Tough Harley Guys?
I was having dinner and a few beers at a local pub (good eats!) that caters to a blue collar and biker crowd and was sitting near a group of guys who were apparently catching up with one another. They were talking about their work (union plumbers and pipefitters) and, the fact that I was sitting only a few feet away, I overheard most of their conversation.
At one point, one of the younger guys starts talking about his Harley. Turns out he’s had to sell it because he needed the money but, come Spring, he was planning purchasing another. Listening to this guy talk about his bike was eye-opening; here’s a kid who works a hard job, is covered with tattoos and looks like he’s ready to throw down with anyone, yet he’s whining about bikes without fairings.
He apparently owned a softail of some sort with a full fairing and couldn’t stand bikes “with just the bars” because, get this, he caught all the road trash (bugs and sand and wind, as he put it) in the face without the fairing. One of the guys he was talking to, also a biker, was full of support for him, claiming that without the fairing you just get destroyed by all the wind on your chest.
Then the next revelation: turns out the guys only ride their Harley’s from the house to the bar, to the strip club and then back home. The younger guy admitted to having never ridden for more than an hour straight on his bike. The older guy, in support, then claims that it’s impossible to ride for much longer than that without a fairing. The younger guy said that when he gets his next bike, it’s going to be equipped to “cruise”, which apparently equates to a full fairing so he doesn’t have to feel the wind or eat any bugs (ever hear of a helmet with a face shield, son?) and a radio so he can “blast the tunes”.
Holy crap. I thought Harley guys, especially blue-collar, tattooed, union-card-carrying toughies like these guys, were supposed to be hardcore? If this guy wanted to be surrounded by metal and plastic with tunes blasting, then why doesn’t he just buy a convertible Chevy (so he can still claim to be buying American)? If these guys are representative of a large portion of Harley riders (and it’s my experience that they are), it’s no wonder all the outlaw gangs started calling themselves One Percenters.
Then this young kid starts yapping about how cheap Harleys are now; only $16,000 for the one he’s planning on buying come spring. I nearly choked on my beer. How is $16,000 cheap for a bike? I’ve got a bike that’s just as powerful that cost me half that. Harley’s marketing genius rivals that of DeBeers.
If you’re going to be a casual rider, that’s fine, but don’t act all hardcore. I can almost guarantee you that if I’d told these guys that I owned a Japanese bike, they would have laughed derisively at me and told me to shut the fuck up. These are the same guys who won’t wave to anyone not on a Harley, as though their willingness to overpay for their ride somehow elevates them above the rest of the bikers out there. Yet these guys are such pussies that they can’t ride for more than an hour at a stretch.
I’m not trying to prove I’m tougher than these Harley guys, but I rode with a bunch of people last year who would ride two hours just to get to the starting point and then ride for a few more hours with the group before riding home. There’s a woman who’s about 5′2″ and 100lbs soaking wet who rides an 1800cc beast all day long (no fairing), and these super-tough Harley guys can barely make it out their driveways. Yet somehow these guys think that they’re worthy of more respect because they ride a Harley.
It’s just more proof that it’s not what you ride, it’s how you ride. Maybe next time I ride the backroads up to visit my family in Vermont (about 7 hours of riding) I’ll invite these Harley guys to come along. Think they’ll take me up on the offer?
Note: I know not all Harley riders are giant pansies like these two. Just like any generalization, it’s bound to exclude many members. I ride with several Harley owners who are just as much in love with riding, if not moreso, than I am, but the same can be said about all the metric riders out there with whom I ride more often. Unfortunately I believe there are more Harley riders like these two than there are real riders who happen to be on Harleys. Also: I don’t hate Harleys, although I’d buy a Victory over a Harley any day.
