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.
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.
:)
I love riding them and being a bike rider has made me a safer driver period, because you learn to watch everything and anticipate others moves. A lot(maybe most)of the accidents with bikes are caused by car drivers not paying attention to their surroundings and not seeing the motorcycle rider.