F-ing Harley Davidson Mentality

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Mogambo

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After a pretty shitty week, weather wise, here in southwestern PA, I thought I'd take the lady friend out for a little ride in the country. While riding along the winding country roads, I pick up the image of a few Harley riders in the rear view mirror. Now I am traveling at a comfortable pace for the road and the fact that I am now also responsible for someone else's life.

So here these Harley asshole's come up on my ass (now you know I'm thinking...."I wish I was alone right now). To make a long story, shorter, we're on a double yellow section of road with a curve and visible traffic coming the other way, and what do these no-helmet, do-rag wearing, passenger carrying assfucks decide to do? You got it. Pass.

Now in doing so, one of their do-rags came flying off, which was pretty funny in it's own right (my guess is that it didn't come off by accident. That do-rag had more brains than the rider and said, "I'm getting out of here", and then jumped). No sooner did these mental midgets pass, then what did they do? Pull into a bar. The purpose of which was to either have yet, another beer or to go back to retrieve the do-rag that tried to escape it's moronic owner. Either way, what f-king idiots.

And another thing. You wanted to ride like an ass-wipe by yourself? Go ahead. But the one's that do it while carrying a passenger are the one's that really bother me. I'm not sure who's more stupid. The driver or the passenger. Most likely...a tie.

I told my lady friend that those Harley boy's should get down and their knees and thank her. Why? She asked. Because she provided a Harley owner with a rare opportunity to pass an FJR. Sort of like pitching a no-hitter. Bowling a 300 and the like. Believe me, those punks would have never even gotten close enough for the incident to have happened in the first place. But...I ate it. My passenger's saftey is more important than anything else.

I know that it is not right or perhaps fair, to lump all of these Harley asshole's together, but I just see so much of this Harley mentality crap around here. I even know a couple guy's that ride Harley's that aren't like this. But sadly, it seems increasingly, that those type are in the minority.

They should require the taking of an I.Q test before the purchase of a Harley. My guess is that sales would plummet.

O.K., I've vented and got it off my chest. I feel better now.

I will now sit back and listen to some people defend the Harley crowd. Quite frankly, I don't give a shit. I am merely reporting what I see WAY too often.

 
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Your riding on the street, it's not a race.

Your home safely........................ "You Win"

 
The only thing scarier than an idiot rider that's on a Harley is an FJR rider that lumps all Harley owners into a stereotype because of their actions. Somebody could read this forum and through your actions think all us FJR owners hate Harley owners.

I'm tired of the Harley bashing here. Anybody else?

 
I don't see anything in your post that describes something I have not seen either a sport bike or sport touring bike owner do - so why the bashing?

Particularly the "pass on double yellow" stuff.

And what's bad about going back to get something that fell off?

 
I agree with you 100%.

We have this same type of Invincible" Harley rider here in Missouri, But they are not all that way....

It's kind of like the squids on sportbikes popping wheelies in heavy traffic where the "image" people see is: Look at that A-hole on that sportbike! I ride with the bags off alot and i get evil stares from people thinking i do that stuff.

The squid sportbike crowd and the Holier than God Harley crowd are the same in my book. No respect for anyone else and trying to show off to their buddies by doing a totally stupid no-brainer stunt on a bike.

I bet the percentage of the bad apples are fairly low, But those are the ones we, John Q Public,And the LEO's remember...

Glad you used your head and let those assclowns go without event. :)

I feel better now.... :)

 
The only thing scarier than an idiot rider that's on a Harley is an FJR rider that lumps all Harley owners into a stereotype because of their actions. Somebody could read this forum and through your actions think all us FJR owners hate Harley owners.
I'm tired of the Harley bashing here. Anybody else?

Please refer to paragraph 6 of my post.

I was prepared for this type of response and I am fine with it, as I had indicated. Many things are discussed and vented on this forum, which is one of the many aspects that make it so interesting.

Fot the benefit of those tired of Harley bashing, I used a topic title that clearly indicates where the post was going, thus, making it easy to avoid, if that sort of thing bother's you. If you feel it's going to bother you, why would you read it? (Administrator's control excepted) That's like me intentionally watching a Rap video.

