What is up with the Harley riders?

[Ron Green]

If it's not the Rolling Thunder group hobnobbing with Rummy, it's the guy running for mayor of San Diego.

It seems mostly to be about facial hair, excess girth, loud pipes and American flags. Are most of these guys right wingers, or just into jacket-patch patriotism?

Any Harley riders out there, and if so, wouldn't you rather ride something fast, smooth and quiet? Like a BMW?

[knowbody0]

1. you obviously have never ridden a Harley

there are no words. they are honoring their fallen brothers, not rummy.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

6. Please tell me

how dressing up like a Hell's Angel and riding a motorcycle "honors" fallen veterans?

There's been a lot of speculation here since they creaked in and out of town this past weekend (they're not getting any younger) that not many of them are actually vets. Who would know?

[Ron Green]

9. Actually, the first motorcycle I ever rode was a Harley.

This was in 1961, and the machine (belonging to a guy I knew) was then at least 5 or 6 years old, so you probably know what model it would have been. It had the shift lever beside the tank, and the clutch was foot-operated. It was loud, and vibrated like the Magic Fingers at a cheap motel. Only later, when I rode a BSA and a Triumph, did I appreciate the difference.

[RC]

2. How'd ya goin to annoy the crap out of the neighbors

when you come home at 2:00 am on a BMW?

[mcscajun]

3. Nope, they're not all right wingers.

I know two guys personally who are Harley riders, and are as left as they come.

They just like Loud Pipes :)

[ExCiber]

13. For me, the loud pipes

Were more a matter of safety.

You can buy a Harley that is correctly baffled and quite quiet. Just look at your typical police issue MC.

After the first few encounters on the interstate with clowns that just don't look before changing lanes I found being noticed was an added safety feature.

[mcscajun]

19. Safety first, indeed. If you're a Harley rider anywhere in the NYC

Metro Area, you've Got to think about loud pipes as a safety feature.

I can't tell you how many of those silent rice-burning POS' have zipped through past me out of nowhere, weaving between the cars (like they're NOT supposed to do, anyhow.)

At least I KNOW when a Harley is a'comin' -- and I'm always aware of any motorcycle near me and take appropriate measures to ensure we are BOTH Safe.

:)

[ReadTomPaine]

29. This is a myth, even the American Motorcycle Association has said so.

"Loud pipes save lives" is just a slogan to lipstick a pig. I'd be a lot more worried about Tinnitus (post #26) than traffic on a Magic Fingers Harley.

http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/newsandupdates/NoiseAnnoys/

[mcscajun]

33. Call it a myth if you want...I just know what I hear...and Don't Hear.

And for the record, I'm not a rider. I'm a driver. Four wheels always. :)

[OldLeftieLawyer]

4. They are

easily the most boring group in the history of mankind.

Why should I have to be bothered with listening to them roar past, watch their unspeakably unpleasant demeanors corrupt my view, and tolerate their going down (so to speak) on a deserter instead of backing up a real veteran?

Is it my fault they've all got immature penis problems?

[elehhhhna]

Look at ME! Hear ME ROAR! Wannabes all over the suburbs here.

I call Harleys a sure sign of midlife crisis.

[Baclava]

28. Harleys ARE becoming yuppie toys...with prices now starting over $20,000

...some people are paying a WHOLE lot for a name...

[lonestarnot]

38. Isn't that a shame! Yuppie toys...

[mitchum]

30. I call them "Outlaws, Ltd"

[elehhhhna]

41. My Reep neighbor looks like a cross between a Pirate & a Leather Queen

on his new midlife-catastrophe-mobile.The costumes are hilarious!

[T Town Jake]

42. No, the "most boring group in the history of mankind"...

...is made up of that dreary bunch who believe that just because they don't care for a particular hobby or interest, the folks who do have some kind of "immature penis problem."

[King Coal]

5. Ron, last weekend I was going through Bloomfield, NM and a group

of Bikers who called themselves The Banditos pulled up to the gas station pump next to me. They asked for directions and I could hardly keep from laughing. They looked just like the group in Every Which Way But Loose, the Clint Eastwood movie with the Orangutang. God, it was funny. They needed to find an automotive store that was open on Memorial Day, for some esoteric reason. LOL!

