I rode my Harley to a family get-together. Lots of youths present. Not one wanted to check out my bike, get a ride around the block, sit on it, hear it run, twist the throttle, whatever.
The only person who looked it it and was interested in it was my age.
When I was their age, I'd have been all over that bike.
Lots of phone use. The under-30's were all over their phones.
This isn't a Harley problem. We've made a few generations of boring kids who have no idea what the world offers, so they substitute the subtle narcissism of their phones for an interesting and valid reality.
I had 28 people at my dinner table and at one point had 40 people in my home around desert time. Kids were all over my Heritage and all over my snowmobiles. They mostly played outside chasing each other...picking apples...even got them to rake leaves at one point. They danced to 80s music in my home bar and even played pool (rolled ***** around my pool table). It wasn't till 11 pm that I put a tablet in my grandsons hands to get him to calm down. He fell asleep ten minutes later.
I rode my Harley to a family get-together. Lots of youths present. Not one wanted to check out my bike, get a ride around the block, sit on it, hear it run, twist the throttle, whatever.
The only person who looked it it and was interested in it was my age.
When I was their age, I'd have been all over that bike.
Lots of phone use. The under-30's were all over their phones.
This isn't a Harley problem. We've made a few generations of boring kids who have no idea what the world offers, so they substitute the subtle narcissism of their phones for an interesting and valid reality.
I'm using my phone to submit this reply. I'm 61 years old. What does that make me?
I had an uncle who always rode a Harley. I never paid much attention to it because I didn't like the guy and didn't want to have to talk to him. My dad's drinking buddy Jeff Childers, gave me my first ride on an old beat up Honda chopper. I bugged him for a ride every time he came to the house. I was only about 5, but I'd put on my go cart helmet and off we would go. We usually ended up doing doughnuts in the gravel church parking lot about 5-7 miles away from the house.
Meh, just because these "kids" don't share the same interest as you doesn't mean they are boring...my son, that's gonna be 40 yrs old in March has zero interest in motorcycles. He like performance cars and owns a modified Shelby GT 500 Mustang as well as a Porsche 911 S that he enjoys driving, but no motorcycles.
Here are 25 reasons why Millennials don't ride Harleys:
1. Pants won't pull up far enough for them to straddle the seat.
2. Can't get their phone to their ear with a helmet on.
3. Can't use 2 hands to eat while driving.
4. They don't get a trophy and a recognition plaque just for buying one.
5. Don't have enough strength to hold the bike up when stopped.
6. Might have a bug hit them in the face and then they would need emergency medical care or extensive psychological counseling.
7. Motorcycles don't have air conditioning.
8. They can't afford one because they spent 12 years in college working on a degree in Humanities, Art History, or Gender Studies for which no jobs are available.
9. They are allergic to fresh air.
10. Their pajamas get caught on the exhaust pipes.
11. They might get their hands dirty checking the oil.
12. The handle bars have buttons and levers and cannot be controlled by touch-screen or voice commands.
13. You have to shift manually and use something called a clutch.
14. It's too hard to take selfies while riding.
15. They don't come with training wheels like their bicycles did.
16. Harleys don't have power steering or power brakes.
17. Their nose ring interferes with the face shield.
18. They would have to use leg muscles to back up.
19. When stopped, a light breeze might blow exhaust fumes in their face and cause nearly instantaneous cancer.
20. It could rain on them and expose them to non-softened water.
21. Harleys burn gasoline and that supports the big oil companies.
22. Can't use both thumbs for texting while riding.
23. Can't use a Harley to earn extra money driving for Uber or Lyft.
24. Harleys don't provide enough sun protection for those spending most of their time playing video games in their Mom's basement.
25. The Harley roar would scare their therapy dog, and then the dog would need therapy
It's a different world out there. How many of us have someone who would love to inherit our bike(s) when we die? Not many for sure. A few decades ago it probably would have been a different story.
11-27-2018, 08:27 AM
Rode My Harley to a Thanksgiving Get-Together
