Follow the crowd, buy a Harley

**KX500** · 27th May 2009, 10:31

A Vespa - last time I rode a Vespa I pulled a wheelie and watched it exit out of my hands - run 10 meters on the back wheel and funnily enough it meet the ground the side the motor was on - uncle did not seem to bothered.
Vespa 150 special - special bike alright

Only dickheads associate their identity with a material item.

"What the undeveloped man seeks is outside, what the advanced man seeks is within himself."

Confucius

**gunrunner** · 14th June 2009, 10:41

Be in front of the crowd , buy the Vmax .

**peasea** · 14th June 2009, 18:53

Originally Posted by gunrunner

Be in front of the crowd , buy the Vmax .

Get along to a barbeque, and watch the HD crowd burn a V-max.

**NOWOOL** · 26th June 2009, 13:07

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Hmmm, far from rebelling to buy a Harley it seems you are simply following the crowd. Taken from www.mcnews.com, if you take out the 100's of Honda postie bikes bought by Aussie Post then Harley were the top selling road bike manufacturer in Oz for the first half of 2008.

"-- Harley going from strength to strength

Harley-Davidson sales figures in recent years have been almost beyond belief.

Try this on for size. Harley sold 3983 road bikes in the first six months of 2008. Yamaha sold just 2650 in the same period. If it were not for Australia Post buying hundreds of Honda CT110 machines Harley would have knocked Honda off the top of the road bike charts.

The Fat Boy continues to be the biggest seller for Harley ahead of the Softail, XL1200 and 883 Sportsters, Super Glide and Softail Custom. Those models give Harley clear domination of the cruiser category.

Another category in which Harley is perhaps seen as the quiet achiever is the touring segment of the market. The top three touring motorcycles in the country all wear the Harley-Davidson badge. The Heritage Softail Classic leads the segment ahead of the Road King Classic and Ultra Classic Electra Glide. All three models individually sold better than Yamaha’s FJR1300, Kawasaki’s GTR1400, Honda’s ST1300, BMW’s R1200RT and more than doubled the numbers achieved by the Gold Wing or Triumph Rocket Tourer."

New Harleys' aren't 'rebel' bikes. The biker gangs (clubs) in the states look down at the new and unmodified Harleys. They prefer the older models.
If you want to be a 'rebel' then buy a sportbike, live at home and sponge off your parents. That's the modern class of 'rebel bikers'. They go fast, don't pay their fines and nature picks them off when they push boundaries.

I can't speak for all Harley owners, but I bought mine because I wanted a traditional looking motorcycle that will still look classic in 20 years and looks the same as it did 40 years ago. Its also reliable and extremely comfortable to ride. I've had other cruisers in the past that looked like Harleys but they were copies of classic bikes. The Harley is a classic bike.

**AD345** · 26th June 2009, 16:50

Originally Posted by NOWOOL

New Harleys' aren't 'rebel' bikes. The biker gangs (clubs) in the states look down at the new and unmodified Harleys. They prefer the older models.
If you want to be a 'rebel' then buy a sportbike, live at home and sponge off your parents. That's the modern class of 'rebel bikers'. They go fast, don't pay their fines and nature picks them off when they push boundaries.

I can't speak for all Harley owners, but I bought mine because I wanted a traditional looking motorcycle that will still look classic in 20 years and looks the same as it did 40 years ago. Its also reliable and extremely comfortable to ride. I've had other cruisers in the past that looked like Harleys but they were copies of classic bikes. The Harley is a classic bike.

Must've been a bit more that that cos otherwise you'd have a Triumph based on that criteria

**Molly** · 26th June 2009, 18:21

Originally Posted by NOWOOL

I can't speak for all Harley owners, but I bought mine because I wanted a traditional looking motorcycle that will still look classic in 20 years and looks the same as it did 40 years ago. Its also reliable and extremely comfortable to ride. I've had other cruisers in the past that looked like Harleys but they were copies of classic bikes. The Harley is a classic bike.

Couldn't agree more.

**Paul in NZ** · 26th June 2009, 18:49

At least it's a lot easier to follow the crowd if they are on harleys... Even if you loose sight of them cos say your shoe lace snapped you will still know where they are if you follow your ears and the smell of new leather..

**Molly** · 26th June 2009, 19:13

Originally Posted by Paul in NZ

At least it's a lot easier to follow the crowd if they are on harleys... Even if you loose sight of them cos say your shoe lace snapped you will still know where they are if you follow your ears and the smell of new leather..

C'mon Paul. You can do better than that. You missed out the mullets, the bling, the unreliability etc. etc. etc. Maybe you could've said you might follow the crowd by following the trail of oil or parts that've fallen off? There's a whole bin of tired cliches you could've rolled out and maybe even some scope for original thought!

What do you ride by the way?

**Paul in NZ** · 26th June 2009, 19:50

Hey - honestly I LIKE HD's.... (well some of em)

I really like the way the company sticks to it's knitting and as for the marketing, well, ya just got to admire a great idea... Call it professional envy.

As for the bikes - I reckon the new screaming eagle bare metal type paint job to be about the cleverist thing I've seen for a while - very rare I just sit (well stand actually, WMC don't seem to provide chairs) and stare at a bike... I was litterally blown away by it.... Spent 30 mins figuring out if I could replicate it and then just gave up - IMPRESSIVE!

If I had the loot, one of the new hot sporty bobber thingies with trick everything would grace my shed...

BEST thing about HD's is the HOG club and the nice folks who can enjoy a good laugh about it all... Christ you never met such a well organised, welcoming bunch... Guess what, fuck all people get hurt on their rides...

oh - but to answer your question, I ride a crappy old Triumph which is 1000 times cooler than any HD even made but thats just me looking through my own lens on life, and the Guzzi of course which is pure theatre of the soul, and then theres the fierce A50 Maverick but trust me, ya don't wanna mess with that.... Needs to know basis ONLY