Everybody has different types of experiences depending on where you live and ride. I shared mine. And yes, I HAVE experienced similar things with squids on sport bikes, but no where NEAR what I have experienced with the Harley bunch.

I merely vented on my experiences. If the administrator's feel that my post is inappropriate because it could possibly give some folks the idea that ALL FJR owner's hate Harley riders (which I for one don't) then delete it.

 
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I find it amusing that you think your pillion's safety is at risk when going faster than Harleys and that you let them pass on a turn of all places. They drag hard parts in a turn before you even test your FJR. Please don't let us down like this again.

;)

 
The only thing scarier than an idiot rider that's on a Harley is an FJR rider that lumps all Harley owners into a stereotype because of their actions. Somebody could read this forum and through your actions think all us FJR owners hate Harley owners.
I'm tired of the Harley bashing here. Anybody else?
There are assholes all over the world, not just on Harleys.....probably even 1 or 2 on FJR's. It seems that every time the word Harley gets mentioned in any sort of thread it turns into a free-for-all bash. It doesn't matter what type of bike you ride, as long as you ride it....

 
O.K. I have been thinking about this for awhile, and I think now is a good time to bring up a suggestion to the Mods.

One of the other Forums I go to on a regular basis has an area called "What I Hate." It is a place on the Forum for people to vent, and the rule is that other people can't bash the person who started the thread for what is said.

I think Mogambo is venting, nothing more, nothing less. Do ANY of us really, truly think that EVERY person who owns a Harley is a POS? Or that every person who owns a sport bike, or even a FJR for that matter, is a great person, and a good rider? If you can 100% honestly say that you believe that, I would ask what the color of the sky in your world is.

Give it some thought. Should we add a place for people to be able to vent, and NOT be Dog Piled for saying how they feel?

 
Mogambo,

I have to agree. YMMV, but I rode a Harley for twelve years. I got sick of skulls, flames and riding to bars. These are the only things my group of 10 or so riders did. Maybe some others were different? I traded in for a FZ6, then an FJR and kind of forgot about the Harley thing. I must say the stereo type fits so well because the Harley riders want to conform to that stereotype. For example, wife and I ride Santiage Canyon to COOK'S CORNER in SoCal. Wife has never been on a Harley, knows nothing about them and was out for her 3rd two up ride. About 150 bikes were there and she points out all the "custom" paint jobs. I explained that it was ironic that all the custom paint had only either skull or flame motif. HaHa. Only a handful of sport bike riders there, so my Aerostich Hi-Vis suit really stood out. One skanky Harley chick laughed at me. I thought it was funny, too. All these doctors and lawyers trying to be such possers with all the HD trademarked clothing. We were the only people drinking soft drinks and as a whole the group seems to be going thru the beer. Made me feel unsafe to be rding anywhere near these people.

For the record, I still like that Harley sound and still wave at all bikes.

 
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Living in an area that's just over-run with HD riders, I see both ends of the spectrum. They are sensible on one end of the scale and downright suicidal on the other. I have followed many groups over the high sierra passes and watching the different lines they create reminds me of looking at a plate of spaghetti. :D

When a HD clown wants to pass me, (which is as scarce as rocking horse shit, since when I'm alone trying to make time, my mirrors are most often empty of any other vehicles :dribble: ) I always invite them through. Then I begin to follow them and admire their skills as they drift from one side of a lane to another while dragging hard parts in an attempt to really show off their mad skillz yo!

I have met some great people on Harleys and some real dumbass rednecks as well. I try hard not to paint them with the same brush and try to keep an open mind of any new peeps that I meet, but they all look the darned same at first glance. :p

If you want to see first hand what I'm talking about, just take a ride out to Coulterville, CA on any weekend and go sit near the bar at the hotel and observe for a little while. On one end of the bar there are your responsible HD riders eating lunch and drinking iced tea, just enjoying the day like any other biker group. Then on the other end are loud mouth assholes with shot glasses lined up across the bar, cause that's the cool thing to do I guess? I see the first group looking on and shaking their heads and making further comments about small pee-pee's etc outside when some dude goes by WFO with straight pipes making all of about 40mph and 140db of noise. So there are divisions between the different groups that are attracted to "the lifestyle". ;)

The only part of the HD culture I have seen so far that gives me ammo, is at one of their rallies in SD or somewhere, they do the jap bike throwing, burning thing in the fire. Haven't seen/heard of a HD treated this way at any other bike rally? So they are also guilty of bashing other types of bikes as well, right?

