I don't think the image is anything new. It really amped up in the 90's with many folks wanting to buy into the mystic of the Bad ***. RUB's started becoming a large group of buyers. Movies like Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man , TV shows like Renegade, all had characters that were bad *** bikers. MoCo went where the money was. That is what every business would want to do. Anyone who hold the "Wanting to make as much money as they can" as wrong is not seeing life as it is today.

 

As a kid I looked at the rigid's & Hydroglide's with envy. When I was 16 I could not afford a 1950's riged, way too much money even selling my soul I would have come up way up short. If you wanted to ride, so be it. If you wanted the lifestyle it was all there for the taking if you qualified being let in that group of people and its values.

The lifestyle could be found just by going around your local INDY and if accepted, you could hang around. Later on in my life when I could afford a HD I purchased my first one (FX for full list $3,200) at Phil Peterson's on 71st, Miami, FL. There was motorcycle enthusiasts only working there which all knew how to work on there own bike. There was no haberdashery department hawking cheap Chinese or Pakistani clothing or chained wallets. Countermen who knew what part fit where and what part could be substituted. This was well before the invention of the computer where any fired Krispy Kreme doughnut slinger could now be a HD Team member complete with gold monogrammed Eagle & wings.

Is the morphed lifestyle of today the lifestyle the OP is talking about where HD is not allowing the INDY shops to purchase parts from HD or is the 60's or 70's motorcycling "Lifestyle" the question? I guess the differences between the two is either change your own oil with friends or purchase a $3,500 "Premium Owners Package" where your service entitles you to receive preferential treatment and allow Premium Owners to have their service first (cut in line). OK Pirates, buy your doo rag and chained wallet uniform including vest patched with pins purchased from the first vendor at any motorcycle selling all but innovative motorcycle parts to actually improve the performance of the motorcycle.

Which Lifestyle are we talking about here so I could answer the question?

 

..... my HD lifestyle consists of getting on & riding off.
... the branded clothes/accessories, the bike nights, the poker runs et al, i'll let someone else worry about .. .

 

I would say that the lifestyle dictates the motorcycle.
After the automotive revolution they were seen as frivolous by the still working poor. The independent and blue collar people found affordability with it and usefulness in their daily lives- on the farm, fishing, hunting, while still holding on to the cowboy tradition of a few decades before.
Automobile, airplane, and motorcyclists were viewed as dashing with their goggles, scarves, and tall riding boots in the new transportation century.
They were equally viewed as obnoxious, loud, and greasy by the general public.
The fact is a Harley- whether new or used is cheaper than a car, and most "rebels" and independent thinking people don't have a lot of change directly because of the mindset of not fitting a typical job and a 9-5 work life.
Motorcycles never really became mainstream and the riders were still a small percentage- even family MC clubs never really caught on.
I think what changed was the media- both written and visual, needed to create public interest through sex, fear, rebellion, and power.
As that publicity turned to movies and the local town Drive-In for making out and having rebel images thrown 20 feet high in front of the general population drove the narrative.
I don't give the image to one brand-the marketing of H-D when the fear was started in the fifties was a success over the surviving motorcycle companies here and abroad...
The returning WW2 vet MC clubs were growing throughout California and other large cities- all those areas were trend setters for the cultural focus of America and the new atomic family and baby boomers.
I remember when the leather biker jacket fad started during the pop/punk era, I stopped wearing mine for a while due to everyone having one. The 80's really poured on Hollywood biker movies- all the good guys rode H-Ds, the motorcycle fit the rebel in everybody, and people stopped being afraid of Harleys in the 90's and began viewing the brand as upscale and an investment.
The guys I grew up with had beards, long hair, and dirty clothes- because of riding an oil slinging bike, road grit, bugs, mud, and beer stains. They just rode around and trouble in the form of a badge or city council followed. In spite of all the rhetoric- the system hates a free person.
I see it all the time on HDF- people trying to establish their identity with the bike, forming cliques, and being the social arbiter of anyone trying to upset the status quo.
That's why I get a giggle when other people give me grief for my bike, what I wear and don't wear, and my unfiltered opinions.

 

Personally, I didn't buy my Springer for the lifestyle or to be a badass, I bought it because I wanted it, the rest isn't important to me.

 

Lifestyle - Huh? I thought lifestyle was based on ones financial position in life you know rich, poor, middle class, struggling, etc...

I consider myself more of a motorcycle enthusiast, I like all bikes & sadly enough most of the new HD crowd has no clue of the history across the board, I was at a British bike event in Toronto Ohio staring at the holy grail of motorcycles "The Vincent" & a couple younger guys with their blacked out, chubby aped sleds looking all cool make a snide comment about this 52 black shadow.

Well, not to let their jest go I asked if he even knew what he was looking at, reply was NO - LOL we all did & I tell Mr. Badass to go look up Rollie Free & the history of the bike he just put down.

Ya see - there are those who have bought into this "lifestyle" if that's what you call it & there are those of us who have grown up with 2 wheels as a part of our life, just because one has the ability to buy a new, blacked out, aped up scoot & bunches of HD clothes (authentic too) doesn't mean you fit in & if you`re to good to learn about the history of motorcycles & not from TV show - then I don't want nothing to do with ya!

This is one of the things that bums me out, many aren't buying to ride they`re buying to fit in....! & some 5`2 - 150lb woman who wants to be a rebel bada@$ with Tats & leather with a whopping 1 year of riding experience just looks so cool when she lays it down exiting the local Wal-Mart & that goes the same with the guys too!

Just ride your ride, live & learn, help another out when need be & genuinely just be cool about it, trying to be something you`re not is just stupid & gets you laughed at!

 

I have been riding two wheels since my first dirt bike in 72 as a kid.

I'm not really buying into the lifestyle, I have pretty much been a part of it, even when I was a poor Navy Sailor.

I am in a Traditional MC. With out my cut on, I often get accused of being a RUB. Had a guy tell me that At Sturgis, showed him the 41K on my 21 month old bike. Asked him if I was still a RUB.

I average 24K on a bike each year. I ride most all the time, my 3 year old car has 11,8xx miles on it. My 8 week old Bike has 6350 miles on it. I'm fortunate to have a good job, and kids are grown.

Salesmen don's sell me anything. I know what I want before I go in. Usually deal with the GM.

 

Badass? Harley? Is it Harleys fault the badass 1%ers picked Harley as "their" bike of choice?

 

Waiting for the Sonny quote about BMW..Lol!
You are correct about the guys who ride as a way of life and know what they want in a road machine.

 

A little side bar on the topic-
Another piece of American machinery..the John Browning 1911 .45acp.
People now say its obsolete, doesn't carry enough bullets, and has poor accuracy.
It's the same type of person that loves that particular weapon- from using it, from it's history in the trenches and jungles all over the world, and it's big slow moving bullet.
The Harley has the same type of criticism and very focused type of believers in it.
The Harley and 1911 is the favorite of a rough type of user.