Bikers and the trendy

  • February 1, 2012 2:58 PM PST
    I have read a lot about the difference between bikers and the people who think it would be so cool to own a bike. I'm not being brand specific because I think this is across the board for all styles of riders, you know who they are, the sport bike riders, the cruisers, VTXers, the Road Stars and the Harley Riders!

    No matter what your flavor of bike might be there are so many that just have a passion for it that is almost unquentiable! People who will come up with ways to have a bike in their daily lives, people who work hard for the iron they love to ride daily or every weekend rain or shine. These people are who I consider bikers, people that just can't leave it alone and just have to hit the road whenever they have a chance to break away! I've read a lot of your posts and I'm convinced that if you're not here talking about it or working, you're on your ride gobbling up the miles!

    VS.

    People who just want a bike for the sake of having it and using it as some form of status to be among us, the bikers and to impress their friends. Most often they are veiled and shallow attempts with their efforts and these are the people who wouldn't hesitate to sell off their 'investment' if times got tight or their significant other says they need to 'grow up!'. I have seen it all to often with new owners in a varying range of ages. I can recall some of their ridiculous rants like for example back in 2000; a gentlemen in the local dealership bought his first Harley and boy was he excited and as soon as the deal went through it was like the dealership was throwing a big party for him on the spot. Woohoo you're now a member of the family sort of welcome or 'You have arrived' event. 
    To make matters even more ridiculous this new owner starts running around the dealership, shouting no less, "You gotta pay to be in the brotherhood!" I happened to be there at the dealership that day to pick up oil and a filter for my bike and I was on my 1200 Sportster and he comes out with this rant "You gotta pay to be in the brotherhood!" and as I am putiing the oil and filter into the saddlebags he comes rushing up to me saying "You need to get in there and get a REAL bike!' I look at him and said "I already bought their last REAL bike!"

    Another example: Me and the wife were out garage sale surfing on a rare sunny weekend in Western Washington when we stopped at a house and they had a lot of stuff for sale and we were there for a good bit just pouring over the stuff they had: CD's, work bench and few other items of interest, when the lady of the house who was hosting the sale asks if we owned a Harley (I know I wear the imagine on my sleeve) and I said that we in fact owned a few of them. So she struck up a conversation about how they were going to be getting THEIR Harley soon because she and her husband were postal workers and they were moving to a different state with better pay blah blah and went on about how it was time to get one... like it was furniture or a center piece to impress their friends and family! I know I could come up with more examples but I won't because personally it makes me sick to listen to these yahoos go on and on.

    Point being: I have been riding motorcycles since my dad unloaded a little 3 speed Hondamatic from the back of his pickup truck with a huge shit eating grin and said to me "There you go boy, knock yourself out!" My first experience on a motorcycle that I controled or was "Throttle Master" of, the only thing I could think to do once I started it was give'er gas! Wouldn't you it that damn thing drug me from one end of the back yard to the other because it had reared up and I couldn't seem to let go of the throttle! Once I got both wheels on the ground and figured out that I needed to keep my speed down some so I could just ride the damn thing it didn't take long until that was all I wanted to do after school in those days! I know my dad had a helluva laugh watching me take a few spills especially on the very day I got my first bike. (RIP Papa)

    Recently it finally occured to me that there truly is a division of actual bikers VS. the trendy coveters out there in the market!
    Ladies and gentlemen I am 45 years old, I have 6 kids that want for nothing and I have ALWAYS owned a motorcycle in one form or another. I would be a miserable SOB if I were to go without one but I always seemed to find a way to have one and now I have two I've had as many as 4 at one time but the point is, we bikers make it a point to make sure that our needs for that simple machine are satisfied and we make no apologies for it.

    The kicker of all this is; the trendy keep the motor companies in business, they are the ones who will get a wild hair and not only go kick a tire but buy the latest and greatest machine, take some safety courses and attend their MoCo bike chapter meetings until they become disinterested in the whole concept or something happens that terrifies them from riding EVER again. That's the difference, I have been in quite a few spills, wrecks, even totalled a beautiful softail when some idiot just pulled right out in front of me... yet the first thing I'm thinkin about when I'm laying on the side of the road or IN the goddamn road thinkiing about my poor bike, nevermind my road rash and how bad my arms hurt from hitting the asphault so fast and hard. Again, THAT is the true difference, these things happen, we accept them and move to a new chapter of riding and ride (if it's totalled) in our lives.