If this is HD bashing then I guess I'm guilty as charged, but I have not seen this bad behaviour with duc, wing or beemer groups etc.

 
There are assholes all over the world, not just on Harleys.....probably even 1 or 2 on FJR's.
Dammit! I'm outed again! Arrrrrgh! :lol:

OK, here's a perspective from a former sport-bike rider, former cruiser rider, former touring rider, former and current sport-touring and ex-Harley (one of the two touring bikes) owner:

Drum roll please...

I've been an asshole on each and every one of my bikes, mostly stemming from my complete and utter lack of patience with other road users - like those doing 30 in a 55 or gang bicyclists blocking the road, as examples. That said, Axe is exactly correct and I will add that of all my bikes, I acted less the asshole on the Harley than any other (couldn't be related to the astounding 65 HP, could it? :blink: ).

Could it be that the difference can now be defined as bikers (assholes) and riders (the rest of the saintly lot) rather than 'those Harley dudes'?

 
Could it be that the difference can now be defined as bikers (assholes) and riders (the rest of the saintly lot) rather than 'those Harley dudes'?
Move to adopt as new "manmotorcycle-law."

Do I hear a second?

 
I've been an asshole on each and every one of my bikes, mostly stemming from my complete and utter lack of patience with other road users ...

While this may be your personal experience and true for a fraction of the bikers, who can argue with you characterizing yourself. IN other cases than TWN, there is reenforcement and peer pressure toward problematic behavior. Riding and drinking, for example. If I were to show up wear HD clothes and a skull painted bike, then what I am most likely signalling is that I am part of the group. Each group has it's own norms and values. IF I were to show up at WFO with a beer in my FJR drink hoder wearing flip flops and shorts, then I would feel left out. I would be excluded. What skyway and magmabo are saying that HD riders are not asserting themselves as individuals. Instead, thay are adhering to a group norm. The group norm has some bad values. Or as a FJR group could say- different than our group norms. The HD group favors brain buckets, drinking, less than safe riding (but different that our FJR approved less than safe riding), excessive trademarking, and exclusion of other groups. For example, FJR group norm is that you can ride less than safe, but only in terms of speeding. No bad ride lines, proper gear, no beers before or during the ride (only after.) This is a FJR group norm. We also accept other bikes and sometimes BMW's. Our competition and also verging on being a group norm. It seems that our group norms are not a repunant as the HD group norms. I think it is just ignorant PC talk to say,"I know a HD rider and he was alright. Let's not stereotype." This is just a PC thing to say to make yourself feel good, but doesn't get to the point. HD riders have many replusive group values.

 
...there is reenforcement and peer pressure toward problematic behavior.
Hmmm, gonna argue with you there. I observe mostly single riders out there doing 'squidy stuff' - no peers around. Groups tend to be more reserved when riding, IMO. Personally, I'm more apt to do stupid shit while on my own rather than when riding with others.

IF I were to show up at WFO with a beer in my FJR drink hoder wearing flip flops and shorts, then I would feel left out. I would be excluded.
Not true! We all welcomed odot quite warmly! :lol:
 
Your riding on the street, it's not a race.Your home safely........................ "You Win"
+1 You positively impressed your friend as well, no doubt.

Bashing? There's more than one motorcycle in the world!! :yahoo:

 
Move to adopt as new "manmotorcycle-law."

Do I hear a second?
I second that nomination...

:lol:
Great. I think Scab and GalaxyBlue are running for their respective state legislatures or going to start up a bi-state initiative campaign.

f the administrator's feel that my post is inappropriate because it could possibly give some folks the idea that ALL FJR owner's hate Harley riders (which I for one don't) then delete it.
We wouldn't do that as administrators. It's not against the guidelines so I wouldn't think about deleting it. You're free to spout all you want on the subject. Just like I'm free to spout about how pointless Harley bashing is.

 
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Basically, there are two types of people in the world:

Those that think there are two types of people, and those that don't.

...and I appreciate your vote in November...

 
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