Is This True????... (more on the "Harley fingertip writing fiasco"....)?

Question

My daughter (while in the midst of her anger over my using my index finger to write in the dust of her Harley the message, "I love you",) wrote to me in an email "never ever do that to mine or anyone else's bike again! You could be killed for doing that!" My eyes must have looked the size of PIE PLATES when I read that! Is this true??? Do Harley owners take something like that this personally????? Please explain. Thanks! And thanks to all of you who responded to my problem... I will print all the answers for her and give them to her in hopes that she will find hope in the form of a solution to my stupid, impetuous "writing fiasco" misjudgment/thingee.

Thanks again!

Answer 1

AHHHHH, considering the message, there is no reason to come uncorked on dear mummsie over it. But the point could have been sweetly conveyed that it is poor form to be dust-writing on the Hog. And yeah you don't want to do that to a strangers bike (not that you would), or even car/boat/airplane/atv or other such possesions. The dust can put tiny scratches in glossy paint. On old crappy faded paint I don't think it would show up. It's the nice paint where it'll mess things up. Maybe she shouldn't let her Hog get dusty to begin with if she's THAT fussy that it's worth yelling at MOM over, or get a cycle cover so the temptation wouldn't be there.
But this business with getting killed by someone for doing that conjurs up a funny image of running a parked Hog over, then getting out of your car and writing "Sorry 'bout that!" in the dust on the gas tank, heh heh heh!

Answer 2

I'm not a Harley guy, but there is an un-written rule - never touch someones bike without permission, unless they are close enough to supervise you.
### The minor damage you caused can easily be buffed out by a body shop (that's their business, they should know what they're doing) ###
Imagine what might have happened if you slipped and knocked her bike over.
You made it sound like your daughter was ranting and raving like the Wicked Witch of the West on steroids.
She might even owe you an apology.
Material things, no matter how expensive, can always be replaced.
Family is forever.
What you did was out of love for your daughter.
Remind your daughter how you forgave her every time she did something wrong as a kid.
Spill grape juice on the new carpet, draw on the newly painted walls in the house, break an antique set of china that was passed down from "your" grandmother.
Don't beat yourself up over this.
You made a mistake that will never happen again.

Answer 3

Your daughter needs some kind of anger management help. This has nothing to with it being a Harley or any other kind of bike. Believe me I am as passionate about my bikes which are Italian as any Harley owner is about theirs. I would not be happy if someone damaged it and the chances of you having written something with your finger tip in a bit of dust and actually leaving any kind of damage are so close to nil as to not even worry about. She would figure that out if she stopped ranting and washed it.

By the way is she does reads these mesages and comes back with the stereo-typical "if I have to explain then you can never understand" then she has been duped into a fabricated image where the people think they are freedom, rebels but yet live in the most regimented and trend following side of biking that you can possibly get.

Bikes are my number one passion in life but family is the number one priority over evreything. She should count her blessings that she has a Mum who cares for her.

Answer 4

The Harley bashing never stops here but this is a matter of respecting anothers prized posession. Writing in the dust/dirt does damage to paint. You as a grown up should know better than to mess with things others hold dear. This is not about "Harley" it's about leaving things alone that do not belong to you. On the other hand she should show respect for her mother and be happy Mom still loves her inspite of her hot headedness over a thing like this.

Answer 5

Tell your daughter to lighten up. I have been riding for over 40 yrs.now and have seen lots of good and bad out there.If she wants to be a bad *** she is well on the way.If she is worryed that much about a liitle dust on her tank and somebody touching it why wasnt she standing guard over it 24 hrs a day so that the whole flipping world knows that she is just trying to made the rest of us few millom Harley riders look bad. tell her to get alife and find out what a real a biker is, or go buy a big plastic bumble to live in with her spotless bike. Also tell her to start cleaning up the world to get rid of the tiny rocks and sand ,oh and the bugs on all the roads of the world. That way I wont have to get mad, have a dirty bike or have to kill anymore defenseless bugs.

Answer 6

You could have not said the brand of bike, and everyone would still have known you were dealing with a Harley owner. If you just paid three times what the bike is really worth you would be overly sensitive about these things too.

Answer 7

Harley riders are... different. They spend far too much money for a bike that isn't worth it & not particularly safe. They get testy at the drop of a hat. Although, that was a bit over the top & excessive. If that is her true feelings, there may be another issue. Last time I checked, killing someone for most any reason is usually pretty illegal. If she so freely said that, there may be reason to believe that she's hanging around the type of Harley riders that don't obey the laws quite as much as other people.

Answer 8

Everyone above is right. There is that unwritten rule about touching others bikes but some people just take it too far. And you are her Mom. You are excluded from that unwritten rule. What you did to the paint was a minor..and I mean minor mistake. Your daughter is over the top. Like one of the other guys said "If she is so worried about it why was it dusty?" She should have had a cover on it if the paint is that darn important. Please don't beat yourself up anymore about it. You obviously care very much about her and she should look at that.

Answer 9

Your daughter was wrong to tell you 'you could be killed for doing that'.

You were wrong to put tiny scratches in the paint on something she obviously loves - yes, a fingertip with dust will scratch paint (on a harley, the family car, a corvette, a vintage Model A, anything). You are also wrong to air your dirty laundry on Yahoo looking for an 'I told you so' to take back to your daughter.

If it were me in your situation, I would apologize for what I did out of ignorance, but say that the way she handled it really hurt my feelings.

Posting a long email to her with all our responses will only escalate the situation.

Answer 10

First of all, if she's so worried about her bike, why is it covered in dust? Second, if my mom wrote I love you on my '07 FXDL Dyna Lowrider I'd just smile knowing my mom thought enough about me to let me know. It's a motorcycle and they make them every day. You only get one mom and she won't be around forever and neither will you so people need to appreciate the people around them and not worry so much about material things. BTW, it's not just Harley riders. I've seen people go off about people touching their metric bikes, cars etc.