My word, you are an amazing writer! I just found you a short while ago through some means or other on FB or YouTube, but I am literally so jealous of your amazing talent! (I write that with a smile -- ie. no harm intended!) Just reading your posts is like a writing lesson in combining memorable metaphor perfectly -- and surrepticiously -- with opinion/ideas. Thank you so much for giving us all such great stuff to read, enjoy and learn from!
As someone who has ridden a lot of motorcycles (mostly Hondas and Suzukis) let me just say that a stock Harley is not obnoxiously loud, and their cruiser bikes are not really heavier than other bikes in their class (a tripped out Honda Goldwing is also very heavy!).
But… the people who want to ride a Harley want it to sound LOUD (typically) so they buy the stock bike and then spend thousands on “stage 1” and “stage 2” packages that do not noticeably improve performance but do turn up the volume. What Harleys also are in comparison to other bikes is EXPENSIVE —people who want Harleys are willing to pay a premium for the badge.
My favourite bike was the Suzuki Vstrom 650… very nimble, great suspension and you could ride it all day without tiring. I think I paid $4500 for the first one I bought (used), and the day I picked it up I joined my brother-in-law his wife, and another couple on a loop up the Fraser Canyon, to Pemberton and back through Whistler and home (with a stop overnight at the half way point). About 3 hours into the ride the rest of the group pulled over… the two women were on HD Sportsters and needed to rest because their backs could not take the jarring of the secondary roads we were on… I hadn’t noticed and was having a blast. The other two guys were on an ElectraGlide and a Road King and were doing fine. I could have bought 6 Vstroms for what those two Sportsters cost! And the Road King and ElectraGlide would make a nice down payment on a house even now.
So for me HD has always been “over priced style over substance” which also fits with what you are saying lol.
My word, you are an amazing writer! I just found you a short while ago through some means or other on FB or YouTube, but I am literally so jealous of your amazing talent! (I write that with a smile -- ie. no harm intended!) Just reading your posts is like a writing lesson in combining memorable metaphor perfectly -- and surrepticiously -- with opinion/ideas. Thank you so much for giving us all such great stuff to read, enjoy and learn from!
As someone who has ridden a lot of motorcycles (mostly Hondas and Suzukis) let me just say that a stock Harley is not obnoxiously loud, and their cruiser bikes are not really heavier than other bikes in their class (a tripped out Honda Goldwing is also very heavy!).
But… the people who want to ride a Harley want it to sound LOUD (typically) so they buy the stock bike and then spend thousands on “stage 1” and “stage 2” packages that do not noticeably improve performance but do turn up the volume. What Harleys also are in comparison to other bikes is EXPENSIVE —people who want Harleys are willing to pay a premium for the badge.
My favourite bike was the Suzuki Vstrom 650… very nimble, great suspension and you could ride it all day without tiring. I think I paid $4500 for the first one I bought (used), and the day I picked it up I joined my brother-in-law his wife, and another couple on a loop up the Fraser Canyon, to Pemberton and back through Whistler and home (with a stop overnight at the half way point). About 3 hours into the ride the rest of the group pulled over… the two women were on HD Sportsters and needed to rest because their backs could not take the jarring of the secondary roads we were on… I hadn’t noticed and was having a blast. The other two guys were on an ElectraGlide and a Road King and were doing fine. I could have bought 6 Vstroms for what those two Sportsters cost! And the Road King and ElectraGlide would make a nice down payment on a house even now.
So for me HD has always been “over priced style over substance” which also fits with what you are saying lol.
A great analogy, a great read.