Midlife crisis?

shack

Demiurge wrote:

Not even close....

Of course it is...:rolleyes:

Skynut

It is going to be real hard for a foreign motorcycle company to compete with Harley for America's share of riders.

If I have to explain you wouldn't understand.

Strong Bad

HTrookie wrote:

Demi,

That's fine; everything's cool. I won't take more of your time..so that you can go post some more on the Babe's thread

Yeah, WTF Demi??? You're banned from posting in this or any other thread today, except the babe thread. Now scoot yo **** on over there and get to work!

Ricardo

Skynut wrote:

It is going to be real hard for a foreign motorcycle company to compete with Harley for America's share of riders.

If I have to explain you wouldn't understand.

Maybe that's what someone said when the first Toyotas were shipped to the U.S.....

American riders IMO will look for the best bang for their bucks, as in any other country. Look at the cruisers portion in the attachment; %difference in sales between 2004 and 2005 speak for themselves...

http://www.autoindustries.com.au/files/Motorcycle_Sales_Data.pdf#search='motorcycle sales data'

Edit: Not sure the link is working....here it is:

EDIT # 2: After posting I realized that the link ends in .au, so this is probably data from Australia
Nevertheless, my thinking stays unchanged; bang for the buck will make **** win the cruiser market.

Demiurge

Skynut wrote:

It is going to be real hard for a foreign motorcycle company to compete with Harley for America's share of riders.

If I have to explain you wouldn't understand.

I take it you've been to these Harley rallies, right? Man...The picture I posted didn't include the 20+ miles of Bikes behind the ones in the picture. Absolutely NO other company can even come close to that in the bike world.

Demiurge

john d. strong wrote:

Yeah, WTF Demi??? You're banned from posting in this or any other thread today, except the babe thread. Now scoot yo **** on over there and get to work!

haha, Will do! Just so long as you buy a Hog, friend.

Skynut

Demiurge wrote:

I take it you've been to these Harley rallies, right? Man...The picture I posted didn't include the 20+ miles of Bikes behind the ones in the picture. Absolutely NO other company can even come close to that in the bike world.

It is true and I can not explain it.
i love my bike and I love to ride in large groups.
We went on a charity ride for MS a couple of years ago, the line of bikes (mostly Harleys) was a mile long at the starting point. When we left we had police escorts through all the stop lights on our route. The pack took so long going through town that the poor people stuck at those lights were actually ouy of their cars and sitting on their bumpers waving at us as we passed. They probably waited 30 min for all us to go through.
The first part of the ride went through several towns and was probably 15 miles of us getting to run red lights and waving at all the people who were just in awe at the sheer numbers of motorcycles passing by.

We raised over $500,000 IIRC and had an awesome time doing it.

bobman1235

I actually agree that no bike will have the following that Harleys have, but that's just because Harley guys seem to think they're better than guys who ride Japanese bikes, and they're part of an exclusive club. When I go out riding (I have an old Yamaha), I throw down the wave to every rider that I ride by. 95% of bikers that AREN'T Harleys wave back. I'd say 6% of Harleys wave back. It's just...a ... brand. Yes, they're the coolest looking, and sounding. It's tough to deny that. But for "riding experience", they don't ride that great. Maybe it's just the feeling you get when you're riding something that a) you way overpaid for, and b) you mentally feel like a badass for riding. That's fine. But it doesn't say that the bike itself is better in any way but psychological. If you just like to ride, rather than be part of some elitist club or look cool, but for the JOY of riding, nearly any bike beats out a Harley. You won't have to throw as much money into buying OR maintaining it, and it will give you better power and performance.

I appreciate Demi AND Skynut's points, especially Demi cuz he's FROM where Harley is from. It's supporting a local business, which I'm sure is HUGE in that area, understandably. But if you're from anywhere else, and the guys you ride with wouldn't ride with you unless you were riding a Harley, maybe you better think twice about the "friendship" you have with these guys.

Strong Bad

I'm just looking to get a bike to ride. The weather is clear and sunny and I wish I had one right now!

wodom1

HTrookie wrote:

Oh, yes, there are some people riding Harleys (note I did not say "riders") that look away when I get close to them in a stop light, like if I was from another planet. These are normally called "posers"; they don't "ride" their bikes; just use them to get to the close by bar and park them; they are also the ones with very loud pipes that feel the need to make them heard at every stop light.

My Dad's a big Harley fan and rides all over the country. I even made an 8,000 mile trip with him on the back of his '93 FLSTF Fatboy. The purpose of the trip was to go to Sturgis for the bike rally but we made a huge loop out of it. I must say that his bike was the loudest bike that I have ever heard in my life -- including all the bikes at Sturgis. He waved at every single bike that we passed on our trip. When we met up with the rest of our party in Lethbridge, Alberta there was a good mix of bikes. One guy was on a BMW, another on a Honda Valkyrrie (SP?), another on a Ducati. We were going through Glacier National Park and when we would get into a tunnel, he would drop it into 2nd gear and rev up to 7/8 K RPM's and rack his pipes. It was the loudest g*&damned thing I've ever heard and also one of the funniest. Because of my pops, I'll most likely end up getting a Harley whenever I'm ready to pick up a bike. He's since sold the Fat Boy and picked up a big cruiser.

