Posted on 06/12/2009 7:33:01 AM PDT by DFG
I’m not guessing. I’m a shaved head, long bearded, tat sporting, leather wearing, 2nd generation biker. I’ve owned and ridden Harley’s for the last 24 of my 45 years. I come in contact with bikers of every political stripe.
“Were they really worried about offending potential HD owners? “
*Most* Harley owners would’ve cheered the sign.
I stood amongst 2500 of them this past Sunday and there was a LOT of grumbling about ‘that one’.
He is not loved by bikers.
[so I guess we’ll be “on the list” soon]
Today’s Harley Davidson is *not* Willy G’s Harley Davidson.
It’s all about the money.
The individual dealers and riders, however, still have their “own minds” about things.
HD franchise ownership rules are stringent and immutable.
HD corporate even demands the right to “approve” the appearance and design of the franchise.
With the economy tanking under Zero’s rule and HD being greatly affected by it, it would not surprise me if he could “lean” on them successfully.
I think the percentage of liberal Harley owners and percentage of honest democrat politicians is about the same!
Thanks for perspective.
I know about the riders, but nothing about the Corp.
“Many Freepers would be suprised to learn that there are a lot more conservative people in New York State, especially upstate.”
You are right. I had a great friend, who has since passed away, from upstate New York. He was every bit as conservative as me and I am from Alabama.
Not initially, no.
The “outlaw” riders, in the beginning, were mostly guys on Triumphs, Indians, Nortons and BSAs with some Sportsters and old military HDs thrown in.
[watch the old 60-70s “biker exploitation” flicks]
When Harleys became more affordable, riders shifted to them for the “USA!” factor.
Harley somewhat resisted the “rebel” image and their ads reflected that with clean cut couples out for happy family Sunday jaunts.
Evel Knievel, who used a HD XR750 for his jumps [but a Triumph for his stunt work] came out against the “rebel/outlaw” image publicly, supporting the AMA’s “99% of riders are nice people” comment, thereby distancing himself from the “outlaw/rebel” faction.
[that’s how we got the 1%ers]
In a promotional switchback, however, in recent years, both HD’s advertising and bike production is flaunting the “bad” image.
Their new “dark side” bike lines were instant successes.
[Night Trains, Cross Bones, to name a few]
The infamous “Harley Skull” image and accessories are almost *always* sold out at the local dealerships.
It was always the -people- who were “about rebel/unPC/counter-culture.
In truth, *they* made Harley the “life style legend” that it is, not the other way around.
Perhaps it’s only because I’ve lived a small life in the backwoods but I’ve NEVER met a liberal Harley owner.
Probably 90% of the ones *I* know are veterans and they detest ‘that one’.
Bizarrely, for the first time in 16 years, in our annual “God Bless America” run for the local vet’s hospital, we were cheered on by a large number of people waving Confederate flags.
Usually, it’s just USA flags.
[and most of them were in Pennsylvania!]
There’s something in the air and it’s not the cloying scent of “Obama love”.
You’re welcome.
Because we are a motorcycle business, we have to know what “Corp” is doing because we have business accounts with local dealerships.
We get the “inside dirt” from them all the time.
I like the term “anti-president”... describes 0bama to a ‘T’.
Reagan was a President. 0bama is the Anti-President.
Quite right, they are as American as General Motors and Chrysler..!
Oh, wait...
LOL...I didn’t think to read it that way, but you’re absolutely right!
Thank you for the ping..
A direct quote from Willie G., “I’ll worry about other brands when people start tattooing it on their bodies”.
Likewise, GM and Chrysler have never been the institutions that Harley has been.
Harley riders used to be 100% conservative until Harley Davidson corporation decided to go after the over 100K a year crowd and they became the thing to own in the late 90’s. Now there is a lot of upper crust whites who have no buisness on a Harley out there.
My opinion of Harley Davidson just tanked screw them.
Agreed, and it’s more than that. At least a third of the bikers I know are completely turned off by the social conservative part of the conservative message.
Hit send before I finished my thoughts. I don’t think that at any time in my life I would have said bikers were even close to 100% conservative. Even in the 70’s, my dad’s friends that rode together were every bit the FTM types and they were uniformly born in the 1920’s. You could sum the lot of them by saying that they never met a rule that they didn’t want to break. My brother, 18 years my senior rode with walking stereotypes of 1960’s bikers, and they were far from conservative as well. I’m the only apple that fell far from the tree.
I haven’t noticed that. Most of the bikers I know are probably the most conservative people I’ve ever met with a liberatarian streak mostly about how the governemnet should stay the H*ll out of their buisness.
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