"Ride American"

[AggieDave 6]

You know, the entire "ride American" thing is starting to get under my skin. The typical person who has said it to me was a HD yuppie that knows nothing about motorcycles. Worst yet are the flat out wanna-be's riding around on their Electra Glides with a cup holder. Ride American. A large majority of HD's parts are made over seas, but my Kawasaki was manufactured in Lincoln, Nebraska. Odd huh? Sort of like my Chevy truck, sure the company is "American" but 95% of it was built in Mexico.

If you're on two wheels, you get a wave. I don't care what brand, hell, I don't even care if you're on a moped. You're on two wheels. I don't care that you paid $30K for your bike or paid $500, I don't care if it has 200cc or 145 cu in. Infact I don't care if you're riding a cruiser or a rice rocket, you're getting a wave. Some people's attitudes bother me to no end and the "Discovery channel watching wishers" seem to be the worst. OCC shirt, HD hat/do-rag, HD jeans, HD boots, HD underwear (probably) and a wallet with a chain doesn't make you a biker. It makes you look like a damned idiot. Shut your damned mouth and actually buy a bike and actually ride it more then 100mi a year. Hell, ride it more then 100mi at a time. Your butt hurts? TOUGH! After about 400mi you don't notice and you find a zen in riding, hell it takes atleast 200mi to get good and comfy in your riding position for a long haul.

If you're head is planted too far up your butt and you can't understand that riding is what its all about and you don't appreciate that, then maybe its time you sell your bike. Hell, if you don't have the education to know where your bike was manufactured and don't understand that, then my point is proven. That especially goes to those of you riding a HD V-rod and still have that attitude.

For everyone else that understands what riding is all about, here's my wave...keep the rubber-side down and hopefully we'll get a chance to ride together someday.



p.s.
If you're riding in a steel cage and don't see me, you get a "wave" as well.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Lindercles 0]

ok, deep breath in....

.....and out.

and again in....

.....and out.

feel better?


I grew up on the back of a motorcycle, but both my parents sold theirs before i was old enough to ride (owing largely to my sister falling asleep on the back of my moms, and a couple of wrecks by my dad). believe it or not, i've never actually ridden one myself. i've been itching to for years, but just haven't been able to afford my own. but most definitely when i get to a point in my life i can afford it, it's a priority. i'd like to get an old triumph or victory or something like that. admittedly i don't know a whole hell of a lot about bikes, but damn they look cool.

[Tenshi 0]

This patriot shit is getting out of hand.

[uponone 0]

I use to wave to everyone but now the only thing a large group of harleys will see is the front wheel of a GSX-R750 in the air with a finger out the side.

[AggieDave 6]

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most definitely when i get to a point in my life i can afford it, it's a priority. i'd like to get an old triumph or victory or something like that. admittedly i don't know a whole hell of a lot about bikes, but damn they look cool.

You don't have to even drop $10k on a bike to get on the road. You can find a used triumph or honda or kawasaki for a couple of grand (or less for a beater) and get on the road. The less you pay means the less you cry when you drop your ride. Then again, when you pick one up cheap you're much more apt to break out an angle grinder, cut wheel and your welder to make your bike your own.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[AggieDave 6]

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I use to wave to everyone but now the only thing a large group of harleys will see is the front wheel of a GSX-R750 in the air with a finger out the side.

Haha! Right on. You obviously have run into the attitudes I have. Folks who ride sport bikes really well impress me. I don't care for the high speeds or tricks in traffic, but being able to control the power of those bikes and ride well is very impressive.

I still wave at those groups of riders, they're riders and I give them the benifit of the doubt, but when I don't get a wave back from a single person in the group I know what kind of rider they are. Its kind of like a jumper who won't help a newbie or buy beer (or cokes for the none drinkers) or feel like they're above talking to a tandem student. They've lost the spirit of what its all about. That kid on a 1985 Honda 500 who rides with everything they got and loves to ride is more of a rider then they are.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Lindercles 0]

well, i just got a new government job (just another perk of living in austin) and in a few months i may be back on my feet, but i haven't made more than 10 jumps in the last 6 months and i've got an agreement with my family not to buy christmas presents this year, that's now broke i've been. so a couple grand would have been a couple months income, which pretty much means no bike.
but in the coming months i may just come back to you for suggestions on a cheap bike

[justinb138 0]

I know exactly what you mean, there are so many people just like that up here.....

I was slowing down to a stop at a light the other day and a guy on a harley nearly fell over when stopping (both legs out to the side while slowing down ). He must have been wearing every piece of Harley clothing and had every single chrome accessory available, which made him look like even more of an ass when he stalled the thing as soon as the light turned green.

The only people I don't wave to are assholes and morons that ride wheelies and shit down the highway during rush hour.

[AggieDave 6]

I can understand your situation, trust me I can. On one of your off days, go check out FlyRite Choppers there in Austin. www.flyritechoppers.com/ I think you'll like what you find there.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Lindercles 0]

nice! way out of my price range (at least from what they show on the website), but still nice.

[AggieDave 6]

Yeah, its a lot of money, but for what you're getting its not too bad. A manufactured bike (NADA listed, EPA cert to match the new laws) that is still basically a custom bike for $12k. That's not bad. Then again, if you look around you can get a similar stock bike for much cheaper then build the bike out to what you want it to be.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Lindercles 0]

i noticed they've got a selection of rolling chassis kits for less than 3k. pretty much lets you do anything you want with it. pretty neat.

