Japanese motorcycles hate

[Inhouse Bob]

For years I rode an ADV bike pretty much daily - no choice, I didn't own a car. A lot of people sneeringly dismissed the bike as just another "crotch-rocket". No hate, just a smug kind of condescension as if it wasn't a real bike just because it didn't say H-D on it. I quickly noticed that they fell into two groups - those that didn't have a bike to begin with, and those who just bought a H-D recently. Pretty soon the new bike owners sold their rides and moved on to some other fad, and here I am still riding. So I mostly ignored them.

The long term riders never had an issue with it.

The same people that put down my V-Strom don't really know what to make of the CB1100. It doesn't fit their idea of crotch-rocket, has a pretty mean stance, and so I've gotten some surprised comments about how good it looks.

Howdy dw. I grew up in Dickinson. Wish I still lived somewhere that I could use a bike for primary transport all year round!
My old Baycliff/San Leon Harley-riding friends give me a hard time about my ride choice, but before that they gave me a hard time about other things. All in good fun.
I knew that the "Harley or Die" thing was shifting when I saw an interview with Sonny Barger where he said that he regretted sticking with Harleys. He said unequivocally that the Japanese were making better, faster, more dependable bikes. If HE says it, it must be so.

Ah! Found the quote from his book... "But Hell's Angels started riding Harley-Davidsons mostly because, unlike today, they didn't have much choice. In 1957, it was either ride a Harley or settle for a Triumph or BSA. They'd already stopped building Indians. It's always been important for Hell's Angels to ride American-made machines. In terms of pure workmanship, personally I don't like Harleys. I ride them because I'm in the club, and that's the image, but if I could I would seriously consider a Honda ST1100 or a BMW. We really missed the boat not switching over to the Japanese models when they began building bigger bikes. I'll usually say, "#$%* Harley Davidson. You can buy an ST1100 and the mother#$%*er will do 110 miles per hour right from the factory all day long." The newest "rice rockets" can carry 140 horsepower to the rear wheel, and can easily do 180 miles per hour right out of the box. While it's probably too late to switch over now, it would have been a nice move, because Japanese bikes today are so much cheaper and better built. However, Japanese motorcycles don't have as much personality."