19 January 2015

Harley Davidson, Vs. The World-

Gorgeous weather here...
Mid-70's temps and no cloud to be seen, anywhere.
It was a perfect day to exercise the "new-to-us" GoldWing.

It was Sara Jean's first chance to ride the bike farther than to Wally World for milk and bread, so I didn't want to reach out too far. But I did want to give her the chance to determine if she liked the bike, and if not, what did I need to do to make it better for her?
(I already LOVE the thing! I'm MUCH more comfortable on it than either the older GL1500 'Wing, or the '99 Valkyrie I bought last year.)

We rode North to U.S. Highway 60, then East on 60 to just past Superior, AZ. At that point I realized I had once again pulled a boneheaded stunt...
I started the jaunt with half a tank of fuel.

Just past Superior, AZ. the mountains start to get serious, and the view is... breathtaking. There's a 1/8th mile tunnel through one of the hills with a "scenic vista" turnoff just beyond it. I pulled into the viewpoint and we dismounted for gawking and to take a few photos.

From that point we did a 180-degree turn and headed back into Superior for "insurance" fuel to give me the option to continue exploring, or to at least insure I could easily make it back to Gilbert, AZ where I knew fuel was less $$$$$.
We pulled into a gas station where three nice Harleys were already parked at the pumps getting fuel. I maneuvered the bike past them to an empty pump, shut our bike down, dismounted, and then commented to the guy on the H-D parked at the pump just behind us...
"Man! What a beautiful paint job on your bike!"
"Yeah, when I saw it I was stricken and immediately bought it", he responded.

And that was the only communication we had with this group of five people.
None of the rest would even make eye contact with us.
Sara Jean was PISSED...
"What is it with these people? What's their problem?"

I told her it's the situation I've known about for ages...
Harley riders belong to a "Club". Buying the Harley, they pay a TON of money to become a member, then pay a TON of money to maintain their membership.
If you don't own a Harley, you're not a member. Lots of Harley riders don't associate with non "Members".

It's slowly changing. Believe it or not, I actually have several friends who ride H-D's who are normal, wonderful human beings. They even talk to me.

But there's still that small segment out there that either-
1. Thinks they're actually still riding "American" iron and doesn't want to associate with guys riding "furrin" machinery, or-
2. Has an insecurity complex, knowing they paid a lot of money for a wonderful machine that nevertheless has a MUCH greater chance of leaving them stranded on a long ride.

Sara Jean is mad.
I just think it's sad.
We two-wheelers all ride for pretty much the same reason.
And I'd like to think, if any of us is in trouble, we'd ALL stop to help one another.
But... maybe I'm wrong.


By the way...
Sara Jean wants a set of armrests. Other than that, we're good to GO!

7 comments:

cary said...

Figured she'd like that, and we discussed the armrests. Nice bike.

Tumo said...

Yeah, I know the crowd you speak of David. In my younger days I rode a Honda CBR F2. A ghetto sled if you will. Would come out to it find handfuls of rice under it and be spurned the custom of the wave as you passed by on the highway. Even stopped and offered help to Harley rider broke down on the interstate. Told me to leave him alone. He would rather keep waiting then have help from me. I gleefully agreed and waved to him as he still sat waiting as I passed by a couple hours later on my way home. Loved riding the bike. Really liked riding it on the base runways after the airfield would shutdown for the day. Power, handling and open air feel.....I might have to get another one.....

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Old joke. 85% of all Harleys are still on the road. The other 15% made it home.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Same experience as Tumo!.

ddf said...

Just so many things to divide us. In aviation we seem to be fighting an LSA vs GA crowd. Boaters probably have some sort of clique. Its just too bad because we all have so much to share.

Old NFO said...

Armrests??? Geez... LOL and Hogidjits are in their own little world...

Anonymous said...

I will always speak to someone on a bike, I have both HD's and foreign, but don't have the ego problem, so sad.
Russell