Posted on 06/09/2013 9:22:54 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
I want your opinion.
I heard another ER worker speaking on air years back.
He said there were 2 types of motorcycle riders he saw, those who didn’t wear helmets, who are called organ donors, and those who do wear helmets.
He said those riders were called quadriplegics.
As a former rider who choose to ride most of the time as a donor, especially after hearing that opinion given, I’d like to hear what your observations are.
By the way, I’d still be riding, as a donor, if I could; Obamanomics put an end to having any choice about owning a bike.
Victory and Indian, as in Polaris, the Canadian snowmobile manufacturer?
“Harleys are the reason bikers are so mean”
They turn all the out of shape cubicle workers into bad*** weekend one-percenters (wanna be). ;-)
Yes. Victory is an excellent motorcycle if you like cruisers. I went through a phase - had a few Harley's - went back to German and Italian rides. Hogs are fun for a summer or so, but you get tired of going slow and scrapping bits off the bottom in corners even if you're going slow. Doing the pack ride from bar to bar is entertaining exactly once and then it's old. Fast sweepers all day in the back country is the way to go.
Exactly right. Go to any motorcycle museum and you'll find oil collection pans placed under the Harleys and Triumphs.
If you want an Indian, visit Kiwi Indian.(dot com)
Yes, motorcycles are dangerous. So what? They are also a ton of fun. People are still allowed to do things that are dangerous but fun. Big wave surfing, hang gliding, car racing, mountain climbing.
Harley-Davidson's these days are really nice bikes. I've ridden and owned about 30 motorcycles of all different makes over the years, starting with a Honda Mini-Trail 50 my brother had when I was about 13.
I currently own 4, one of which is a Harley. It's the best running of the four, due in large part to the fantastic fuel injection on the new motors. Being 103" doesn't hurt either. It's not a sport bike, but it handles great and is comfortable and it has that look that people love that is part of the Harley mystique. It's simply not true that Harley's suck or are in some fundamental way less-good than Hondas or Kawasakis or BMWs.
I don't know about Harley falsifying their financials, I do know that they got TARP money. But of course the entire Harley business runs on loans: dealers get loans to buy inventory and customers get loans to buy bikes. When the entire short-term paper market locked up their entire eco-system was broken. This is the same reason that Ford almost croaked in the financial panic of 2008. Essentially the Fed stepped in to make loans where the banks no longer would, due to the collapse of confidence following Lehman's bankruptcy.
The fact that Harley got money was reported in the press at the time, it wasn't a secret. As were the financial problems they were having. Like Ford they sold off some brands and shut down others. MV Augusta was sold. Buell, the in-house sport-bike subsidiary was shut down.
I'm happy that Harley survived. I'm happy that I can enjoy motorcycling, and I'm happy to be alive. If by some misfortune I die as a result of a motorcycling mishap then that's the breaks. I can't really imagine what my life would have been like without all the years, miles, vistas, experiences and friends that motorcycling has brought into my life (and even a job for a few years).
Some of you people are real kill joys. Lighten up! Smell the roses, life is short and meant to be lived, not survived by virtue of avoiding all risks.
That’s a beauty! Considered buying one. Sad that they have dropped that model (at least in the USA)
2012 was the last year for the XR1200X. You may still be able to find some new ones as they did not sell very well, thus the reason they were discontinued.
It was no better than any other H-D bike. Just a different style.
Have you looked at the H-D V-Rod?
I’ve talked to many people that have taken one for a ride and all were very impressed. You should check them out.
BTW, got a link for the Bernanke cash story?
I’m sorry....I know there are terrific people who ride Harleys and I’m not wanting to paint anyone with a bad brush but, there are a lot of Harley owners tooling around with engines operating at painful levels, thinking their all cool. Here’s the break-down: about 1 out of 200 people thinks you’re cool.....the other 199 think you’re a fing jerk.
There are many Baby Boomers names on the Wall, including many of my brother Marines. We don’t need a motorcycle or your “approval” to have a meaningful life. We paid our dues.
How about you comply with noise nuisance laws?
Sorry , put that all behind me ,, cost me a small fortune as I had puts on them... The government gave HD and a few hundred other companies unlimited 0% funds through their lending facilities... turned their credit operations into a 100% cash machine. It’s out there ,, start looking for “assistance” programs or some other such euphamism ... Insiders and hedge fundies knew about it but the public wasn’t told for a few years.
My observation has been that Harley riders (and those who ride those big Honda Gold Wings and Indians) are for the most part courteous and responsible, obeying the rules of the road and are usually older. The ones I see riding the so called crotch rockets, usually Kawasaki’s, are young and drive like they have a death wish. I’ve been passed on the shoulder, tailgated and cut off, seen them dart between cars between lanes, speed excessively, I even saw a big group of them speeding off the Baltimore Beltway onto I-95 and popping wheelies in the fast lane. I’ve rarely seen any Harley riders behaving this way.
I for one have no interest in getting on a motorcycle but I’ve had some friend who rode and they were responsible folks, one was a civil engineer and one was the owner of a successful construction company, both had families but both enjoyed getting together with similar folks and riding together on nice days.
True story – one day I was sitting outside of a Starbucks at one of those outdoor shopping malls. A big Harley rolled up and parked in front of where I was sitting. The person got off the bike, took off the helmet and leather jacket to reveal herself to be a very pretty and quite feminine woman probably in her early to mid-thirties and wearing a crisp white blouse. She stowed the jacket in the saddle bag and out of the other took out a small designer purse, she shook her head a few times and ran a brush trough it, looking like she had just left the salon, then she walked across to the Yankee Candle. About 15 minutes later, she came back out, put her purchase and her purse into the saddle back, put her helmet and jacket back on, climbed back on the bike, started and revved it a few times and drove away.
BTW – I did know a guy who was killed while riding his motorcycle, was friends with his wife. He went riding in the country early one Sunday morning and some idiot blew through a stop sign, hitting him square on and killing him instantly and then drove off, I don’t think they ever did find the driver of the car.
No matter where you go, somebody, somewhere is mortified that somebody else ~might~ be actually living life.
[aka...Welcome to an average FR motorcycle thread]
A person could do everything on earth to make sure they’re totally safe, ensconced in steel, strapped in and air-bagged to sweet serenity...and then a semi hits them.
One of the craziest driving bikers I ever knew, while engaging in the rare act of driving his big safe car, was ‘exploded’ by an old man crossing the interstate median in a van.
Closed casket.
“Some of you people are real kill joys. Lighten up! Smell the roses, life is short and meant to be lived, not survived by virtue of avoiding all risks.”
A ship in a harbor is safe...but that’s not what ships were made for.
Thank God Columbus, Lewis & Clark, etc weren’t scared of the dark.
:)
Yeah, really.
In fact, they detest us so much that when we have “bike nights” in the local towns, the walk-in gawkers outnumber the bikers 10 to 1.
They freaking despise us.
Very weak response on your part. I do not now or ever have owned a donorcycle. My Shelby GT500 does not violate noise nuisance laws, but it is loud enough to warn Prius’s to get out of the way.
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