OH, you got a Harley?

[1tinindian]

Today at work, we had our yearly visit with our insurance provider, and while making small talk with me, he asked if I had been on any vactions yet this summer, and I said no, but was planning a motorcycle trip in the fall, and he perked up and asked, "Oh, you got a Harley?" and I rolled my eyes and said, "No, I have a big Yamaha sport bike!" and with that, his interest faded rapidly, and he responded with an "Oh.".

It's hard keeping a straight face when dealing with the general public that thinks that when someone is riding a motorcycle, it "MUST" be a Harley.

I'm glad I have this forum and it's members to come to and retain my sence of why I ride, and what I ride and why I ride what I ride.

Leon

[Dan Filetti]

"Oh, you got a Harley?" and I rolled my eyes and said, "No, I have a big Yamaha sport bike!" and with that, his interest faded rapidly, and he responded with an "Oh.".

Just west of me, in Amish country, for many of the the non-Amish, if it's going to be a bike, it's going to be a Hardley.  "Harley or nothing" is often herd -buy American! -and all that. These folks, who often have double-mortgaged their tornado-magnet-mobile-homes to be able to afford it, lay it all out for their shiny Hardley's and then turn their noses up at anything else.  Even the better built, better looking metric cruisers.  The bikes are almost all low-mileage units as they rarely actually get ridden.

The funny thing is that the Honda Accord parked next to that shiny low-mileage Hardly, the vehicle that does get the lion share of the miles driven, represents no irony to these folks.  Amazing. 

Dan

[fj11.5]

Same here in aus , if u have a goatee and long hair ,you must own a harley , didnt they not notice the lack of an oil slick last time i had been there

[mikeholzer]

The funny thing is that the Honda Accord parked next to that shiny low-mileage Hardly, the vehicle that does get the lion share of the miles driven, represents no irony to these folks.  Amazing. 

Dan

That's dangerous ground, Dan. What is more American: the Honda Accord built by Americans in Ohio, USA, or the Ford-Chrysler-GM product built in Canada or Mexico (or god-forbid one of those shit Saturn's built in Germany by Opel)? They probably don't recognize the irony because it's a really murky subject.

Polaris Industries has built snowmobiles and ATV's here in Minnesota for years. Right now, they are in the process of moving production to Mexico. I figure that this is only making space for Tatra or one of the Chinese carmakers to start producing something here. What I'm saying is that the line between foreign and domestic (at least in automotive production) is blurry, and as much as I can respect some douchebag's opinion that buying an "American" car or motorcycle or whatever is helping to benefit America, the reality is that when I'm spending my money I'd like to get some benefit from it.

That's why I ride an FJ and drive a Honda Accord.

Mind you, this is only my opinion.

[DailyDriver]

Sadly, my wife suffers from this. She's kinda' new to motorcycling. She doesn't ride her own bike (yet) but we ride two up on our Yamaha Stratoliner.  Whenever she's talking to someone who happens to own a Harely, she perks up and says to me, "he/she/they ride a Harely!" as if I'm supposed to share her enthusiasm. 

We rented a Harely a few years ago on our vacation to Hawaii. We both agreed our Stratoliner is more comfortable, has more power, and looks every bit as good as any stock Harely out there IMO. Must be a chemical imbalance or something. (Don't tell her I said that) 

[RichBaker]

Sadly, my wife suffers from this. She's kinda' new to motorcycling. She doesn't ride her own bike (yet) but we ride two up on our Yamaha Stratoliner.  Whenever she's talking to someone who happens to own a Harely, she perks up and says to me, "he/she/they ride a Harely!" as if I'm supposed to share her enthusiasm. 

We rented a Harely a few years ago on our vacation to Hawaii. We both agreed our Stratoliner is more comfortable, has more power, and looks every bit as good as any stock Harely out there IMO. Must be a chemical imbalance or something. (Don't tell her I said that) 

The Stratoliner doesn't VIBRATE like a Harley, though...... does it.   