    It's like I always say: "Some people have boats or RVs, I have bikes because you can go ANYWHERE on one with whatever money you have in your pocket!" (gas prices are getting higher so the latter part of that statement may not hold up much longer.) 
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    February 1, 2012 4:14 PM PST
    WELL BLACK OLD MATE I'VE SEEN EM COME AND GO...IF IT WASNT FOR THE WANNA BE'S AND WANKERS WHERE WOULD WE BUY CHEAP SECONDHAND BIKES WITH BUGGER ALL MILES ON THE CLOCK..I REMEMBER YEARS AGO WHEN I HAD MY OLD WLA AND I PULLED UP AT A PUB IN THE CITY..I PARKED OUT FRONT AMONGST ALL THE SHINY AS SHIT NEW BIKES AND LEATHER CLAD WARRIORS..THEY LOOKED AT MY OLD SHIT FIGHTER AND DIDNT QUITE KNOW WHAT THEY WERE SEEING..MY OLD VEST HAD SOME INTERESTING RUN PATCHES ON IT AND THE USUAL WEAR AND TEAR..THIS OLD SHEILA IN PANTED ON LEATHER PANTS AND A LEATHER TOP THING THAT BARELY HELD HERE AMPLE BOOBS IN PLACE ASKED HER BLOKE" IS THAT BLOKE A REAL BIKER?" hE LOOKED AT HIS BOOTS AND SAID "YEAH I THINK SO"..I HAD TO HOLD BACK MY LAUGHTER AND KEEP THE BIG BAD BIKER SNARL ON UNTIL I GOT IN THE DOOR..WELL THERE WAS A WHOLE MOB OF THESE PEOPLE INSIDE SO I MADE MY WAY TO THE BAR GOT A CAN OF JACK AND LEANED BACK TO LOOK AROUND..THIS MOB WERE DRINKING COFFEE,THATS RIGHT BLOODY COFFEE IN A PUB.THEN AS I LOOKED AROUND HERE COMES OLD BIG BOOBS AGAIN MAKING A B LINE STRAIGHT AT ME..SHE ASKED IF SHE COULD HAVE A PICTURE TAKEN ON MY OLD SCOOT AND IF I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A DRINK WITH HER AFTERWARDS..I SAID YES TO THE PHOTO SO SHE STRETCHED HER BIG SHINY LEATHER CLAD ARSE OVER MY POOR LITTLE SCOOT AND THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN..SOMEHOW SHE GOT OFF THE SCOOT THEN LATCHED ONTO ME..SHE SAID WOULD YOU LIKE THAT DRINK NOW? I WAS LIKE "YEAH OK JACK" AS SHE WENT THROUGH THE DOOR I JUMPED ON THAT KICKER AND CLEARED THE GUTTER GETTING THE HELL OUTTA THERE...THAT OLD SHEILA WOULDA EATEN ME ALIVE AND THE BLOKES WITH HER JUST DRANK THEIR COFFEE'S AND STARED..MATE THOSE TRENDY BIKERS SCARE THE SHIT OUTTA ME...CHEERS BOOF.
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    February 1, 2012 11:22 PM PST
    Jeeze Boof, you passed up some action there. HA.
  • February 1, 2012 11:56 PM PST
    BOOF ol' buddy I enjoy how you take over a thread, always a great story to share and relate to! LOL
    I'll be in Sturgis this year, I'm buying! And I hope you didn't wear the ol' girl out where her ol' man wouldn't be able to recognize her!
  • February 2, 2012 12:32 AM PST
    Black9...once again some great observations.
  • February 2, 2012 12:39 AM PST
    it's those damn trend setters that have jacked the prices of bikes up to the equivalent of car prices.
    • 130 posts
    February 2, 2012 12:50 AM PST
    Well said..
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    February 2, 2012 1:45 AM PST
    Good post Black9 I have had several bikes (one at a time) and ridden them nearly daily throughout the years, weather permitting, since 1962. I am getting long in the tooth, but still riding. I have seen and done a lot of things on the road, but I haven't a story to top Boof's that I would print.
  • February 2, 2012 2:05 AM PST
    Seawolf wrote...
    Good post Black9 I have had several bikes (one at a time) and ridden them nearly daily throughout the years, weather permitting, since 1962. I am getting long in the tooth, but still riding. I have seen and done a lot of things on the road, but I haven't a story to top Boof's that I would print.

    LOL Yeah I think BOOF has us all trumped, some of the best observations I've read from a guy that really knows how to dole it out to the street level!
     

  • February 2, 2012 3:19 AM PST
    I like it when I am asked what kind of gas mileage I get.

