I spent a little time at U- Tube the other night enjoying Harley Davidson commercials and rider stories. Apparently we who ride (yes even newbies get to call themselves riders) have reasons for doing so. From what I gathered we do it to express individuality, to escape oppression, to stick it to the man (whatever that means?!). We straddle our iron steeds and seek out the open road for spiritual reasons, for political reasons and for the sake of charities. We're all about brotherhood and good times even if we have to be bad to enjoy ourselves. WELL... all that sounds pretty complicated to me, and much like the 60's era hippies these individuals who are all about being nonconforming look and sound quite alike! Yet there is no doubt that you must have some compelling reason to go out and play in traffic on one of these things. I pondered this question at length while out riding the other day and I came up with a little bit simpler idea of why I ride...try on FUN for size. Fits in one syllable, does not require tattoos or a rap sheet, can be had legally in all fifty states at any age. Will not cause divorce if your wife finds out and can be had while she's along no less! Yes sir I believe that is the hidden dark side of me that requires a motorcycle to be expressed. A little boy who just never could get enough of playing with machines. I can play with this one without a clearing and grading permit, I don't have to haul it to an ORV park, it fits in a spare corner of the garage and you can have fun getting groceries (with in reason of course). When I was blasting through sweepers on hwy 9 in the bright morning sun or grinding the paint off the bottom of my forward controls at dusk in the back corner of the ROSS parking lot trying to perfect 18 foot U turns there was little doubt that I was experiencing FUN. Yeah you can blame riding one of these things on all that other stuff but I for one am happy to admit that really there is just that one principal motivator.
Oh and why a Harley Davidson?...
Well I could say because they hold their value, I prefer buying American, or come up with some other logical sounding reasons but while I'm being honest;
Has atleast twice the horsepower it needs
Is really loud
Gets truly awful gas mileage (for a motorcycle that is)
Made out metal (most of it chromed)
Not that any of that stuff is a reflection on me...