[Squeak 17]

Morgan not giving any sugar Dave

You think you have it bad, we get the same tossers here, in Australia, they're not even in the USA and I hear that crap
Personally my Guzzi, is FAR FAR more reliable than ANY harley of the same vintage, AND I can do a 1000km ride and not have stop to tighten the bike back together or fix somthing that vibrated off

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[mnealtx 0]

Or refill the oil twice??

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[OATSF14 0]

My Ninja was built in Nebraska. It was shipped to the dealer using Teamster drivers. It was sold, is worked on and was financed by we "Americans". If you ride and I mean actually "ride" a H-D versus trailering it everywhere then a cold beer waits for you whenever our paths cross. If you trailer, know nothing about the motorcycle world in general, wear the typical 'head condom", cannot ride in any size group at more than 65 mph while blocking traffic then please be quiet. You are embarassing yourself.

[Stumpy 284]

Nice one Dave!!

HD get a lot of the "Hells accountants" market...
Here in the UK i had a guy who owned something like a wide glide here tell me he loved the "performance and handling" of his HD.

I had to suppress a giggle.... The V-rod did drag them kicking and screaming into the 20th century though.....

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[ryoder 1,590]

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Personally my Guzzi, is FAR FAR more reliable than ANY harley of the same vintage, AND I can do a 1000km ride and not have stop to tighten the bike back together or fix somthing that vibrated off

Bullshit! My HD was damn reliable. (OK, so the chain oiler fell off while I was riding it home.) But other than that it was VERY reliable. (Well OK, the camshaft bearings went out at 1000 miles.) But otherwise it was a solid bike. (Yeah, yeah, I remember that a fork seal went out soon after the camshaft bearings.) But other than that...

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[matthewcline 0]

While on my CBR 600 F4i I wave at all riders.

But I do get a chuckle out of the "ride american" crowd too. Having owned 12 motorcycles in my 37 years (21 Riding) I find I keep migrating back to the bikes and people who ride for fun of ridings sake and not for the "status" of it.

I can see trailering your ride from the north down to a warm area but not all the way to Daytona!

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[ReBirth 0]

Know what you mean...except the moped thing...they don't count

Funny thing is, around here, it's me on my hog that doesn't get return waves from the yuppie crotch rocket riders. Personally, I prefer to ride a Harley because I just really dig everything about them. But I don't begrudge anyone else whatever they ride.

[ReBirth 0]

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If you ride and I mean actually "ride" a H-D versus trailering it everywhere

That's what I don't get. People who trailer a bike to bike events. The purpose is the trip there, not the destination.

Hell, I get looked down on for my "half a harley" sportster from meatheads on so called "custom bikes" that have all the same parts on it as when they bought it. In other words, customized by someone else on an assembly line.

I rented an '06 Wide Glide last week in Vegas. Man, that was sweet. I think I might have to buy a new bike next year. Harley prices really have come down, by the way. A new super glide is around 12K. That's with EFI and a 6 speed gear box.

[squirrel 0]

100% agree! i hate the posers. i STILLL ride my 83 XT 550 just about every day. one big thumping piston, kick start, very throaty.

yeah, i never get waves from the HD riders. thats why i love rolling up next to them at a light on my VMAX and asking them to drag for pink slips(owners documentaion)...like we used to in the old days. still remember my brothers Yamaha RD 400 Daytona blowing away all the HDs...coarse thats when they spent more time on the side of the road.

hell i was riding behind a harley yesterday on a twisty road, getting waves from all the bikes...the HD rider...nver waved back...f-ing loser. so i smoked him on my beater dual sport XT. HD riders, go home a polish your chrome.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[ReBirth 0]

I don't know....you guys must either live around a bunch of rich yuppies with bikes who don't know that you're supposed to wave, or you all have your own bias against harley riders and don't realize it. I always wave and everyone I ride with who rides a harley always waves, too. The only harley riders I know that don't wave are 1%ers, but they don't wave at other harleys either.

Hell, most of the time when I ride up on a group of non-harley riders, I don't say a word and they start blasting me with the dirtbag jokes and oil leak jokes, etc...

[Lindsey 0]

Heck Dave....how in the world is it any different than people who ride Kawasakis, Hondas, etc thumbing their noses at us who ride Harleys. I think it's hilarious that people get worked up about what Harley riders do and say when they turn around and do the same damn thing. I've not put anyone down for what they ride, but I sure as hell get a lot of it from people who want to run down people who ride Harleys.... Or maybe it's okay if the shit's flying in our direction.

It's really no different than everything else in the world that people get snobbish over--what dz you frequent, where you go to college, what neighborhood you live in, where your children go to school, what kind of tennis shoes you buy, and whose label is on your shirt, what you do for a living, whether you wear make-up or not....

Why would you care if somebody who hasn't ridden all his life chooses a Harley. Is that a reason for you to run him down? What if he chooses a Kawasaki for his first bike....is that more honorable somehow? I just think it's an issue worth getting over....

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[ReBirth 0]

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the front wheel of a GSX-R750 in the air

And this is the main reason that motorcyclists get a bad rap. Save that shit for a closed track. Stop endangering innocent people for your own cheap thrills.

[squirrel 0]

well, continue to spread the word about waving then. the old fart yesterday must have been 50 or so, guess old habits die hard. but then again if i was riding something that might suddenly crap out, i would hold on with two hands too!

i am with dave, being on two wheels is being on two wheels.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?