    I usually tell them it doesn't much matter when the 17 mile drive to the office becomes a 100 mile round trip when on a bike.
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    • 16870 posts
    February 2, 2012 3:33 AM PST
    I know what you mean Black9.
    No matter where I go somebody tries to equate me with "Uncle so-in-so" that bought a bike during a mid-life crises.
    I've have given up trying to explaining the difference.
    Knowing the local bikers know what I am, and I them, is good enough for me.
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    February 2, 2012 7:29 AM PST
    Black me old mate.Be careful what ya wish for mate..Well you and me get on the drink at Sturgis we're gonna end up with some good yarns afterwards..Theres just something about my personality that drags me into the little adventures.Poor Marni is more of a carer than a missus..Seems Im still hyperactive after all these years and whiskey is the new red..We'll catch up mate no bloody worries..I wont be hard to find pink camo and a cowboy hat is pretty unique in sturgis,especially for blokes...Cheers BOOF
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    February 2, 2012 10:55 AM PST
     Not quite sure what to make of what Black9 posted but since he knows his motorcycles better than anybody in my circle of acquaintances will let most  stand, might need his help sometime.

    Speaking only for myself & my few surviving friends, motorcycles are neither a fashion statement nor a “Lifestyle”. When first got interested in them they were mechanical contrivances that let me continue on after the road stopped, got around the curves quicker than most cars and had their viscera exposed, just waiting to be tweaked with. – The “wind in your face?  Sometimes enjoy that & sometimes figure it is the price to be paid for the other things motorcycles do.

    Might be why I describe myself as “a rider” not “a biker”. Feel no need to hang around other “bikers”. Come to think of it, there only time I hung around “bikers” was after I rescued a KAWA from the “Penny Saver” & felt compelled to hang around the topless bar, fresh from work, still dressed in my white shirt & slacks, trying to find somebody willing to race me. (That there were undraped females there had nothing to do with it.) – Nothing against hanging around with “bikers”, on the road do it a lot, enjoy their company but on occasion also hang around duck hunters, marksmen, sailors & golfers; like them too.

    Getting really concerned about HD. They are an icon. I take their survival personally & they seem to be failing about. – Everybody on any of their current offerings almost has to start on a competitor’s product.


    AND THEN THIS
    AND THEN THIS – Might or might not be true, found it on another site & have not checked it, take it with a grain of salt, but the fact we are not giggling about it shows the low state they are in

     Karl Lagerfeld to design two new Harley motorcycles 
    In an interview in this month’s Vogue magazine Harley Davidson stylist Willie G. Davidson and iconic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld announced a collaboration between Harley Davidson and the designer to produce two new motorcycles. 

    In the interview Willie G Davidson stated he and his long time partner, actor and poet, Simon Callow have long been close friends with the iconic fashion designer and his husband/manager, Jules Jonovitch. “Karl and I talked about working together for many years but it always seemed Karl was busy producing a collection for an upcoming fashion show or just busy with other projects, things just never seemed to come together for us” said Willie. “As a fan of couture and a stylist myself, I’ve always loved Karl’s sense of style and fashion so I feel so thrilled now that Karl is going be working more closely with Harley Davidson”. “Karl was instrumental in the design of the Rocker although he never got the credit he deserved for that” said Willie. “It was Karl’s idea to make it look like a giant penis” said Willie. 

    As a first step, Karl will design a series of jackets, gloves, boots and chaps as well as produce special edition “Karl Lagerfeld” Rocker and Cross Bones motorcycles the custom shop will manufacture. These designer bikes will coordinate with the designer “Karl Lagerfeld” apparel. Karl and his husband Jules Jonovich are no strangers to motorcycles and Harley Davidson. They along with their Pekingese Bobo are a common site cruising the streets of Paris together. Karl and Jules’s current ride is the first in his designer series. The KL (Karl Lagerfeld) series Cross Bones screams for attention with it’s black and white faux fur zebra skin seat, custom painted lavender, blue and cream tank and fender Karl himself is said to have painted, and abundant mirrored chrome. 

    “Fashion and motorcycles just seem to go together. I have always been inspired by the over the top look of motorcycle gear like the tight motorcycle jackets with their huge lapels and many zippers as well as the manly look of chaps. I often accessorize my suits with fingerless gloves” said and an obviously enthusiastic Karl, “I plan on taking these classic elements of motorcycling and injecting some modern twists, spirit and color from the fashion world” as he pointed to a picture of a semi nude male model wearing nothing but black and white zebra patterned chaps and a yellow jacket he says was inspired by the one Marlon Brando wore in “The Wild Ones”. The jacket features upper and lower rocker patches on the back that say “Wild Ones” and ”America” along with a small diamond 1% MC patch. Harley stores will sell a line of mostly fingerless gloves to accessorize with. The fashion designer also pointed to the “Cross Bones“ boots he designed. The boots look similar to most motorcycle slip on boots but extend to the thigh where they widen to a gauntlet. A zipper up the back allows easy entry and exit. 