[ExCiber]

16. Since you're here posting

I'm going to guess that they either weren't the Banditos out of SE Texas, or you didn't laugh at them. 10 to 15 years ago the Banditos were very much an outlaw group and not the guys you wanted to look the wrong way at.

[King Coal]

46. I don't slow down for Banditos. Or Freepers. LOL!

[underpants]

7. Not to bag on them BUT isn't it redundant to ride a Harley and

wear things that tell people you are a biker?

I noticed that the other day.

[lenidog]

8. The same reason I prefer a Triumph to a BMW or a Harley

because they prefer Harleys. BTW I used to know a group of Harley riders mostly Vietnam vets that would make you and me look like were were right of the Kaiser. So don't judge a book by its cover.

[AValdoux]

10. Bikers aren't what they used to be

I remember when they were outlaws or criminals. You hid your women & children when they blew into town. Now they could be your accountant or insurance agent in his new costume.

I've this funny image of a lawyer I know who bought a restored vinatge Harley. I can imagine him running around his house fussing at his wife, "You didn't wash my black skull doo-rag? Everyone is wearing their Black Skulls this weekend. I'll be the only one wearing Red Flames." :rofl:

AValdoux

[tabasco]

22. A couple Captains in the Army with me had Harleys.

One of the guys was a typical yuppie type. The other was a religious guy who was about 30 and had never been laid. They had some nice bikes though.

[fishnfla]

11. All right wingers? Not hardly

We have 700, 000 bikers hit town for beek week each spring, 300K for Biketoberfest. They are all sorts of folks, a cross section of America. Part of the biker image is the uniform: bearded, tattoed, skull caps, stickers of all sorts, denim and leather, lots of leather. If the bike takes a skid the cowhide is supposed to protect your hide.

They've sort of adopted the pow/mia issue, the US flag goes hand in hand with that. Something to do with that movie, easy rider.

Harley riders are proud 'cuz their machines are made in Milwaukee, USA

[libnnc]

12. I used to think Harleys were cool...

until a biker bar popped up behind my house.

Have you ever heard 1500 Harleys in a parking lot behind your house at 3 AM? I can hear them with my windows closed and the tee-vee blaring. It's totally nerve shattering. I can't describe the constant noise.

Why are motorcycles allowed to be eardrum splittingly loud and cars aren't?

:grr:

[Lannes]

14. Most of the Harley riders around here are old timers

But once in a while you see a yuppie in a brand new Harley and a brand new leather jacket.Got nothing against harley riders.Harleys are an American institution.

Like somone said its only when you have to listen to them every night that you wish they were an institution somewhere else.

[GiovanniC]

15. Just Have One Thing to Say

That is all.

[elvisbear]

18. Heyyyyy...

The Fonz loves John Kerry on a Harley.

[uncle ray]

36. yeah, but

The Fonz rode a Triumph.

[noamnety]

17. I don't like motorcycles

I dislike the noise, and the safety issues concern me.

But I have nothing against the people who ride them at all. Of course I might be biased - the last motorcycle I saw was ridden by a Veteran for Peace member, who pulled into my driveway on Memorial Day, dug around in his saddle bag thing, and pulled out a bottle of red wine for me.

[slackmaster]

20. New York Mike isn't a bad dude

He's registered as a Republican but his politics are libertarian.

It seems mostly to be about facial hair, excess girth, loud pipes and American flags. Are most of these guys right wingers, or just into jacket-patch patriotism?

Think "mid-life crisis". I know some real bikers and some wannabe ones. Real bikers tend to be very far right. Weekend bikers are politically all over the map. The only thing they all have in common is middle age.

Any Harley riders out there, and if so, wouldn't you rather ride something fast, smooth and quiet? Like a BMW?

I'm not a biker but nothing sounds like a Harley.

[maveric]

23. He has bu$h-praising commercials on TV.

Shit like "Support our predident for protecting our freedon in Afghanistan and Iraq".
He's a fucking clown!

