And that's all that needs to be said in a nutshell , but tell you now your gonna **** off the masses in here . Welcome to the club

 

Talk about ruffled feathers. Try to tell someone that took out a loan with no down that they are merely renting that bike and they get all pissy.

 

I was hard on ya before, but dangit, I'm actually beginning to like you.
Step aside of the rant and you often have us ol' duffers (some of us still ripping and shredding), looking at the crowd on the Dragon or the gas station, and wondering just exactly what happened or just exactly where ARE the REST of us?
Don't get me wrong completely though; I have YUGE respect for the crotch rocket crowd, or at least the contingent me and my crew can't pass. The HOG's? They're always just in the freakin' way.
Rock On, Garth!

 

Thank you. I'll take a bow ... exit ... and immediately embarrassing myself by stalling my bike or trying to ride off forgetting that I've left the steering lock on.

BTDN.

You know, in truth, I find the vast majority of biker literature huge disappointing and that includes Barger's, partly because he does not go far enough into many of the controversies and probably because his ghost writers aren't bikers either or are pandering to the market. It's loses something in the translation.

No one has written the 'The Five Rings of motorcycling' yet and perhaps we should be grateful for that. Pirsig, who is still alive BTW, did not quite get it, despite all the fuss about his book. "Close, but no cigar" ... the guy rode a 305 cc 1964 Honda SuperHawk. Or perhaps he just wasn't writing about it? As he said, "It's not very factual on motorcycles, either".

In my day, at the most elementary level, there was a difference between a biker and a motorcyclist, or a motorcycle enthusiast, and the relationship between the two wasn't without some mutual respect. I have a lot of respect for many motorcycle enthusiasts. They often put in many more miles than bikers, had excellent mechanical skills and were equally committed to their own lifestyle or tribe, but they still weren't bikers.

But where have we got to now ... hasn't it gone from enthusiasm to conspicuous consumerism?

Gypsylady has one of the other essences about it, it's something about need rather than want ... and then following that through to commitment.

I'm not a martial artist but I am sure the senseis see the same things when a new student walks through the door.

Miyamoto Musashi, who wrote the Book of 5 Rings, was a cool guy. Legend says he became the best swordsman in Japan and then gave it up and spent his last years just wandering around with a wood sword, still defeating wouldbes and wannabes just wanting to be left alone to contemplate and appreciate life.

I'm sure he would have ridden a Shovelhead in flip flops too.

 

Those of us who survived have blended into the background and do our own things with a few select friends if that , too damn many peacocks out there anymore . Used to mean something ,now it's all been drowned with mediocrity .

 

pretty sure I'm the only one at the marina with shovelhead wiring diagram tattooed on my leg, but trying to blend in ...

 

I thought about getting a twin cam wiring diagram but ran out of flesh. Prolly would get me some street cred at the next HOG chapter meeting with something like that....

 

works for boats too, less youse got a diesel

 

I have a sneaky suspicion if some of the old scooter trash in this forum got together for a beer it would turn out to be a night to remember.

OS

 

Ya, but it would pale next to the nights of,say, the 70's - age, wisdom and mellow have changed some of our paces. Oddly though, at 60, I'm riding faster and harder than ever before - probably because we practice it so much, plus do cone work for slow handling. I got nothing left to prove, ever.
I like speed.
With OldSchool and Homeward in here now, it's given lease on some fresh perspective. Had me thinking about the 5 rings and the MC heirarchy, from wannabee to hangaround to friend to prospect to patch to...I recall seeing many quit, move to the mountains and isolate; Harleys parked on the porch next to the jug of shine.
They had nothing left to prove, no one they needed to impress.
I think most these guys at the hangouts aren't even aware of any of it; just the point of this thread.