The motorcycle slant
Two summers ago I was down at Gilligans Bar in Tawakoni on the Chieftain with a couple of buddies. Local guy had a few beers in him and was on an older HD. Wasn't stock and .. looked a notch rough. He asked me how much a bike like mine cost.. Told him the list cost which then set him off on how ridiculous that was. He then began ranting about his 'home built' bike where it only cost him a fraction of what I paid. I let him have his moment of glory in front of everyone, with a lil' smirk on my face.. After his tirade he eventually went in for more beer and... never saw him again. My takeaway from that? That bike cost him probably a lot more of his take home pay that mine did comparatively. He was proud of it, but you wouldn't see my ass on it. I didn't like the look of it, and to be honest, thought it looked like shit. Now, I didn't tell him that. To each his own. Well sort of. I guess he forgot to keep his mouth shut about my bike. But, he was riding what he could afford. He sort of got it right....
Now what got me to thinking about this blog post is a FB forum I'm on for grey bearded old coots. Seems like every time someone posts a pic of a nice HD, nice Indian, high dollar custom, suddenly hundreds of these clowns go off the deep end talking shit. I've become convinced that the bottom line is .. .they are riding an old POS bike, or .. a bike that is all they can afford, and in some jealous rage feel the need to MF' everyone else's nice bike. I mean if one rides a $40+k CVO, then the owner MUST be a RUB (Rich Urban Biker) right? It MUST be a trailer queen? The owner must NOT be a real biker. They seem to think so. The reason I find it humorous is, I normally go to check out the naysayer's personal page and look at their rides. The vast majority of time it's either a POS, a rice burner, or .. just an older plain-jane bike. Half the time it's parked in front of an old shed or single wide trailer. But they, feel the need to MF' other's bikes. See where I'm going with this? Damned, ride what you can afford. Ride what you like/want. But move on and zip the lips.
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| Would you? |
Before moving on from this subject angle, I find myself thinking back to my first bike, circa 1984; used 1982 Kawasaki LTD 440. I believe I paid $1200 for that bike. It was all I could afford. Soon I was eying up 4 cylinders (ex 750cc) but I didn't have the money. So I rode that bike for the next year, fat dumb and happy. The next year, my buddy Greg Ruprecht let me ride his V65 Magna and I was awe struck. But, he'd paid over $4k for this bike and it was out of my budget. So, I found a new in the crate '82 LTD 1000 for 1/2 the price. I rode that bike like I stole it for 2 years/ 11k miles. Few years later, picked up a used Suzuki GL1100 for $1200 bux. Rode it for a few years. Now during this whole time, I didn't MF guys riding more expensive bikes. I didn't talk smack about other brands. I rode what I could afford and enjoyed life. I may have wondered why people would spend $5k .. $8k .. or .. omg . .$10k on a bike, but that was their business. I rode what I could afford. Fast forward to 2002 time frame. I got a Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 1500 .. because I could afford it. The Honda Valkyrie was calling my name but at $12,500 .. was out of my budget. Damned I liked the look and the size of that bike ... still do. But, for the next 7 years I rode that Vulcan. Come 2009, my preference in bikes and my ability to afford American Iron had changed. So now, I can ride a bike at a higher price threshold if I choose to. But, damned there are some nice ones out there at a much lower price point. My mantra today is 'ride what you want, I'll ride what I want'. Simple as that.
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