[phoenix9]

Honestly, I would be willing to bet that 90% of riders don't know what it is you are riding.....they may think it is one of the metric "big 4" Japanese bikes.

My old boss is a hard-core "Harley only" guy and rips anything that isn't an H-D. Other than him, I personally have not had any issues with Harley riders. I have quite a few friends that ride Harleys. I'm sure there are guys out there that hate my bike, but...........oh well.

 

[Keith Grey]

75% of the reaction has been curiosity or guys startled at the engineering vs $

A few of the bad attitude 25%:

I guess I'm just too old school -( from a guy who's only HD was an Evo
snortster!!!)
It's about our heritage brother! - (from a 54yo who did not know that AMF was directed
bythe Japanese while they owned HD)

If you consider the source, generally you'll find that even among those that do not know it's an american V-Twin, only the shallow end of the gene pool have a negative response without investigation.

Closed mind = Small Mind, every time.

 

[Sutherland]

Too much knowledge can be a bad thing, too little can be worst
Regards

 

[Jackpot52]

Myself and 2 others ride VIC's, other than that the group of 8 or 10 we usually ride with, ride HD. They never really have a bad attitude or a chip. I always give them the usual harley jokes: Is your bike leaking oil or crying cuz it's not a Victory, or: You know 90% of all harley's are still on the road, the other 10% made it home. But for the most part they a pretty cool. Also on taco Thursday night when the parking lot is a sea of cookie cutter harley's, the VIC is the one getting attention.

 

[ks_greg]

I just traded a Harley Road King for my Kingpin. My experience with the owners covers both ends of the spectrum. There are those who are cool with anyone, regardless of what they ride, and there are those who look down and talk smack at non HD riders.
I personally, could care less what anyone rides. Custom bikes, Metrics, Sport Bikes, British or American. Each group has it's clowns.

What I always found comical, was that the hardcore HD folks were always spouting off about keeping it "American". Apparently these patriots never read the fine print on the boxes of overpriced chrome accessories they were buying to "bling" up their rides, as most all of it has "Made in Taiwan" stamped on the package.

Scooter riders throwing the "wave" still gets me though for some reason. Shouldn't they keep both hands on that thing?

 

[PrometheusVII]

I have been accused of having that "Bad Ass" look on my face as I ride. I am very easy going and love to laugh. I am sure in my case it's just that I'm concentrating on not getting killed by some dumb-arse cager, or negotating a turn, or looking for an escape route in case the driver who has already looked right twice but has no turn signal on decides to slide over (brother has to stay sharp out there).
My point is, it may be less "hey I'm a Bada$$" and more "What's that guy who's not looking at traffic around him going to do, and how do I stay Alive?".

 

[jackal8392]

I just traded a Harley Road King for my Kingpin. My experience with the owners covers both ends of the spectrum. There are those who are cool with anyone, regardless of what they ride, and there are those who look down and talk smack at non HD riders.
I personally, could care less what anyone rides. Custom bikes, Metrics, Sport Bikes, British or American. Each group has it's clowns.

What I always found comical, was that the hardcore HD folks were always spouting off about keeping it "American". Apparently these patriots never read the fine print on the boxes of overpriced chrome accessories they were buying to "bling" up their rides, as most all of it has "Made in Taiwan" stamped on the package.

Scooter riders throwing the "wave" still gets me though for some reason. Shouldn't they keep both hands on that thing?

The scary thing is is that the scooter can pass the rolling road block (harley) !

 

[elooker]

Around here, some hate anything that's not a Harley and others are just happy you are on bike no matter what it is. I think the Harley only crowd is mostly made up of people who think they are 1 percenters. Some of them are, but most just act like they are part of that group.

I rode my Hammer into a Harley dealer's parking lot yesterday just for fun. I got a lot of bad ass stares, but other people were just fine with it.

 

[CVI-Cowboy]

Most of my brothers ride Harleys. I love the look on their face when I start going through the list of cool and innovative features on my new Vision. Then I tell them how much less I spent You can see them get a little green around the edges.

 

[Keith Grey]

Most of my brothers ride Harleys. I love the look on their face when I start going through the list of cool and innovative features on my new Vision. Then I tell them how much less I spent You can see them get a little green around the edges.