[slackmaster]

45. Thanks - I don't watch local TV at all

I've only heard him calling in to radio talk shows.

[davsand]

21. Most bikers I know trend more Libertarian than GOP.

Maybe it is just the guys I've known over the years, I dunno. Kinda fits that Live free Ride free image/mentality, I guess. They march to their own drum and if you don't like it you can piss off.

I should probably just assume the guys I know are not typical, but I have never had a biker treat me badly. Men who were yuppie scum were much worse to deal with, I found, back in the day when I was bartending.

I actually saw a biker walk into a neighborhood bar where an older guy was tending bar and get treated like shit. I was not exactly a regular, but I was known to that bartender and several of the regular partons. I also knew the owners VERY well...

That poor guy walked up to the bar and STOOD while that bartender pretended he wasn't there. Bartender came down to me, asked if I wanted anything and I told him I'd buy the biker a drink. Bartender snarls at me and strolls down to the biker to fetch his drink.

I made a point to go over and sit down with that biker and I told him it pissed me off to see that kind of shit going on. I asked the guy if he'd ever been there before (wondering if maybe he'd been tossed out or something) and he told me he'd just hit town looking for a guy he knew. Come to find out--it was a guy I knew--one of my regulars where I bartended. This guy had met him on a job someplace down in Texas.

Pissed that old man bartender off bigtime--I walked out of that bar with that biker. What he didn't know was I took him over to where I bartended and hooked him up with his buddy.

That biker that they treated like such shit was one of the best HVAC guys I've ever known. He also was one hell of a left handed slow pitch softball pitcher, who taught me how to make a pipe out of a ball point pen. He's married with a few kids now...

I took a great deal of joy in telling those bar owners what an asshole that bartender had been that night. I made a point to go back in there few more times with that biker just to pluck tha bartender's last nerve, too.

There's a moral to my story. Mike looked like the usual biker when he hit that bar--leathers and all. They judged him on looks and on reputation alone, and they were dead wrong. He's just an average guy who does shit the way he thinks it needs to be done.

These bikers you all have been chewing up--are you sure you really know them?


Laura

[Stinky The Clown]

24. I'm not a bike enthusiast, per se, but I think I understand at least part

of the attraction to big motors and loud exhausts.

I'm an old English sports car guy .... Healeys and MGs and Triumphs and Jags and Lotuses, etc .....

But the commonality is the visceral reaction to the sound and vibration of the motors. You feel it (not to be sexual here) almost orgasmically. You feel the varying pressure from the underlying 'sputter' or throbbing of the motor. One of the strongest feelings of this sort I ever got was being very close to a runway where an old WWII P51 Mustang was doing very low level passes. Those planes had straight exhaust pipes running directly from the motor to the exterior of the engine cowl, and thence to the atmosphere. Nothing could possibly have been louder, more elemental, more visceral than that sound.

You either get this or you don't.

After that, a whole bunch of extraneous influences come into play. The 'uniforms', the herd mentality, the aura of your choice of motorsport flavor.

But I suspect that visceral reaction to the very *motor* is a big part of it.

Or at least ... that's my theory.

[Ron Green]

25. I get it for sure about the visceral effect of the throbbing sound.

The same thing is present in deep bass in music, or the pounding surf on the rocks. I think the problem is, in the maintaining of a complex society, that someone's need for throbbing romance can make life difficult for lots of peace-loving folks.

[Stinky The Clown]

31. No argument there

I remember back when I was teenager. My friend and I were working on a car. We got the motor back in at about 3 am. No exhaust but we just HAD to fire it up.

This was in a city. Narrow driveways and small backyards with small garages. Between two houses ....... VROOOOOOOM

My father was not pleased!

But the motor's throb sure was nice :)

[libnnc]

32. unfortunately I *get it* outside my window every night until 4 am.

Peace and quiet? What's that?

:grr:

[ReadTomPaine]

26. Tinnitus often drives people to suicide.

Something to consider when gutting a factory exhaust system and replacing it with straight pipes.

[Wheaty]

27. Just took a Safety course run by a Harley Guy

I just finished a motorcycle safety course in which the instructor was an old school Harley Guy mid 40ish and has had Harley's since he was old enough to drive.

