Maybe its because I'm basically anti-social and really don't like people, but I don't understand how these conversations ever take place.

I'm out riding around, and I get a fairly steady stream of "nice bike" type comments. Like at stoplights or maybe in a parking lot. I just say "thanks" and go on my way. I don't know you. I've got things to do.

There was one time in a small town in Iowa at a Culvers. I was coming out as a couple of grandmotherly types were coming in. They said hello, commented on my bike, and the next thing you know they were telling stories of the wild chit they did in Sturgis back in the day. That was pretty cool.

But I've never had someone come up to me and defend his choice in motorcycles, and I've never asked one to. I don't care what he rides. I don't care if he rides.

I don't understand any of this.

 

 

is a Silverado a knockoff of a F150?

People sound like Howard Stern complaining when someone else makes a fart joke and he's saying everyone copied him..

If there's a market, manufacturers are going to build. This has been going on since someone invented the wheel.

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No need to understand it, just know it *does* happen. It's why I posted in this thread, it's happened to me often enough, and as I said, I tell them no it doesn't and just shake my head and laugh and go on about my business.

 

A couple months ago I was talking to this guy about the past. He was telling me about the reasons he joined the Navy instead of going USMC. I then noticed his motorcycle on the carport. Some kind of Japanese look alike. So I said that it was a good looking ride, (I did like the color scheme). He then says something about it being better than a Harley but just not a Harley. I asked him if he settled for something less when he got married. He looked at me like a dog that is puzzled. Head twisted to the side and that whaaaaaat? Look. I said you seem to have a tendency to go for the second rate things in life. That pretty much ended the conversation. Before I left I did add "that I have never heard a kid say that they wanted a yamazuki when they grow up "

 

I was the third owner of my 89 UltraClassic. When I bought it, it had "Harley-Davidson" all over it, like about 15 places. When I repainted it, the only place it said HD was on the nose cone, I had several folks tell me it was not a Harley because Harley's don't look like that. When I pointed out the nose cone, they said I glued it on there. Most non riding public cannot find a Harley without labels telling them what it is. Any big bike is a "Harley". Many a Sportster owners suffer this fae if the paint job doesn't say H-D on it.

Another example, all Jacuzzi's are hot tubs, but not all hot tubs are Jacuzzi's. Brand name recognition rather than product recognition.

 

there is something to be said in this. There are a LOT of copies of the Harley style, at varying engine size points. When I first started riding, I could have given two ***** about what it was I rode. I was in the Navy and dead broke. I bought a basket case Honda CX500 in boxes and rebuilt it in base housing. A buddy of mine had a Kawi Vulcan 800 that looked like a softail. Again, in the mil, and broke as ****. we didnt care that we didnt have the coolest bikes on base, we rode. give it 20 years, and a better place in life, and I was getting back into riding. I looked at the Hondas, Yamahas, Kawasakis, etc, etc, and thought that they all looked like a Harley. I was tired of "settling" for a copy, so I consolidated a few things and bought the genuine article. It wasnt about anything but having what everyone else tries (and in varying ways fails) to copy,

 

Tha'ts true but then the late model Harley's I've heard don't sound like Harley's used to either.

I've owned and had to work on both, and the Silverado is much easier to work on for under the hood issues, at least in the early 2000 series of both trucks.

 

Imitation is the sincerest sign of flattery.......if any motorcycle brand was looking to make money in the last few decade they did what the market demanded.
Did they make a better motorcycle? Maybe
We ride what we ride for a number of reasons, mostly financial, but it all works out in the end.
We all face the same perils on the road with the distracted idiots or drunks behind the wheel.
Ride safe to live another day!