05-12-2014, 03:43 AM
(05-12-2014, 12:38 AM)ss2wheels_imp Wrote: Isn't it strange and hard to explain the way that it's HD and then every other make of motorcycle? For me having had 7 HDs and a s--t load of everything else in the last 40 years I can say that I ride a bike for the feeling of the machine more than the feeling of being part of a group.I have enjoyed my HDs,the oldest being a 1987 and the newest a 2011 streetglide so really pretty good reliable bikes.I would never have even considered an HD prior to that because they were oil leaking, falling apart piles of s--t! I guess the reason I always go back to japanese bikes is the same reason my wife and I drive toyota's, we simply like the way they feel.Now let me ask you does any of this make sense? I am not a Harley basher, they are gorgeous and reliable machine's now, and so many people own them or want to own them,I guess that even though they are built with so many parts from Japan and all over the globe, they are an american company since 1903, and that means something...
There's no doubt at all that a very large percentage of people buy HD because they see it as a membership card in a club. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think HD ownership has lost some of the cache it had when people were waiting a year and paying $1,000's over MSRP for bikes, but it's still there.
(05-12-2014, 12:38 AM)ss2wheels_imp Wrote: Isn't it strange and hard to explain the way that it's HD and then every other make of motorcycle? For me having had 7 HDs and a s--t load of everything else in the last 40 years I can say that I ride a bike for the feeling of the machine more than the feeling of being part of a group.I have enjoyed my HDs,the oldest being a 1987 and the newest a 2011 streetglide so really pretty good reliable bikes.I would never have even considered an HD prior to that because they were oil leaking, falling apart piles of s--t! I guess the reason I always go back to japanese bikes is the same reason my wife and I drive toyota's, we simply like the way they feel.Now let me ask you does any of this make sense? I am not a Harley basher, they are gorgeous and reliable machine's now, and so many people own them or want to own them,I guess that even though they are built with so many parts from Japan and all over the globe, they are an american company since 1903, and that means something...The week before last I got a text message out of the blue asking if my '77 Low Rider was still for sale. I texted back and explained I'd sold it to a collector from Japan, and asked where he'd seen the bike. He replied: "You're a traitor, you don't deserve to live in the US."
Given that the guy from Japan paid literally double the best offer I'd ever gotten from anybody in the US, I think I can live with my decision.