[FJTillDeath]

Luckily where I come froom the stigma is not so bad with Harleys. Sure they have unearthly sounds that make the ground vibrate (just because they shake so much) but I personally dont like the whole cruiser look. From where I come from people are more gravitated to the Gixxer, the ninja(a personal fav of mine next to the FJ), any Honda CBR and the Yamaha R1  and strangely the 125TZRR.. Lately a trend of the scooter has come out and for some reason everybody who doesnt actually ride a motrobike refers to them (a motorbike even as big as the FJ) as a scooter - which is really annoying and shocking.

I guess the advantage of coming from a country which doesnt actually have its own local motorbike born and bread manufaturers has its ups in that when you tell people you have a bike they ask if its (anything other than a Harley).

My 2cents on the whole cruiser story. If i had to buy one I would rather get a Suzuki 1700 Bolouvard or equally a Kawasaki Versys(i think thats what they are called)

Otherwise I would stick to a sport/ sport tourer like the FJ and the Ninja (My newly acquired friend acquired a brand new zx14 - too big for me personally but they really are good bikes) Its always nice to see a mod witha yamaha and kawasaki as someone before me on this forum mentioned, yamasaki sounds better than yamazuki

[NJona86FJ]

yup. " you got a Harley?"... ermmm no.... i dont have a ute either.... huh? ... look ...lets explain this... BMW have been making twins since 1940 ( maybe earlier) odd. dont have issues. great engine , 120 thou between valve checks at a minimum on the later models ...( so i hear... still think they are an "old mans" bike but thats a different ilk) harley have been making the same engine with the same issues since its conception...( dont care when, never been that interested) , agree with the "cos i have a beard i must ride a harley" thing, i have long hair a crap goatee and dress like a bum, am regularly unclean ( my work... coal is a c*nt  to get off and out of your skin), they get a shock when i show them the clean, polished and tidy FJ. Never been into the sheep and tough guy mentality. I ride cos i want to, cos i love it and i ride what i ride(although it was an accident picking it) because its RELIABLE, go's and doesnt give me grief and is a little bit" different"  ( as in dont see tooooo many of them on the road... aprt from fj springy's beast i have seen one other maybe two... blame the  weed i dont smoke anymore)
what more can you ask? i mean really? i get up go to the shed, kick it in the guts and ride to work rai ahil fog shinr=e cars trucks dirt flying sheep what ever!!! and it runs, rattles bangs clunks buzzes and still gets me excited.
nuff said
and no i dont have tough stickers neither, apologies to thos that do if i offend... cant see the point  inpaying someone to scribble on me, but hey thats your choice and its a free country last time i checked. (1980 odd i think)

[andyb]

Oh you have a harley?

No, I have a motorcycle.

Shuts them up every time.  It's even more fun when the harley guys at the track (a buell something or another and a destroyer) look at the lines of sportbikes and say "man, those things are too fast, I'd be scared..."  Damned right you'd be!

Then again, I did see a low 7 second pass (0-180mph in 7.xx or so!) from a harley running nitromethane (Fuel!).  That was damned impressive....

[BikeryJeff]

Hey, I'm a big fan of Harley's. Great looking all my buddies have them. oh yeah they are also always working on them too $$$$. Harley does an excellent marketing job you have to admit.  You know the old saying " if Harley built airplanes would you fly in them" LOL .... When I brought my FJ home my 17 year old daughter (who buses tables at a local biker bar) said to me "dad that's not a Harley" then shrugs her shoulders and walks into the house. Talk about no respect... I felt like Rodney Dangerfield, but respect does come in different ways.

For instance we have all seen the Harley Stance right! You know, your on a major highway cruising along at 65 miles an hour and you come up on a Harley (mostly the younger guys with the half helmet deal) They see you coming up in their rear view and proceed to drop their head over the handlebars, elbows come to a wide stance like bird wings. Then you get the oh shit confused look as you pass them up with a big smile on your face. Now that is what I call respect. 

[ddlewis]

I just have no interest in a cruiser.  Besides just traveling I like to ride on curvy roads so low weight and ground clearance are a big deal.  Also the cruiser rider image/lifestyle crap is ridiculous. The decked out pretend hells angels out there are silly looking and a nuisance to get stuck behind.

