(01-10-2019, 12:27 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: Charlie Bravo is one smart pooch.

(01-10-2019, 11:03 AM)tommymck_imp Wrote: First, I'm digging the fact that GoldOxide is reviving old threads. As a relative newcomer, I tend to have only seen what's happened in the last 9 months (I'm not as industrious as he is with the search feature...).

Anyway, around the mid-Atlantic at least, if you see a bike around here, it's 60% likely it's a Harley, 15% likely it's a BMW, and the rest is uniformly distributed from whomever. But the Harley riders are great. I've never had a Harley (tried several over the years....never got along with the handling.....though admittedly haven't ridden one in the last 20 years), but have been welcome in any setting where it's almost exclusively Harley. And you see them wearing full face helmets and other protective gear for the most part (well, maybe not high-viz, but...) Pretty much the only negative that I can say about Harley riders around here (and this is just a generalization based on my personal experience) is that they seem much more likely to drink rather heavily and hop on and ride away than...say....BMW riders. I'm no teetotaler, but the idea of pounding down the beers and hoping on a bike scares the bejeebees out of me. That may be more of an age thing than a Harley thing though. Harley riders tend to be a bit older.

(01-10-2019, 11:46 AM)Frulk_imp Wrote: I've already responded to this thread previously but will add to the comments after mine.

jitayler said "In my neighborhood there are scads of HD's, and all of them are really nice. There are a few trikes too. But they only ride them on the weekends for breakfast. Never to the store or pharmacy or anywhere else."

Growing up bikes were basic transportation. I can't ever remember people having two, let alone more. I see a lot of low miles pristine Harleys for sale locally at our dealer and on websites. Which got me thinking.

For most folks with Harleys they're not really day-to-day basic transportation. I can go to the MoCo dealer parking lot on Saturday AM and see maybe 20+ bikes sitting there as they get ready for a local ride. You can pick out the daily riders VERY easy. Maybe 2-3 of them. The rest are spotless.

But, there may be a reason that I've overlooked all these years:

Guy directly to the left across the street from me has a full dresser and a sportster. He also has a late model Corvette, boat, a RZR and a regular ATV and for a while had a 3 Series BMW.

A good friend has a Road King that has to share time with 2 brand new Triumphs and an XRX1200.

The guy that lives across from my mother-in-law is a lawyer. Has a late model full dresser, boat, tricked out jeep, tricked out Turbo diesel Dodge 4x4 he uses to haul his boat, motorhome and a 28 foot snow mobile trailer.


My bud is 62, the other two appear to be in the 50's.

I'll leave it at those three examples but I could toss out a bunch more. Mind you, these aren't folks in $1m+ homes. I've come to the conclusion that for the most part Harley riders (not all but most) buy them as toys and not as a PRIMARY conveyance because they're at that point in their lives were they're making more money than they ever have. Have disposable income, and want to finally get some things that they couldn't afford when they were early into career's raising families, paying off houses and so forth. The predominant age demographic of Harley riders underscores that I may be on to something. I see a lot more hard ridden bikes at the Honda dealer and for the most part from casual observance they appear to have much younger riders. Us CB faithful not withstanding.

I'll stop typing now and finish my Shiner...carry on.