Have fun making a decision and test-riding.

steveinaz

john d. strong wrote:

Any other bikers out there?

John

Oh yeah brother. Been riding for a long time. I'm thinking of getting a Yammie YJR-1300 next spring, or possibly a Honda VTX-1800---still on the fence about it though. I currently ride a Honda Magna 750/V4. Once you catch the motorcycle bug, you never shake it. For years I rode sportbikes exclusively, but have been switching back and forth from crusier to sportbike since. I do miss my sportbikes, the Magna is a good compromise. 80hp, good handling, lots of torque; but, as much as my new wife likes to ride, I'm gonna get something bigger, more comfortable.

The Harley thing....Harley is like Ford for me, I don't have anything against them, they've just never built anything that appealed to me. And no, I don't buy things to be "a part of something"---I believe the term for that is "poser." I ride what I like, it's my dime, my choice, just that simple. I don't give a **** how anybody feels about that.

Here's my 2002 Magna:

ND13

Road King Classic

mrbigbluelight

Suzuki.

GL650.

Shaft drive.


That's right.......I'm the meanest mother on two wheels with this 'scoot.

Keep that in mind the next time you feel the need to get ..... sassy.

Drumingman

Don't be a Bike Snob. I've had Goldwings for years and neverhad a problem with other riders from another brand. Tudes can develop and that ain't good for any riders. Look around, All rider know that it's people in cages that need a bike education as they will run over you and just say too bad. All riders should bond together as riders No Matter what they ride. Motorcycle Rider Rights are being taken away slowly from the people who choose to ride. Just look at the new housing developments that ban motorcyclists or parking garages that won't allow them either. We have to lobby congress just to keep our right to ride. You pay gasoline taxes and other taxes and people want to ban you, isn't that enough people to fight with? It shouldn't matter what you ride, It does matter That You Ride.

Keep the rubber side down

Skynut

That is true Drumingman, I try to wave and treat all bikers equal however, I do tend to socialize more with Harley riders since we have HD as a common denominator plus I do not know too many people with other brands.

I will ride with anyone on any bike as long as I feel their skills are up to par.
If someone wants to ride two abreast with me and I do not trust their skills they either get left behind or signaled to go ahead.

beardog03

I agree with skynut..
Just get into the wind...make a personal choice as funds allow...

my baby...

steveinaz

Isn't funny how "hobbyist" in general usually have alot of hobbies? My 3 money pits are audio, motorcycles, and guns---and I dump tons of money into each.

I find it funny too, that I'm as anal about my other 2 hobbies as I am with audio.

keith allen

Demiurge wrote:

Whoa!

In an event to answer all posters I will post my thoughts here....

I'm biased as all hell. I live in Milwaukee, grew up blocks from the Harley world headquarters, and like I said -- it's an instutution around here. That loud annoying sound you all hear is music in this city, and this state for that matter. Most are respectful as well, which is more than I can say for a lot of other groups, which being a Harley owner is...it's a group. That's the club mentality I was referring to.

Watching hundreds of thousands of Harleys roll through our city for the 90th, 95th, and 100th was amazing, and there were no incidents, almost unheard of for any event of that size.

It is definitely an American institution and there's a mystique about it that you don't get with the other brands because they ARE different. That doesn't make Harley better than any other bike nor does it make it worse, but you're just not getting it elsewhere.

I can't really comment what the climate is like in Balitomore, but I can't imagine that it's much different than here when you roll up to a HARLEY rally with a Suzuki. It's just different, that's all. No knock on owners of other brands. It's kind of like how Club Polk isn't a club for Klipsh owners -- same mentality there.

As far as quality, that was a bigger issue on the bikes made in the 80s, they had a huge problem with some of their bikes back then. That's definitely not the case today.

I'll close with this -- there's a reason that all these other manufacturers are trying to clone the original. They want it to look like a Harley, because they're attractive to the buyer. They're also trying to mimic the feel and sound, which no manufacturer has been able to do. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and that's what a lot of these companies are trying to do.

Love them or hate them -- they're not going away. No other company has been able to form such a following nor offer the camaraderie that comes with being a member of this group.

Does this Suzuki or Honda make things like this happen?

Well hell yea,aint ya ever heard of the Honda Hoot?Best bike week in the US of A

keith allen

Hers my favoritte bike that I own

Skynut

beardog03 wrote:

I agree with skynut..
Just get into the wind...make a personal choice as funds allow...

my baby...

We should hook up this summer and ride if you are up for it.