First thing out of his mouth was "I quit going to Daytona Bike Week the year Jeb became Governor of Florida." then proceeded to bash Dub-ya the whole week long. This in the part of Pennsylvania referred to as the "Alabama" part of the state.

So no not all Harley Riders are right wing nuts. This guy was such a liberal he asked for my "no W" (W in the red no circle symbol) magnet off the back of my car, which I gladly gave to him, and proceeded to affix it to his bike at the end of the safety course.

[Oilwellian]

34. I used to ride on a Kawasaki 750

I once lived near New Orleans and my ex and I took several trips to the Florida panhandle for some fun on the beach. Also took a longer trip to Taos New Mexico just for the hell of it. About half way there, we stopped and bought hot water bottles, filling them halfway, hoping they'd cushion the ride a little bit. Needless to say we chucked them shortly thereafter and realized we'd have to grin and bear our extremely sore arses. While we were in Taos, we stopped at the base of a mountain to stretch our legs and have a smoke. Out of nowhere, a bus passed by and the vibration caused the bike to fall over. We just laughed our sore hineys off and felt it was only fitting the bike suffer too. :D

As for whether Harley riders are rightwingers, I'm glad to hear there are many who are not. Wouldn't you love to hear their backroom political discussions while attending Rolling Thunder? The two Harley riders I know are very rightwing, one being a Baptist fundamentalist minister who hocked his family to the hilt so he could have the machine, and is about to become my very near future father inlaw. (running from room screaming!)

[flygal]

39. I have repug inlaws

they aren't fundi - claim to be good Christians by going to church twice a year. They're rush/faux repugs - barf. Good luck to you at family gatherings - it gets really interesting ;)

[gulliver]

35. I like my Harley, thanks.

I like the vibration (no rubber motor mount bushings on my 2001 Sportster).

I like the style.

I like the sound.

I like no windshield.

I like the smells. The road, the bike, the countryside, the skunks, the bugs cooking on the radiator of the truck behind me.

I like the look. The bike and its shadow.

I like the freedom.

I like a little risk, but the basic design has been around since the 50's.

I like the resale value, although I worry about the Bush effect on the reputation of all things American, including Harley.

You can ride around in your tennis shoes and waterproof windbreaker. The guys in their leathers, flags, and yarmulka-sized helmets will still wave to you.

[lonestarnot]

37. If you don't have a Harley you don't have shit!

[put out]

40. My dad rides. I am going with him starting Monday

to Taos, from Kansas City. We will return on Thursday. Yes, I like being on a Harley. Yes, they are loud bikes, and I would not like to have many of them outside my window at 0300.

I think, for him and for many others, it is romantic and emotional and a little risky to ride any motorcycle, but Harleys are just that little bit more.

Plus, he is 70 and I am 45, and as long as he wants to go, I am going with him. He is a retired teacher and a life-long Democrat, and has raised three Democrats. And he married two women in the party (not at the same time, ha).

Please don't judge a book by its cover. Most riders I have been around are generous and helpful and friendly. I am sorry if this has not been your experience. If you encounter us, we are likely to not look smooth and smell good. We clean up O.K.:-)

[BiggJawn]

43. Had a BMW, had a Harley.

They both had their good points and bad.

I preferrd the Harley. It had more of what I rode bikes for, power, looks, sound, ride quality, and more women came up to me on the H-D than the Beemer. I always thought the BMW made me look like Euro-Trash or an Old Man in Training (I was 18 when I had it).

Since the price of a new Harley davidson will hit you to the tune of almost $30,000, I consider most the big, bad "Bikers" I see as posuers. "Hell's Accountants" types, who stop shaving on Wednesday and take the rest of the week off so they'll look properly scruffy and menacing by Sunday afternoon...

[Mizmoon]

44. we often scrape pieces of Harley riders off of the street

and try to put them back together again, in my line of work. It rarely succeeds. At least someone else gets a young, healthy organ that will save their life. That's little consolation to the Harley guy's family, though.

I'm not kidding. :cry: