You do YOUR thing dood, and damn the rest; let them have their fantasies and move on.
I think I was happiest back when I had half of a cheap duplex rental, one room full of tools and parts, my bike parked at the foot of the bed, a job driving truck for John Deere, and 2 girlfriends.
WHATTHAHECK makes us foul up a great thing???
Oh yeah...the "hot" one comes along...

 

Ive never felt like I was forced to do anything. Do what you want and tell the dealer to suck *****.

 

Please do not make fun of the flip flop guy or the two posers at work. Buy Harley stock like I did and profit from these people From $10 a few years ago to $65 today! My prediction four months from now $75 because their new air and liquid cooled bikes are selling like crazy.

 

I read the first 10 or so pages, and the last 10 or so pages. This thread delivers.

So, can you guys classify me too, please? I mean, you've never met me in person just like you've never actually met a lot of the people you claim are posers, so I don't think that should matter. Anyway, here's my pertinent info...

I work in an office and make good money doing computer ****, however I was a mechanic for years until my first kid was born and decided I could give him a better life by working with my brain. I still work on my own ****, and while I don't have a garage, I do have a tool supply that has yet to let me down. Hell, I put the 3" lift on my last Jeep in the unpaved driveway, alone, in the rain, at night, with nothing but hand tools and a flashlight(this was after I became a cubicle monkey, as some of you call it).

I don't wear any Harley "gear" and don't ever plan on it. I may see a tshirt or some **** eventually and pick it up, but I certainly never step foot in the dealer with the intention of buying one.

I wear jeans and boots, and I have a chain on my wallet because I've lost wallets in the past (2, to be exact) and don't want to lose another. I wear a black leather vest ~50% of the time I ride since I farking hate "tshirt nipples", hate saddlebags, and hate carrying a backpack so they vest prevents tshirt nipples and gives me pockets. I used to wear a 3/4 helmet, but I had a nasty get-off ~12 years ago where I face planted and my full face helmet is why I still have a face at all so I was never really comfortable in that 3/4 helmet and have since gone back to a full face.

I have been riding on motorized 2 wheels since I was around 5 (mini bikes, mopeds, dirt bikes, etc) and got my first street bike as soon as I was legal and had the money. It was a 1990 Honda VTR 250 that I picked up for $1500. Every single penny I had. I didn't even have enough money to put gas in it for like 3 weeks after getting it. This around 2000, btw, when I was 18 years old. The bike was beat to **** and ran like crap, but I got it in working order and put 25,000 miles on it over the course of 8 months because it was my primary transportation, plus I loved riding so I still did pleasure riding all the time. I was into the "sport bike thing" back then so the crews I ran with were all on sport bikes... I couldn't keep up in the straights, but I learned to ride that slow piece of **** so well I was stuffing 600s and 750s in the corners on the daily.

During my first 2 years of riding I had 2 major accidents, and 2 minor. The 2 minor were lowsides due to my stupidity; the 2 major were because of ******** in cars. The first was a cut-off that highsided me at ~45mph (the face plant I mentioned above). The second was a car that decided to come to a complete stop in the left lane of a 50mph road for no reason, directly in front of me. I tried to swerve/stop around them but snagged my bar on their right rear which caused the bike to stop while I kept going... I landed head first on the white Ford Explorer's hood next to me and then rolled off onto the ground, almost getting run over in the process. I loved riding so much that I didn't let these incidents sway me and I kept on riding. These incidents are also why I wear a helmet, despite living in a no-helmet state, so if wearing a helmet makes me less of a "biker" in your eyes, go f*ck yourself. Anyway, I have scars all over my body from riding, and yet I still ride and plan to until a day comes when I physically can't do it anymore.

I started with sports bikes, like I said, but my inability to NOT treat real world roads like they are the track, and having two kids, lead me to give them up. I tried doing a super moto for awhile since I figured it was slow enough to be safe, but I was still dragging pegs at 60-70mph on city streets so I gave that up too and officially moved onto "cruiser" style bikes. My 2013 FXDB is my second Harley, my first was an 883 Sportster that I, here it comes, "bobbed" the **** out of. Stuts, no fender up front, chopped fender in the back, spring seat that felt like wood, no creature comforts at all, and I used to ride it 2-300 miles on many a day. With the FXDB I am going "west coast style" since I fell in love with the look sometime back in 2002-2003 or so when I ran into a club member riding one. Tell me I am trying to copy the look from that one TV show and I have no problem taking you to school on the history of it, and they whys of it.

Anyway, when I bought my 2013 FXDB a few weeks ago I was wearing normal cut jeans, a plain tshirt, and sneakers, as well as a backwards fitted hat. I am mostly clean cut, I weigh what I should for my height, and I am not all big, nor am I "skinny". I can speak properly, I don't smell, I have good credit, and enough money at this stage in my life that I was able to put a good chunk down on the bike when I bought it. I won $500 in the dealership "poker run" while waiting on the finance guy so I immediately went to parts and ordered some **** for the bike, which I put on myself. I didn't finance any parts into it, I didn't buy boots, a shirt, or a jacket despite them trying to sell me this **** for 2 hours while I was waiting on finance. I took the parts catalog since they looked sad when I said I didn't want it, but I haven't opened it once.

The point is, I don't own a car, I ride daily out of necessity and pleasure, and I love riding more than anything else, save my family. Most of you dickwads would have seen me in that dealer, the way I was dressed, the fact that I was buying a new bike with a smile on my face, etc, and you would have made yet another snap judgement about who I am and what I am without knowing a God damned thing about me.

I don't belong to a club, I don't think I'm a badass, and I dress the way I do because that is how I like to dress. If you don't think I'm a "biker", or whatever else, and you snap judge me based on my appearance, the fact that I ride a new bike, I have an actual job and make actual money, etc, that's on you and you're the one with the problem, not me.

BTW, how the f*ck can any of you judge people negatively because you were riding and wrenching on bikes in the 60s and **** when some of us weren't even alive back then? We didn't all grow up in "biker" families, but that doesn't give us any less reason to ride than it does the people that did. Everyone had to start somewhere when it comes to riding and if that was 2 weeks ago, or 50 years ago, good on the person for doing it.

Finally, not everyone has mechanical ability and looking down on someone because they buy new bikes, or use dealerships for mechanical work, is such bullshit. Not having a barely running bike that you wrench on 5 days a week to keep alive doesn't make you less of a rider, or "biker". I personally work on all my own **** with the exception of internal motor work since I don't trust myself enough for something so important, but I still haven't built a bike from the frame up, nor do I look down on people that don't have the abilities I do and need to rely on professional mechanics.

TLDR; get to know people before you judge them.

EDIT: One other thing that pisses me off to no end with these threads. All of you self proclaimed "bikers" from back in the day judging others is the biggest display of hypocrisy I have ever seen. I may have not grown up in it, but I know enough about the "biker" lifestyle from that day and age to know it was all about breaking from the confines of society and being "free". Clubs were formed so people of like mind could live their lives around those they were comfortable with while escaping judgement of normal society. What are you doing now? You are judging people just like you were judged back then. Back in the day you wanted your own freedom and now you make fun of people for seeking the same because of the clothes they wear or the job they have when you don't actually know that person from Adam. If being a "biker" means being a judgmental, self absorbed, self righteous *****, well, I guess I would be happier not being called one.

 

Think chill pill son , those of us with the long time been there done that experience are not busting ***** on the younger crew coming up into this on the contrary you'll find we like you guys does us good to see theres still some heart out there instead of the walking jokes that flood the streets & events anymore . What tilts most of us is the monied middle aged crazy types who seem bound and determined to live out their secret badboy fantasies by epitomizing every bad stereotype they have ever seen . I mean come don't you wanna bust on them a bit too ? seriously .................................

 

See, this I can get behind. I dunno man, I admit that my post was a bit on the serious side and just a 'little' long winded, but I hate extreme judgments, especially when it comes from a segment that became who they are in defiance of judgement.

If someone looks like a RUB, they may very well be, but I like to at least give them the benefit of the doubt first. I wait to hear them speak, watch them ride, etc, before judging. Even then I try to be helpful, especially when it comes to riding ability.

On the flip side, if that same dude wobbles his way to a gathering of people with years of experience and stories and tries to front as a bad ***, or not give respect where it is due, well... I'll be the first in line to tell them to **** off. I just like to let them earn my hatred before automatically giving it.

 

Buy a bike that's out of warranty to begin with and that fear vanishes instantly. I always know who'll be working on my scoot...me. I always know I won't break down somewhere miles and miles from my mechanic.

He may not be a great one, but he works damn cheap for me.

 

I think you're a dumb *** who takes himself way to seriously annd has way too much time on his hands to type all this **** up ...

 

did he even say anything worth reading? he lost me in 2nd paragraph .... ok, maybe 3rd ...

 

On my flip side, I'll be lounging in the corner with a beer and a joint or a glass of good Irish Whiskey, ready to move outta the damn way or lay a bet...whichever feels righter.