The actual bikes are pretty nicely done though.  Late model Harley's that I'm familiar with seem well put together.  Good attention to detail, cables and wires tucked away, all metal, paint and chrome are beautiful.  They give the impression of solidness and high quality.  nothing chintzy. 

In my small sample of HD riders, all of the "work" being done are stage 1 hop ups (cuz loud pipes save lives) and chrome doodad bolt-ons.  Wish I could say that for BMW..

[axiom-r]

When I was growing up in a suburb outside Detroit the neighbor across the street had several bikes. Most of them were 2-stroke Kawasaki's.  I can still remember summer morning's (when I was about 10) hearing him work on the bikes in the driveway and smelling the oil burning....   I saw Kawasaki candy green, blue and purple for the first time at in this neighbors drive.   However, the 2-stokes were not his first ride. His first bike was a Harley Topper- one of these:


My dad was never a motorcycle guy but he bought the Topper for $60 and rode us kids around for the next few summers.  3-4 years later I uncovered the Topper while the folks were at work and was able to make it run.  For the next few summers I secretly rode the Topper between 9AM and about 2PM - the hours I knew the folks were away at work.

So MY first bike was a Harley!   Incidentally, this same neighbor came over when I was about 15 and saw I was fixing up a ratty old TS185 Suzuki.  He said "you outta buy my old Kawasaki 350".  I declined and a month or two later he gave me a 1968 Kawasaki A7 Avenger......   I rode the A7 to High School and the 2-stroke/two wheel addiction was permanently ingrained....

Jump forward to 2006 and I had the opportunity to own a 1957 Pan Head very cheaply (the owner owed me).....   I went for it.



This was a Harley Guy's Harley....  No poser would ever deal with a kick-start only, hard tail, straight open pipes etc.  The bike was a wild exposure to the sensation of having a Harley.  It spit flames from the fishtail pipes when you rolled off the throttle and it rattled windows/set off car alarms.  I used to hate Harley guys and their straight pipes.  I thought it was so annoying and bad for the image of motorcyclists.... but put the throttle in my hand and it was the most awesome thing ever!!  That bike was cool as hell and absolutely no fun at all to ride.  Sure I looked bad ass.  Sure all the Harley guys drooled.  Then a friend said to me, "I loved my 43 Knuckle Head but I could not stand all the biker people that wanted to hang out with my bike- so I sold it".  That comment stuck with me and resonated as I had to discuss all things Harley with any biker dude that came up to see the Pan Head.....   There is an unmistakeable "lone wolf" kind of feeling when you ride a Harley like this one (not talking about a bagger)- vintage, authentic, your granddad's Harley.  There is a thick nostalgia that goes with a "real" Harley and I still respect that a lot- it's just not the reason I ride.

I had it for 2 years.  I have ridden some of their new bikes and they have come a long way but they are no match for the bikes of today.  I have had maybe 30-35 bikes now and 2 of them were Harleys, the Topper and the Pan Head.  I would like to find another Topper someday to restore.... because that old Topper was like a Honda- I met the nicest people!

tim

[Dan Filetti]

Nice post.  Note that both of these Harleys existed before Harley 'knew they were cool', that is, spend millions selling cool instead of bikes.

Dan

[Dan Filetti]

Nice post.  Note that both of these Harleys existed before Harley 'knew they were cool', that is, spend millions selling cool instead of bikes.

Dan

Doooh! That's "'spent' millions..."

Dan

[FJTillDeath]

I agree the older Harleys were definitely very nice. Back when they payed attention to detail as Dan said. I have only owned 3 bikes but then again I am only 19. I would like to get another bike or actually another few, but I would never actually buy a Harley> like it has been said for that price there are so many other better bikes out there. I wish that FJs were easy to find here. I would love another one. But when I kick the bucket in my garage I would like to have owned an FJ a Kawasaki, a Ducatti Monster, an Aprilla and a KTM superduke. If somebody had to give me a harley I would probably sell it for one of these bikes. no offence to them but for its price a harley isnt worth it