What's the difference between a harley rider and a Hoover Vacuum?

[grayghost]

location of the dirt bag.
heh, heh, heard this today, and thought i'd share it with the folks here as GS

[cafeboy]

Man thats so so so so ..............................................old

[shiznizbiz]

Tho it is old, I still smiled

[GeeP]

My grandfather was telling that one before my father was born.   

[frankieG]

oh gawd that is old...but hey i am always up for a harley dumping joke. 

[grayghost]

well, since i'm 56yrs old, you might say some of my "material" is a little dated-BUT, suffice it to say if you meet me
coming down the road, i WON'T be wearing a "doo-wop" rag, sporting an earring, riding a harley that looks just like everybody else's harley, and as i call most of the "posers" that gather down at the local harley shop to sip a latte with their "ol ladies" and browse the leather goods while somebody else changes their oil and filter for $75.00,
"osteoporosis"- you know...."bad to the bone"

[cafeboy]

wearing a "doo-wop" rag,

Hey,,,,,,I make the du-rag look good. 

[jserio]

it cracks me up to hear people bash on harleys. how many of you harley bashers have owned/ridden a harley??  if harley was so terrible they wouldn't have stayed in business for over 105 years.  another thing, why do you think all the foreign bikes are often refered to as "harley clones"...because that's what they are. harley make em first and everyone one else had to mimick them. 

[yamahonkawazuki]

Meh no one knows anyt better 

[bettingpython]

When was the hoover invented? That's about how old this joke is.

Whats the difference between a porcupine and a corvette?

With a porcupine the pricks are on the outside.

On to Harley, harley is in business because they have succesfully revamped their image and their marketing department. During the 80's the big 4, especially honda about drove them out of business, the US instituted a protectionist import tarrif policy on Japanes big bore bikes,(any thing 600cc or over) that increased their price by 30% thus making them almost as expensive as a base model harley. The Japanes retaliated by not offering the US as many models or colors as the rest of the world. This tarriff has since decreased as Japanes manufactured bikes production costs have increased and Harley's marketing and PR managed to revamp the image of the company. Buying a Harley is buying an image, nothing more.

You still get more bike and better technology for the money with a Jap bike.

In a free market economy HD would have been dead and buried.

[ohgood]

it cracks me up to hear people bash on harleys. how many of you harley bashers have owned/ridden a harley??  if harley was so terrible they wouldn't have stayed in business for over 105 years.  another thing, why do you think all the foreign bikes are often refered to as "harley clones"...because that's what they are. harley make em first and everyone one else had to mimick them. 

I'll answer a couple of yours;

Not everyone owns a harley that bashes them. If everyone that owned a harley bashed them, you'd REALLY have to wonder WHY THEY OWNED ONE, past or present, ya know ? The majority of people that I've personally known have ridden one, and were annoyed at the lack of power, noise, and lack of handling. Adding chrome does not make a more fun bike to ride.

They've stayed in business because of good marketing, buyouts, and management that was smart enough to market machismo instead of motorcycles.

As far as 'harley clones', are you serious ? Since when was HD the only maker of motorcycles 100 years ago ? Plenty has been learned by watching what the Japanese machines acquired.

Take a look through history and you'll see HD almost died several times because of quality issues, poor marketing, and just plain crappy bikes. HD actually lobbied congress to PASS LAWS to protect their niche.

REmember when the importers were TAXED HEAVILY on anything >750 cc's ?

Remember when a certain racing forum handed HD (ok, BUELL) a license to ride non-production bikes in production race circuits ?

Remember how police municipalities were forced to buy HD bikes instead of something superior like BMW's and others ?

Lets just say the current gov't bailout of big business mirrors what HD, Ford, Chevy, and other manufacturers have enjoyed in the US for 100's of years:

Gov't contracts that sponser antiquitated machinery, inefficient design, and piss poor engineering. Would the Crown Victoria (Ford) STILL be being made if it weren't for Police and Gov't contracts ? Hell no, that's 25 year old tech !

The HD = dirty bag is a poor joke, but the reasoning behind your comment was poorer.


2 cents 

[bettingpython]

Just an FYI the current tarrff is only 10% on Imported motorcycles it was the period between 1984 and 1989 when a 50% Tarrif was slapped on imported motorcycles.

Current Tarriff schedule for foreign imported vehicles if you are interested
http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/docs/tata/hts/bychapter/0810c87.pdf

New york times sorted oldest first see the 1983 articles. Harley was basically dead.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/m/motorcycles_motor_bikes_and_motorscooters/index.html?s=oldest&


http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06EFDA1138F933A15752C0A965948260

[jserio]

my main argument being if they really are such sub-par machines, why do people still buy them? i mean, if they really are that underpowered and all this other horrible crap you say, why do people buy them? it can't all be marketing. 







(as a side note, after a bit of research and side by side comparison, i feel the ninja 500 is actually a better bike than the gs500.        )

[cafeboy]

after a bit of research and side by side comparison, i feel the ninja 500 is actually a better bike than the gs500.        )

          

[ohgood]

my main argument being if they really are such sub-par machines, why do people still buy them? i mean, if they really are that underpowered and all this other horrible crap you say, why do people buy them? it can't all be marketing. 







(as a side note, after a bit of research and side by side comparison, i feel the ninja 500 is actually a better bike than the gs500.        )

what saved them was import tarriffs, loans, some smart marketing, and finally deciding to -attempt- to make a quality machine. the japanese machines -forced- them to improve quality, just like the car industry experienced.

The typical conversations about more cubic inches, more chrome, more more more that I've heard at HD gatherings reminds me of small boys drooling over things they cannot afford. Never heard someone say "This tire is really sticky" or "Man, this new fork really improved the turning" or "Wow, my chatter box is a fantastic way to communicate with my buddies when I miss the turn".  Ya know ?

yep, the ninja makes more power, is a -little- more modern, but doesn't fair as well with lack of maintenance. it's a very nice machine indeed. the fairings aren't bad either. saw a ton of guys touring california on ninja 500's.

[Roadstergal]

Do you know the difference between a Harley rider and a pedestrian?






















About 10 minutes.

[yamahonkawazuki]

well you get better wear on an hd versus some "imported bikes" cept the boxer style engine, aka bmw and honda goldwaing ( iwht proper care and attention. but even with that there is still uninformed bias, if it were up to me, id rather be riding my sportster, but economics decided otehrwise

[Ed_in_Az]

Mess with this on your GS500 and this is what you'll see, the tail end.



Any Sportbike from an SV650 up will pull away.
None have given me any attitude yet though.
Nobody around here wants to lose their license running 120mph+ including me.
This thing sounds and pulls like a Buell.

Any "Big Twin" Harley gets the same view as your GS500.

I beat a brand new high dollar chopper 2 out of 2 races.

No, it's not stock. Who needs stock.

Ride what you like, but bashing an entire brand due to your ignorance about it is just stupid.
Try getting an education and race a Sportster, VRod, or Buell.


To the non-bashers: Bless your open minds.

[cafeboy]

race a Sportster, VRod, or Buell.

         

[shiznizbiz]

I dont care either way...a bike is a bike.  Im not into the cruisers, never have been.  To each his/her own.