Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins
Yeah, I tell you, the modern Harley rider and the "culture" they have built for themselves is an embarrassment. And the fact that H-D's marketing machine has fully exploited it just doesn't sit all that well with me. It's like these folks are trying to simply buy their way into something they have neither earned nor fully understand. Their "lifestyle" is a hollow caricature of the way in which we have honestly gone about it for my entire lifetime, and for a good deal before that.
These people do make for an easy target, I'll give them that. It is pretty easy to poke fun at them. Just look at how often it comes up here - pretty low hanging fruit for the low self esteem crowd looking for a boost.
In the end, though, these weekend warriors are simply unwinding and enjoying themselves. Pretty harmless fun. While I may not want anything to do with them, I will never begrudge them their right to enjoy themselves. Yes, some of their bikes are annoyingly loud, yes some of them dress funny, but what the hell - live and let live. Life's too short to waddle around with one's panties constantly in a twist over the latest thing or someone that annoyed you.
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Nothing unique to HD in this Jeff. As I recall they nearly went broke in the 80s (so did Porsche in the early 90s) and they managed to reinvent themselves as marketers, and sell what they had. Old technology, nostalgia, bad boy, Americana draped in Stars and Stripes bandanas.
Gibson and Fender, occupying a similar position in the popular pysche sell guitars that haven't changed since 1958 and cost 20k to people who put them in loungerooms or glass cabinets. Conversely, most new Porsche owners have zero interest in the old cars and aspire to a prestige marque.
Its a consumer world, you can buy anything and they've as much right to it as you have. There might even be a web board somewhere bemoaning the tossers that carry 1911s and don't understand their history.
Gosh, Vin, nasty.