    Read what you want into that.....Leather, chrome, Village People, Vogue, Willie G all rolled into one....I'm not touching it.

     

     

     

  • February 2, 2012 12:08 PM PST
    WTF with designer bikes, makes me want to sell the harley and buy a honda. have a great one "T"
  • February 2, 2012 3:48 PM PST
    I have always been inspired by the over the top look of motorcycle gear like the tight motorcycle jackets with their huge lapels and many zippers as well as the manly look of chaps. I often accessorize my suits with fingerless gloves” said and an obviously enthusiastic Karl, “I plan on taking these classic elements of motorcycling and injecting some modern twists, spirit and color from the fashion world” as he pointed to a picture of a semi nude male model wearing nothing but black and white zebra patterned chaps and a yellow jacket he says was inspired by the one Marlon Brando wore in “The Wild Ones”.



    That entire thing is frighteningly accurate to the mental picture I have of the stereotypical gay biker image.
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    February 2, 2012 3:49 PM PST
    BLOODY NORA WTF IS THAT MOB OF SILLY OLD POOF RATTLIN ON ABOUT? GOTTA BE A FRIGGIN JOKE DONT IT? IS OLD WILLIE G A PILLOW BITER? IF HE AINT THEN SOMEONE BETTER GET A LAWYER SON,BETTER GET A BLOODY GOOD ONE...LMAO AT SILLY POOFS..CHEERS BOOF
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    February 3, 2012 12:42 AM PST
    Remember to let me know what bars your at Boof, so i don't make the mistake of comin in and stealing your thunder, young fella........
  • February 3, 2012 2:44 AM PST
    I started riding back when I was 16. Rode regularly till I was 20. When I discovered I was no longer indestrucable.
    took a 10+ year brake. "Promised God I would stop. 6 weeks in traction dose that to you" Restarted at 32 havent stopped sence Now 47. Usaly good for at least 6000 miles per year. Still own a few cages. Have too the weather here in wishy washy westen washington is a bit wet.beening a father of 9 kids Grandpa to 13. is a bit hard to get all those monkeys on a BIKE.
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    February 3, 2012 6:20 AM PST
    Jonesy old mate there plenty of bloody thunder to go around..We better get a game plan together if your going this year..Cant have us both there and not wreaking some form of havoc on poor unsuspecting Yanks..Then again the way you charm the barmaids ,I could end up in the shit with Marni..Lock up your daughters when Jonesy comes to town...CHEERS BOOF
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    February 3, 2012 6:45 AM PST
    Me.....you've got to be joking mate....I'm the last person to charm a barmaid...they usually **** up the orders and ar too damn slow at keepin our drinks full. Beer guzzlers don't seem to exist in the states....didn't see to many men my size there at all...fitness poofs...
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    February 3, 2012 7:12 AM PST
    oh and another thing Boof..you can play with the daughters..send me their moms....lmao...
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    February 3, 2012 10:21 AM PST
    Mate I'm catching up to ya..You got a fair bit of height on me ..I try to drink above my weight division.Anyways that watered down piss only gives ya a crook guts and makes ya fart..CHEERS BOOF
    • 601 posts
    February 3, 2012 10:32 AM PST
    50 yrs old and 34 of them on bikes...never rode a car, don't know how...A.W.O.L



    • 1855 posts
    February 3, 2012 12:01 PM PST
    It's the middle age posers that get me the most; especially when someone I don't know calls me "Bro". And those T-shirts that say, "If I have to explain you wouldn't understand". Dang I hate those things. Explain it to me, I got time. The youngsters, I cut 'em some slack because some where down the road one of them youngsters is going to get it, he's gonna figure it out and he's gonna keep it real. He'll graduate from wannabe.

    Peace
  • February 3, 2012 12:01 PM PST
    OH DEAR GOD!!! Willie G has really went off the frikkin DEEP END! LOL
    Designer bikes? Is there no end to the desperation and the depths to which this company will stoop just to put asses on seats? I know what they probably should consider, DOWN SIZING! There is X amount of people buying bikes and the boon for bikes is the used market, plenty of cherry rides out there with a lot of work done on them. They should do like they did in the 90s... if you want one, order it and wait 6 months to a year til they get one out your way (you didn't get to pick your color back then, should stay that way, it's a Harley, customize it your damn self!) LOL