"The Lifestyle"

Bikes were a lot more fun when they were 'exclusively' ridden by angry, violent, intoxicated, anti-social, poorly groomed, heavily tattooed MANIACS.

I found this quote while reading Backtalk on Ironcross.net. Thanks, L.J.

This pretty well sums up my feelings most days any more. I spend a lot of time on a motorcycle, but I avoid most major motorcycle rallies because I don’t fit there. I make much less than a hundred grand a year and I put a ton of miles on my motorcycles rather quickly. Anymore, when I walk into a Harley dealership, they look at me like I am scum, yet when I pull into a gas station, I’m approached by some clown wearing brand new Harley Davidson leathers to protect him from a possible latte spill while he plows down the road in his escalade, narrowly missing motorcycles that are paying enough attention to get out of his way. He, is no doubt on his way to the Local HOG meeting, because he just spent thirty thousand or more dollars to buy a “lifestyle.” He got ripped off.

These people have single handedly brought Harley to their knees and it is not their fault, it is Harley’s. There are dealerships going bankrupt and shutting down everywhere. Production has almost come to a screeching halt. Because they turned their back on the people that kept them going through the rough times to cater to a fad, they are failing. They don’t carry the parts to fix any of the Harleys I’ve ever owned anymore because the RUBs buy more trinkets and sixty dollar shirts. That’s fine by me, I’ll just support the independent shops and the huge aftermarket supply.
Has Harley opened their eyes to what’s happening? Unfortunately, they have not. I went into the two local dealerships this past Monday, because the yuppies are finally starting to give up their garage furniture (can’t call it a motorcycle when it’s used as a decoration , a status symbol, and never ridden) a lot cheaper than this time last year, due to the depression we have been in for a while. Guess what? The fad’s over. My thoughts, which seemed rational enough to me, were that the dealers may have come to their senses and started offering reasonable prices on their used inventory. I was badly mistaken. They were offering the used motorcycles for two to three thousand over the MSRP of a new bike of the same model. The new bikes are about the same price of the used. I actually had a “salesman” tell me, when I asked him why it was so much higher than MSRP, “You have to pay to ride.” My reply was “I’ll rebuild my Ironhead and Harley can shove these twin cams up their collective ass.” All of this is in the midst of many, many dealerships shutting down across the country. Harley Davidson is dying a slow, painful death again, but I’m not sure they can come back from this one. The CEO’s will no doubt get their bail out before this use to be great icon disappears from the American landscape.

The question is, “Can we rebuild our true lifestyle, can we get back to the real?” Peter Fonda in “Wild Angels,” said “We just want to be free to ride our machines and not be hassled by the man…and we want to get loaded…..and we want to have a good time.” What happened to this attitude? This is exactly how I live my life. I’ve smartened up a little over the years. I don’t ride my scoot loaded anymore and I don’t recommend it, but this life used to be about our personal freedom from society’s rules, yet we’ve allowed ourselves to be drug down by them. All the major functions are invaded by the police and becoming more politically correct every year. When’s the last time a major party was thrown in a pasture on private property, without inviting the cops? When did poker runs become the answer to everybody’s financial windfall? When’s the last time you saw a “run” that said “Donate what you can and ride with us.”? When’s the last time you got on your scoot, just to see where she leads you, with no clue where you’re heading or when you will return? This is what we need to return to, our roots. To hell with the major bike rallies like Sturgis, Myrtle Beach, etc. To hell with "no colors, no drugs, no attitudes" signs, let the yuppies have them. We need to create our own motorcycle rally, put our signs up that say "colors welcome, RUBS are not."

I will be so happy when bikers are looked at as scum again and not the OCC ass clowns these RUBS seem to worship.