The Uneducated
Over the last year, I've blogged about Indian Motorcycles' history; the Good, Bad and the Ugly. With the PI purchase of the brand back in the Spring of '11 while it was still alive with the Kings Mountain models, things have accelerated for the better with the introduction of the new models back in August of 2013.
The problem we have now is the .... uneducated. Maybe that's the wrong term. We have a new influx of riders that have no grasp.. maybe no care .. of the history of the brand. In the same sentence they will rant and rave "since 1901!" and call their bike a Polaris Motorcycle. I don't get it. I don't want to get it. In fact .. I want to distance myself from them. Does it all matter? Well.. it does to me. Does to many others. And worst of all .. it feeds the naysayers. The folks that hate 'anything' built after 1953 that has the Indian nameplate on it.
Case in point. Yesterday some clown (I've seen his posts before) says this on Social Media
"Why are some owners always whining about Polaris this and Polaris that? Polaris is the parent company. In Minnesota. Indian Motorcycle is a company in Iowa,hundreds of miles away. They build bikes. Polaris factory builds atv's etc. Indian was in business BEFORE Polaris bought them, its no wonder they've gone outta business several times,some of you yokels can't figure out who builds yer bikes! If you have issues,talk to Indian,they have a number and email. Or talk to your dealer, hint..they don't have signs saying Polaris Motorcycle.. Rant over,carry on!
😉"
Now the kicker is ... I initially sort of agreed with the guy .. he got a couple of facts wrong..... but the whole thread quickly derailed. You had folks disagreeing with him, and his own arguments quickly fell apart because he himself didn't have a full grasp of the situation.
The problem we have now is the .... uneducated. Maybe that's the wrong term. We have a new influx of riders that have no grasp.. maybe no care .. of the history of the brand. In the same sentence they will rant and rave "since 1901!" and call their bike a Polaris Motorcycle. I don't get it. I don't want to get it. In fact .. I want to distance myself from them. Does it all matter? Well.. it does to me. Does to many others. And worst of all .. it feeds the naysayers. The folks that hate 'anything' built after 1953 that has the Indian nameplate on it.
Case in point. Yesterday some clown (I've seen his posts before) says this on Social Media
"Why are some owners always whining about Polaris this and Polaris that? Polaris is the parent company. In Minnesota. Indian Motorcycle is a company in Iowa,hundreds of miles away. They build bikes. Polaris factory builds atv's etc. Indian was in business BEFORE Polaris bought them, its no wonder they've gone outta business several times,some of you yokels can't figure out who builds yer bikes! If you have issues,talk to Indian,they have a number and email. Or talk to your dealer, hint..they don't have signs saying Polaris Motorcycle.. Rant over,carry on!
😉"Now the kicker is ... I initially sort of agreed with the guy .. he got a couple of facts wrong..... but the whole thread quickly derailed. You had folks disagreeing with him, and his own arguments quickly fell apart because he himself didn't have a full grasp of the situation.
First response is from a guy with a Chieftain and side by side that says "I park my Polaris together" followed by" Within my family we must have a
dozen Polaris ATVs I like the brand figured it was just a win win in my
opinion. First thing any Harley guys says isn't that just Polaris..." Well.. that's the point bozo. If you yourself say it that way, why wouldn't the HD guy? You just fueled the fire. "I
usually just tell them the truth umm yeah I have a road glide like you as well
as 4 other Harleys and yet I choose to ride my roadmaster because it's a better
highway bike.. that usually shuts the talk right down" Wow .. that's a brilliant argument. Really? I bet they ran with their tail between their legs on that one...
Then the OP replies " I do, but I've never heard a Harley owner complaining about calling
AMF. pride in ownership.just sayin." The AMF argument overall is weak... though valid. For those that don't know or forgot, AMF bough HD many moons ago, the quality overall of the brand sucked .. and eventually HD was bought back by Willie and some folks. So when many folks get slammed about owning a snowmobile they fight back with "hows your bowling ball?" Cute.. but a weak argument. This is usually followed by a fact that the US Govt bailed HD out with financial help to keep it from going under. Truth. But... usually falls on deaf ears.
Well the OP chimes back in with "I think it's time we show some pride
in our brand.never heard a Gilroy or KM owner doing this. Just sayin" I agree! Again . the OP initially has some good points. Then he stated something like the line that Polaris doesn't make the bikes.. Only Indian does. They are separate.. Well.. this is not quite true... So being the dick I am I chime in now "Guess
you've never been to the factory where they used to build side by side next to
the Indians and the building said .....polaris. whoops" He begins to derail so I follow up with " ACTUALLY...
I was there... when vic was on one side and side by side was on the other
side... in spirit lake...smh" along with a pic of the factory that clearly says POLARIS on the building. I dated it Aug 2013. Now .. he's sliding . His response is "Rick Kcir first indan models.2014.
nice try. They were building victory then.maybe you should own a Harley?" Funny .. because I do own an HD.... but now he's now lost all credibility and I try to help him out with "you
are looking like a fool. Think before you type... I'll give you a hint. When
did they build and sell the 14s.... wait for it....." But he's on a roll with more stupid statements to others "Read it again I said Polaris is the
parent. Indian has been in business since 1901.not Polaris.smh."
Now the sad part to me is .... many of the other folks in the conversation have an attitude similar to this bozo now chiming in "You can look up the history google
it,there was no Indian when Polaris bought the name.Yes they are Polaris
motorcycles." Well.. that's not only incorrect .. but brings up back to the point of all this .... " Polaris Motorcycles?" Really?
I guess this hits a nerve because I am part of FB group that is populated by majority HD owners and there are lots of asses in the ranks that say this same thing. So we now have our 'own' folks basically agreeing with them.
Now .. step back in time. When the Gilroy era was in full swing. we had a thousands of new Indian owners hitting the roads. And there was a lot of Pride. Then... Sept '03 and the factory closes. For the next five years you have a hard core group of folks keeping their bikes alive and running and they are Proud! Then '09 brings the KM generation. We have a small select group now in the mix I mean that simply because, over the next five years, less than 1200 of these will be produced and sold. Most of these folks are proud of their bikes! But now... we've got Indian going mainstream. To many.. it's just a bike To some .. many .. they have no real grasp of the history of the brand through the good and the 'bad' days. They don't have that same pride. Now .. the may like all that purdy' leather and fringe and native amercian crap splashed all over their bikes... their .. Polaris Motorcycles .. but .. .do they have PRIDE? Hmmm... many do .. but way too many don't!
Why did I give a "play by play" of the above? Because some clown who moderates that FB Group that this was all in .. deleted it .. right after I just happened to do a copy / paste of it. I was going to use that to put together one last response when .. 'poof' ... it was all gone. Well.. almost :)
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