Originally Posted by sfcmo357

Hey fellas....I'm a black man who is currently serving in Iraq and I will take delivery of my first Harley in January. I think that this is a good conversation and a lot of good points have been made. So I decided to share with everyone what I've seen. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone nor am I really saying what I believe or not. But I will share what I've seen as a rider of crotch rockets.

In most military cities I've been in; there is not a lot of segregation going on within the motorcycle communities. I have noticed that crotch rocket riders could care less what color you are and they (we) just enjoy getting together and riding in a crazy manner most of the time. This is one of the reasons why I stopped riding crotch rockets. Regardless of the lack of good decision making I saw as a crotch rocket rider---I enjoyed every moment of each gathering and ride. But most of us were military and I'm not saying that racism doesn't exist in the military but it seems to me that the bond we share during the day extends to our love for riding.

Most times when I see a balanced or diversified group of Harley riders; they are also military. Most of the military Harley guys don't visit the local pubs or bars. Many of my friends who ride Harleys (mostly caucasion) say that there are too many red necks there, too much drinking, and acting crazy and some say that they can't take their black buddies with them.

I also notice that in some cities; the only people who will return a friendly left hand to you are people who are riding the same kind of bike or people of the same color. I do notice a difference when I go from Fayetteville N.C. to (say) Raleigh, Durham and I noticed a difference between cities in Georgia.

Someone said that people naturally gravitate towards people they have things in common with. I totally agree in most cases. A group of white guys or a group of black guys shouldn't be considered racist because they have no diversity. If one would look deeper; maybe they will find that they are all firefighters, work at the same company, etc. But fellows--I am a 34 year old man and I know that there are some guys here who are older than me. I have to say that I haven't noticed a big problem with my generation. My wife; who is 40 says that she even notices a difference in generations. Again; maybe it's because I'm in the military. I use to work for guys who were totally racist. Most of those guys have retired now and it seems that the people I am surrounded by have grown up in environments where they are not shocked by seeing a black guy or white guy. There are probaly some guys from the military who are reading this now and know what I'm talking about. I; for one could care less what color someone is. I wasn't raised that way by my parents and I refuse to raise my daughter that way.

I don't know if I will ever go to Harley Week in Myrtle Beach because I know that there are some people who still hold on to the views of their parents, grand, and great-grands. I will continue to go to the one for crotch rockets. I've been to about 10 of them and I like the diversity. They only call it Black Bike Week because that's what most Black guys ride--but in fact; it should be called Crotch rocket or race bike week.....because the white guys who ride them are in full force there year after year. I like the fact that many of us (whites&blacks) meet up and eat breakfast and then ride down together. We share a room and ride like crazy for 4 days. The only difference will be...I will ride with my buddies who own Harleys and Gold Wings. I tend to like the maturity level better. I would only go to Harley week if we had a diversified group going down together which wouldn't be too hard to do.

Finally--when I was in Columbus, Ga (Ft. Benning as a Drill Sgt)--my buddy and I showed up for a Poker Run. The flyers didn't say "Harleys" We just knew that we could get some riding in and

Originally Posted by lil_gmac2

Well guys I'm a black man that was exposed to harley's by black bikers. I live in the bay area and the Wreck N Crew Club has all types of nationality in their club. So far every event I have been to their where mostly white bikers, but they treated me like anyone else. I noticed that if you own a harley then a true bike will welcome you with open arms. I see everybody as people nothing else.

Originally Posted by gant

the harley davidson website is celebrating african american riders ,i seen most of these videos months ago on there youtube channel but they have it on there website now

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US...on-elite.html#

Originally Posted by gant

the harley davidson website is celebrating african american riders ,i seen most of these videos months ago on there youtube channel but they have it on there website now

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US...on-elite.html#