In my 40 years [36 of them riding] I road and owend just about every brand out there. Newest bike is a Road King Classic; black of course. Its a replacment for a 04 VTX retro and a 04 vrod. Best move I ever made I must add. Anyway getting to the point, In having many different brands I have went to many different websites in search on knowlage about my scoots. And always 100% of the time anytime the word Harley comes up people go nuts. Harley owners are all *******, All Harley's are junk and so on. They spend more time running down HD bikes and owners than talking about things to do to there bikes and places to ride or places riding to. I know we all poke fun amound buddies over bikes and brands; But damn these people go over board. Does anybody have a clue why? On a site called VTXOA I was going to for about 2 years its getting worse and worse, It came to the point I had read about all I could stand; So I made a post voicing my oppion on brand and owner bashing and why there was so much of it going on, Why not talk about there bikes and be happy people are out riding don't worry about what they riding. Within one day there were 5 pages of replys 99.5% bad. And then it post was left up but locked and guess what else I was banded from the site. I can still go there and read but thats all. And people talk about Harley owners! wow! Am I the only person who has run into this? Don't guess I will ever understand people like that.

 

I think they're tring to justify not buying the Harley they really wanted in the first place.

 

Jealousy would be my first guess.

When I was fixing to buy my bike, I looked at the metrics first. The salesmen, in Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki and even the Aprilla dealerships, all spent most of their pitch comparing to Harley, with a moderate amount of dissage too.
Figured I'd better go take a look at Harley. Did the sales guy diss the metrics? Nope. He complemented them, said they were well built bikes, and then showed me what the Harleys had to offer.

Brought the Harley

 

Harley owners are proud -- Metric cruiser owners are envious. We have nothing to prove and I quess they do. We don't recognize Metric cruisers as competition and that drives them crazy!

 

If you have been riding 40 years, you should know it has "always" been a issue.

I ride a Wing and a RK Classic. I hear the comparison stuff all the time. I enjoy it most of the time because the ignorance coming out of their mouths is usually entertaining. The other side usually doesn't have a clue what the heck they are talking about. LOL...

If someone wants to buy my scoots for me I "might" care about their opinion. Until that happens, I'll ride what I want and when I want!

FYI......
Just to get a reaction from the PRUDES and POSERS I'll ride the Wing to H-D gatherings and the RK to Wing gatherings. LMAO.....

 

I think it is jealousy but, not for the actual bike, it is the way HD folks get together, kinda like a family. So many of the bike events are HD geared and there are not many metric geared rallys etc. They may hate HD for whatever reason, totally like everything about a Goldwing, which costs the same really, just think it is the brotherhood

 

IMHO it's pure jeolously. I was hangin' around the local dealer a few weeks ago after the local HOG Chapter ride. A fellow walks up and starts ooggling over my Ultra. He's been inside scopin' out an Ultra. He offered up that he "used to ride" a Gold Wing. Keeping in the spirit of helping another biker, I talked with him a few minutes quite politely I might add. What I really wanted to tell him "If you have to ask,...."

On another occasion, my wife and I had just started a road trip to Montreal when we stopped by to pick up another pair of riding gloves. A dude in the store got in his Toyota, drove around front, stopped and stared at the bike for a good 10 minutes till we came out of the store. We talked with the guy quite a while. I eventually asked if he rode. He literally hung his head and said "Yea, a Gold Wing". Go figure! I tried to console him by explaining, it doesn't matter what you ride, as long as you like it. IMHO, "Put a little class under your ***."

 

I have noted, as well, the apparent increased animosity from the 'metric' crowd. A lot of it is simple jealousy. On the other hand, I feel a lot of it has been fueled by the greed of many dealers. Many of these metric riders were simply priced out of the Harley they really wanted and took the metric as a second choice. I have many friends that ride metric and simply couldn't justify paying list plus, plus, plus at their local HD dealer. Then there is usually an accompaning anectdote about the arrogance of the salesperson to go along with it. Certainly my own experience with my FLHT purchase would have fallen into this catagory. I love bikes of all types and have owned many different brands-Honda, Yamaha, Harley, Buell, Ducati, etc. I tried for two years to work an MSRP deal with my local dealer-no go. Even with the market collapsing in our
area, they still stubbornly held onto 2-3k over list plus double the freight and set-up charges. I had a Yamaha R1 and wanted an FLHT as my touring bike of choice. I made the offer to my salesman and over the next 2 weeks, was basically ignored. In my frustration, I told my boss (an avid Harley enthusiast) that I was going to buy a frigging Valkrie in the next week. He got on the phone and found a dealer in a town 160 mi away that would take my deal. I called the dealer-Waco Harley Davidson-and bought the bike over the phone. It was the only one in stock-the local dealer had 3-and outfitted it with the accessories I wanted. I picked it up the following weekend. My FLHT is my WIP (work in progress) and will be with me for many years to come. Now, I am in Chicago and Chicago HD will even discount off list. Great place to buy! Painless and respectful-as it should be.

 

Interesting:

I have owned just about everything except a Harley to this point, and every style except a cruiser to this point. I have found a few things:
1. Just about all the dealers I have dealt with over the years (all Japanese brands and BMW) have been quite reasonable and helpful, some more than others. NONE, however, have been as great as my local Harley dealer. The owner and everyone there has been fantastic.
2. All the bikes have had their own "mojo" and done what they do well.
3. All the bike types (dual purpose, sport touring, touring, track, etc.) have a group of owners that have some stereotypes that go along with the bikes. There are PLENTY of exceptions, but still, there are stereotypes.
4. All owner types have liked to "Dis" other brands, at least tongue in cheek, and usually tongue in cheek. Harley owners have been no exception, I might add.


I find that those who "don't get it" when it comes to Harleys, really just don't get it.

I think this analogy fits, but you tell me if I am wrong. If I sit down to enjoy a nice charcoal grilled burger and a cold beer on a summer evening and a vegetarian comes over shaking their head and wondering why I am not having a Tofu burger, side salad and mineral water, I think that they do not "get it." That particular meal is not about cholesterol or global warming. It is about a sensory experience that is beyond discription in some ways.

The Harley criticism is often about performance and reliability. BUT a Harley has nothing to do with performance, per se. It is about the feeling of the ride. The look of the ride. The sound of the ride. And thus the enjoyment of the ride. Being in the moment in a different way than you are on an R1 or a BMW GS. Reliability? That is an old, worn out issue. Since post AMF, they are as good as anything else out there, or better.

Here is what I don't get:

1. Metric cruisers are now no longer much less expensive than a Harley. So why are folks interested in them?
2. Why are Harley owners MORE critical or clique-ish than other brand owners? That is my observation.


Am I wrong with those observations? Any ideas on those questions? Thanks.

Bones

 

to quote Red,
FYI......
Just to get a reaction from the PRUDES and POSERS I'll ride the Wing to H-D gatherings and the RK to Wing gatherings. LMAO.....

Dude, you are so funny, would ya take a couple pics of that for me,[sm=icon_rofl.gif]