived or otherwise) and enjoy the ride.

[Bowtie18]

And I would just say your metric dealer just sucked. Both of the metric dealers I bought my bike from, the Volusia and the Road Star, was so thorough I just wanted to tell them to stop!! I just wanted to ride!

I will say that there are some things about some HD dealers that tops the metrics. However, that is like anyplace you shop or eat.

Go to a TFI or Applebys, any chain place, and you may be treated differently from one to the other.

As far as the bikes go, I don't completely buy the "you get what you pay for" either.

My Father has an 04 Eglide Ultra Classic, and he loves to ride my Road Star. He thinks, as do I, it is more of a stretched out ride, and the engines are much different. It may just be the extra weight of the big tourer, but it just feels more powerful, seat of the pants feeling.

I do like the HD's, ad plan on having a tourer one day, but the HD's just aren't "head and shoulders" above the metrics anymore.

Nor are they the oil leaking junk that the "metric snobs", and there are metric snobs as well, make them out to be.

We all need to do our best to fight the stereo types and BS, and learn to just ride our ride, and not worry about this crap.

[dcstrng]

We all need to do our best to fight the stereo types and BS, and learn to just ride our ride…

Ain’t that the truth… good post…

Started to respond to this thread yesterday and thought better of it… but…

There was a time when Harleys weren’t considered especially glamorous, even by Harley riders… and there was a time when Japanese bikes were such an oddity, folks would ride around the city just to look at one…

Would be nice to return to the time when the rider simple rode to ride -- but that's probably a false hope… When one met another rider it was okay to share notes even if they used different size wrenches to change the oil… Oh, there have always been folks who are sure their ride was the best, even if it was a Hodaka or Vespa… and, perhaps, for what they wanted it for , it was.

Folks who think their importance in the food chain, let alone their testosterone level, is enhanced by the brand/model/size of scoot they buy, are deluding themselves and should be avoided at all costs – certainly wouldn’t be someone I’d seek out to go riding with, especially if 20 or 30 of these duped rascals are in a gaggle – ignore `em.

Most modern scoots are so much superior (mechanically at least – style-wise some are still suspect) to what was available just twenty years ago, it’s like they are from another planet… still every now and again, a lemon slips through just like there are dealers and stealers… riders used to have to wrench on their scoots reasonably skillfully or one couldn’t ride – nowadays, many riders expect the dealer to do anything that doesn’t involve bolting on some chrome-plated plastic doodad… not surprisingly we are critical of dealers, many expect a lot more out of `em…

Little wonder the camaraderie (if it ever existed) among riders has deteriorated – especially between brands – many now seem to ride as much for status as anything and know little about the machine they ride… An elderly rider I once knew said the creation of the weenie button (electric start) did more to do away with motorcycling than any other contraption… he may be right, and at 70-plus he was still booting a big-twin to life every morning…

[italian biker]

FYI, I like alot of HD bikes, but I went with the bike that had the features I wanted. They are much better then they used to be since the AMF days. I still think they're over priced, and HD should spend more on development then on marketing their logo, and the "harley lifestyle" to the sheep mantality. Lets be honest, if HD wasn't part of the hardcore outlaw biker image, they wouldn't have the popularity they do now. I bought a bike, not a name.
I've never insulted anyone's bike until they start in on mine first.
But, I will admit I did laugh in some poser's face just at the sight of him in his hollywood harley costume, including chaps in with the weather in the high 80's. Head to toe in the officially licensed HD "lifestyle" motorclothing.
Rickster, I have to disagree wtih you, I see the attitude more coming more from the new rider who's first bike is the HD.

[Rickster]

It's your privilege to disagree with me, and you may very well be right, either way, where ever they come from, they are still acting like jerks.

I, like you, base my opinion on the relatively small number of HD owners that I have personal contact with.