That has been happening more and more with me. It's possible I was a little defensive at first. Heck I rode nothing but HD for quite some time. As I become less aggressive about my choices, the easier going riders ask more questions.
Just to be fair, there have always been a few folks interested inmy Vision, no matter where I park it.

 

[dsjr70]

Hey there are guys that ride HD's that think everything else is crap and there are guys that ride Victory's that think everything else is crap. Same goes for every manufacturer out there.
The HD guys stand out just because there are so many of them. Me, I prefer whatever bike is the best for me at the time.
Like Andy said above....
"It doesn't matter what you ride, as long as you make friends along the way"

 

[Jagular]

Hey there are guys that ride HD's that think everything else is crap and there are guys that ride Victory's that think everything else is crap. Same goes for every manufacturer out there.
The HD guys stand out just because there are so many of them. Me, I prefer whatever bike is the best for me at the time.
Like Andy said above....
"It doesn't matter what you ride, as long as you make friends along the way"

You should've seen some of nastiness I experienced when I told the VTX board I belong to that I was moving to Victory. I belonged to the board for four years, purchased plenty of product from the site sponsors, contributed when I could, donated money to other members who were in trouble.Half of the responses were generally positive, but there were a lot of members who vilified me, Victory and/or the bike.

It's not just HD.

 

[mjw930]

I haven't experienced any of that with the local H-D riders but then I don't really pay attention to what anyone says or does unless they actually come up to me and start a conversation so "dirty looks" aren't noticed.

About the only negative remarks I've gotten so far are from my Mother-in-law..... Seems my Father-in-law can't stop talking about how great the XC is compared to his Ultra Classic and she blames me for "ruining" him since they can't afford a new bike right now and even if they could, have so many friends that ride H-D's and are active in H.O.G. which would stop if they sold the H-D

 

[midian]

Anyone that would take the time to "trash talk" someone else's bike is not comfortable with their own bike and are only doing that to make themselves feel better about their decisions and purchases. Think about it, you have a Harley rider that spent probably $5,000 more than you did on an inferior bike... he's not going to admit to himself, or to anyone else for that matter, that he overpaid for a lesser product. I have seen this more with the weekend warrior, let's wear anything with fringe hanging off it, doctor and accountant crowd of harley riders. The chopper guys and rat bike guys are usually really cool about people just getting out and riding.

So, the typical human response is to trash and bash something we can't have, or could have had if we had made the better choice. There's a word for that among Harley riders... oh what is it... oh that's right, it's regret.

 

[dsjr70]

Anyone that would take the time to "trash talk" someone else's bike is not comfortable with their own bike and are only doing that to make themselves feel better about their decisions and purchases.

+1 on that part...

 

[SofaKingBlue]

Why should I even care what Harley riders think, or what Harley does? I boughtVic's because it was the best bike for me.
I must admit I do like the stop-light to stop-light acceleration validations.

 

[PrometheusVII]

I've come to the realization theat motorcycles are like ice cream. There is really no "Best" option, just what you like, at the time you order it. And, we all want a free taste and want to eventually have a scoop of everything we like, if not all at once. I've owned Hondas mostly (bang and reliability for my buck). Recently switched to Vic. Not as much bang initially, but more bucks fixed that.
I would own a Screaming Eagle Street Glide (The Blue one calls to me) in a heartbeat, but my eggs are in the Vic basket right now and I like where I'm at.
I've decided what works best for me for HD Scowlers, smile and wave. Show them how much you enjoy your machine and riding in general. They either break down and wave/smile or it further enrages them and they stomp off. Either way, it makes me much happier. I think it's good for my karma too.

 

[randysfishing]

I have not run into many problems most ask questions and take a good look and are overall great. I run into problems with the HD dealers thats where the attitude comes in and thats one of the reasons I did not buy a HD.

 

[Keith Grey]

ROTFLMAO!!!
While I agree with Midian above, I'm having a blast picturing Portagee telling some Seargent at Arms of a Mongols Chapter, that his disgust is just an unconscious jealousy response, and if he thought about it for a minute, he would realize that a big hug would work better than violence for quelling his self esteem issues!!!!
LOL, Rick tell Christie Brinkley I'll come identify the body if it goes the way I'm thinking,,,