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RapierFugue -> RE: Loud Motorcycles (10/20/2007 4:16:15 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: LaTigresse
All of that being said............I live with one of those reformed yuppies that wanted a harley since he was a little shit. After he came back from his last tour in Iraq and retired from the military I finally got pissed and pushed him over the edge. I was sick of seeing him run to the window, gazing wistfully up at the road on those gorgeous summer days as the bikes cruised by. Sick of stopping by Metro Harley after work (we carpool) to drool over that beautiful black dyna. I put my foot down. The 4 seasons porch can wait until we are old enough to actually spend time sitting on it. "Buy the bike." "ohhhhhhh I shouldn't spend the money." Me...."Buy the bike or else!" After several months of futzing, he bought the bike.
Truth be told, he is still one of those fair weather yuppie riders. I tease him all the time about his perfect weather requirements. Also, he doesn't want to change the sound, make it louder. He likes the quieter rumble. "It still sounds like a harley" he says. So yeah, as far as the big tough biker image goes.........not a chance. But his heart is still a biker. He adores that bike, it is a dream come true for him.
Good on him, and good on you for encouraging him; there’s SO much macho bullshit talked about bikes by so-called “1%-ers”; I’ve been on bikes for almost 30 years now, starting with MX bikes at 13 and going on to road stuff thereafter, with a fair bit of track time latterly. I’ve ridden and owned god knows how many bikes. I’ve ridden in all weathers and all times, and I’ve averaged 40,000 bike miles a year at certain points in my life. These days, when it’s cold and wet, I drive a car. It’s called affluence, and commonsense.
It’s all about what the individual gets out of it. When I hear patronising talk of “yuppies” and “fair weather bikers”, I always wonder why it is that bikers, a small enough group at the best of times, must somehow seek to still sub-divide itself still further.
If you ride a bike, you’re a biker. Whether you're young and dumb, or whether you engender “respect” from older, more grizzled or just plain dumb bikers is neither here nor there, and though these days I’m closer to the latter point (old, grizzled, dumb) than I am the former, it’s of no consequence; ride a bike, be a biker.
What does interest me is that, in the US most of all, but also in the UK to a lesser extent, being a “biker” seems to put you outside certain social norms; it’s seen as being “wrong” by certain sections of the populace; in mainland Europe it’s much different; biking is seen as simply an individual way to have fun and be yourself, and a much nicer attitude flows as a result.
To any US bikers thinking of taking a break in Europe; do it. Fly in, hire something (for short term hire, the Ducati factory, among others, will willingly find you something to hire if only you’ll call them, elsewhere numerous bike tours places have adverts here and there), and go have some fun, and see how gleefully people respond to you.
I guarantee you’ll love it.
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