Cringe Inducing...
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 3,117
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From: Maryland
Cringe Inducing...
I hate saying this... But when I look at what some folks do to their bikes, I just cringe... I think to myself: "How could they do that to that bike?" Or: "That's all wrong for that bike/model." Am I alone in this? Do you sometimes tell folks that their mods look great when what you're really saying to yourself is that it looks like ****?
One thought keeps crossing my mind... What today some folks think looks cool, reminds me of junk that I recall seeing in the '70's while growing up. Mind you that "junk" was often the result of dudes that didn't have any money and were using whatever they could find laying around to keep their heap on the road. I suspect there where many arguments about what had priority on the pocket change - that dime bag or needed repairs - and the bike lost. I recall seeing sad specimens here and there on occasion parked out in front of shacks (masquerading as houses), in the weather, decaying. No they didn't have a pot to pi$$ in, but hey, they had a Harley. Now days, what was once done out of necessity due to lack of funds, taste, brains, or whatever, is seen as in fashion today...
Some things that I see, I just can't imagine how someone could think that it looks good. Tacky, tasteless, gaudy, trashy, horrible, etc. are words that often come to mind. I understand that some have a deep desire to be different or unique. But what some do to achieve that just boggles my mind...
It reminds me of this woman here at work. She if very unattractive, but goes to the nines dressing herself up - often looking like a hooker. She has the shape of an ostrich. Anyway... I often wonder what she must see when she looks into the mirror. It can't be what the rest of of see.
I know... To each their own... Get it... However, there are days that I just can't help but cringe at what I see. I wonder how many others experience the same thing...
Well that's it... **vent off**
I feel better now...
One thought keeps crossing my mind... What today some folks think looks cool, reminds me of junk that I recall seeing in the '70's while growing up. Mind you that "junk" was often the result of dudes that didn't have any money and were using whatever they could find laying around to keep their heap on the road. I suspect there where many arguments about what had priority on the pocket change - that dime bag or needed repairs - and the bike lost. I recall seeing sad specimens here and there on occasion parked out in front of shacks (masquerading as houses), in the weather, decaying. No they didn't have a pot to pi$$ in, but hey, they had a Harley. Now days, what was once done out of necessity due to lack of funds, taste, brains, or whatever, is seen as in fashion today...
Some things that I see, I just can't imagine how someone could think that it looks good. Tacky, tasteless, gaudy, trashy, horrible, etc. are words that often come to mind. I understand that some have a deep desire to be different or unique. But what some do to achieve that just boggles my mind...
It reminds me of this woman here at work. She if very unattractive, but goes to the nines dressing herself up - often looking like a hooker. She has the shape of an ostrich. Anyway... I often wonder what she must see when she looks into the mirror. It can't be what the rest of of see.
I know... To each their own... Get it... However, there are days that I just can't help but cringe at what I see. I wonder how many others experience the same thing...
Well that's it... **vent off**
I feel better now...
HDF Community Team
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 8,512
Likes: 3,924
From: San Diego, CA
So, what does YOUR bike look like? It would be nice to see your definition of what looks good and what doesn't.
If you don't like the look of what someone did to their bike, no one has a gun to your head forcing you to do the same to yours or even look at it.
I think it's nice to have a bike that can be made so unique by others for very little expenditure and some personal creativity tossed in.
John
If you don't like the look of what someone did to their bike, no one has a gun to your head forcing you to do the same to yours or even look at it.
I think it's nice to have a bike that can be made so unique by others for very little expenditure and some personal creativity tossed in.
John
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,051
Likes: 7
I see things totally differently. The human animal is amazingly awesome. The different things we do to our machines to express ourselves never ends. The combinations of colors, themes, sizes, shapes, and forms that we can create, combine, modify, do and overdo creates a menagerie unlike anything else, and it is awesome. What kind of world would it be if everyone had the same taste, if we all had to conform to some particular version of what someone thought tasteful and desirable? What if we all had to have gloss neon yellow bikes because that's what YOU thought was best? No way, even in the shittiest, worst paint job I can see creativity, desire for change, a longing to be unique and contribute to the culture that is motorcycle. Build yourself a shitty pair of handlebars, and paint them lime green then stick them on your CVO street glide, with streamers and red flake grips. GO FOR IT. The things I don't much care for, another person loves. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?
The stuff you're poo-pooing might just win someone else's show. The bike you think is awesome and worked so hard to put together - there's some other guy on another forum writing the same diatribe you did about your bike. And that is what makes the world go round.
Complain about it? No way. Embrace that ****, man. Love it just because someone did it.
The stuff you're poo-pooing might just win someone else's show. The bike you think is awesome and worked so hard to put together - there's some other guy on another forum writing the same diatribe you did about your bike. And that is what makes the world go round.
Complain about it? No way. Embrace that ****, man. Love it just because someone did it.
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 3,117
Likes: 1,193
From: Maryland
I see things totally differently. The human animal is amazingly awesome. The different things we do to our machines to express ourselves never ends. The combinations of colors, themes, sizes, shapes, and forms that we can create, combine, modify, do and overdo creates a menagerie unlike anything else, and it is awesome. What kind of world would it be if everyone had the same taste, if we all had to conform to some particular version of what someone thought tasteful and desirable? What if we all had to have gloss neon yellow bikes because that's what YOU thought was best? No way, even in the shittiest, worst paint job I can see creativity, desire for change, a longing to be unique and contribute to the culture that is motorcycle. Build yourself a shitty pair of handlebars, and paint them lime green then stick them on your CVO street glide, with streamers and red flake grips. GO FOR IT. The things I don't much care for, another person loves. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?
The stuff you're poo-pooing might just win someone else's show. The bike you think is awesome and worked so hard to put together - there's some other guy on another forum writing the same diatribe you did about your bike. And that is what makes the world go round.
Complain about it? No way. Embrace that ****, man. Love it just because someone did it.
The stuff you're poo-pooing might just win someone else's show. The bike you think is awesome and worked so hard to put together - there's some other guy on another forum writing the same diatribe you did about your bike. And that is what makes the world go round.
Complain about it? No way. Embrace that ****, man. Love it just because someone did it.
But haven't you ever seen stuff that just made you cringe?
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 3,117
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From: Maryland
But then again... I sometimes say to myself... "That poor bike... What could have been..."
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,051
Likes: 7
A lot of my own stuff makes me cringe later on down the road. Do you happen to remember the 1980's?
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Stellar HDF Member
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The more I keep thinking about it, the more I like that way of thinking about it...
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2012
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From: Maryland
Skin tight Levis... Long feathered hair parted down the middle... White leather tennis/basketball (often high-tops) shoes...
Last edited by T^2; Aug 27, 2012 at 01:25 PM.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2011
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From: Stockbridge GA
I seen quite a few that make me cringe.......I dont feel the need to say anything about it though, unless of course my bike made someone cringe and they felt the need to blast me about it........then Im all in 