Why the venom towards Harley's and people who ride them?

Question

I prefer sport bikes but I have never hated HD's.
Why not hate cruisers in general?
What brings out the evil from your finger-tips when a Harley is mentioned?
I would really like to know.
P.S. I had a Fiat Spyder that broke down once a week but I still have some fond memories from it.

I don't want to hear the insult, just the reason behind it.

Answer 1

I believe it is mutal snobbery.

I have seen enough people that their only answer is "get a Harley", or "why ride that backward trash", it is a bunch of babies doing that.

Both the squids and the harley people shrug at me, I ride a scooter! My scooter was shrugged by the Vespa and Lambretta people for a long time, because I ride a Bajaj Chetak.

I have (and have had) other bikes, but my bajaj is just right for my daily commute, and trips on country roads.

So here I am, hear me roar! I have outridden both squids and Hoggers in distance, and handling, but definitely in fuel economy.

Most bikers are cool with me, and have nice questions to ask me when they see me at a light.

Answer 2

In my own opinion I believe this has rolled over from the 60s an 70s when a biker was one who almost always rode a Harley had a full beard and stunk like Mad dog Wine ,They would hang a Honda Bike from a Tree and build a Bomb fire underneath it ,But Other bikes did look dorky back in them days , This mindset keeps living on in the memories of the folks that are wealthy enough to buy a Harley (The Baby's from the Baby Boomers). So people who these Days that can afford a Harley will Sometimes Snub there noses at anything less in their mind and people that ride the rice burners may very well feel insecure about there own ride ,Personally I don't care what you ride and if you have a problem with what I ride that causes a problem , Harley's a Good Bike But not the one I choose .Sport Bikes look like they could be a blast and I'm sure they are . Choppers look to uncomfortable for long rides ,and full dressers (Gold wings ) are for when I hit 50. Lets all ride what we want and not be Boring with the same taste .Life would suck if we all had the same bike /

Answer 3

I don;t get it either. I ride a cruiser but its not a Harley. As far as the "dirtbag" comment, sure there probably are some dirtbags that ride Harleys, but I guarantee there are just as many who ride crotch rockets or Japanese Cruisers. Honestly, I've met some people on Harleys who are jerks, but I've met more people on Crotch rockets who are jerks. Most Harley riders are cool and don't cause any problems. When I started riding I heard all the "Harley guys are crazy" etc.. comments and they made me a little nervous. But the more I talked to people the more I realized that they were actually pretty good guys.

Rubbers make Harleys get some of the reputation they get. You got these guys that go out and drop tons of money on a bike but don't have a clue how to ride. They buy all the gear and act like they're special because they have a HD. That's one reason they get a bad rap.

As far as people I have had a problem with it has been riders on crotch rockets. Crotch Rockets are the reason that people have a bad experiences with bikers. Most people on crotch rockets speed or drive recklessly. I've seen riders popping wheelies down the freeway at 70 mph. Those are the "stains" (because a stain is all that's left of them when the lay the bike down).

As far as HD's go, they're nice bikes and the extra cost is basically just for the name. In my opinion there are metric cruisers that are just as good if not a little better construction wise than a Harley but that doesn't mean we need to hate on Harley.

It shouldn't matter what we ride. We're all bikers. We need to quit hating each other. Hate towards Harleys is just stupid. People need to grow up, I mean would you say "You're a loser because you like a GM car". Personal preference people, just chill out about Harleys.

Answer 4

Probably for the same reason Ford people hate Chevies, quarterhorse people dislike thoroughbreds and so on. I agree with the person who mentioned immaturity which incidently has nothing to do with physical age. I ride Kawasakis but have no problem with Harleys and I know they are a very competent motorcycle. Would I buy one? Excluding the money end of the deal, in a heartbeat. A Gold Wing? Same answer. Those Harley haters out there can berate Harleys all they want, but all they need to do is take a look at the new generation Jap cruiser bikes and what do they look like? Harleys!

Answer 5

Well having ridden almost every brand of motorcycle made in so many years, I will say that the HD group is an elitist group. When I used to ride with them, during my HD days I would catch flak from them when I would wave at non-HD machines or look and admire non-HD machines. I finally got tired of this Bull, and realized that I am a motorcyclist, not a biker that a majority of them think they are. I appreciate all the bikes even though I am not fond of certain types, like your sportbike, but I respect your decision to ride what you want, they do not. So I guess you could say it is the respect or lack of it that causes this drift.

PS Fiat? you know what that stands for don't you?

Fix
It
Again
Tony

Answer 6

I can't tell ya, Bob.
All I can say is that I'm tired of being painted with the same wide brush as the others.

I'm not a doctor or a lawyer, a RUB or a poser. The last time I rode past the local biker bar, all the vehicles had 4 wheels.

I ride what I ride, what others think of it has never mattered to me.
As far as I'm concerned, they all have 2 choices:
#1, Respect a person's ride as thier own personal choice (whatever the reasoning) or #2, tuck the string up a little higher.

Answer 7

Most riders are cool just takes a few bad apples to ruin it for everybody no matter what kind of bike you are on.

I just wanted to say that with all this division from riders you can never get anything good going. It is the old saying Devide and conquer. Everybody is all spread out with no direction.
Think of AARP, NFIB, AIPAC or the NRA they all support each other and they make changes to better their situation. Imagine if we all got in the right frame of mind . We can get a little more respect from the goverment regarding laws and from people who ride in cars. All the riders realize that it is a dangerous sport to ride and we are all connected in some way.

Answer 8

1 of em is they cant leave the dark days of amf behind when the quality was p.iss poor. since then there's been a significant improvement....but they dont wanna hear it.
then they ****** that they are slow....like they were built to do 0-70 in 1st gear. dream on. cant handle well.......so they cant lean 60 degrees. their a cruiser, not built for extreme lean angles. they also cant accept the fact that since amf, they're not as tempermental.
there's also a ton of wanna-be non-riders that have no clue what they're talking about, and they're jealous at the same time.

why is it that.......people rag on harley's here but.......9 out or 10 questions on 'what's wrong with my bike' happens to be ricer's; most being rockets. if harley's are that bad, then obviously, the ricers have it even worse. if it is the harley's, it's the very old panhead/shovelhead engines that have more miles than 9 out of 10 rice rockets that's even 5 years old.

Answer 9

Not really sure, I know a mixture of people(Harley and SportBike Riders) and we all hang out together when we all go riding. We don't rag on each other we are like a huge family and we welcome other riders every time we go out. I really don't think it matters what we ride. We all have that same feeling in our stomach when we ride by an accident and motorcycle is involved and the sheet has been pulled over the rider, where is the hatred for a style/brand of motorcycle then.

Answer 10

don't confuse the kids who answer on this site with people who actually own or ride motorcycles or can spell.
most of them are just repeating what they have been told.
the anti Harley rumors were started when Honda first started selling mopeds & small 50cc to 90cc cycles (very good ones)here in the 60s. it was part of a very effective word of mouth advertising campaign that was started by Indian in the 1930s & perfected by the new york add agencys that Honda employed to sell their products.
so people under 45 are just repeating what they've heard their entire lives. with no actual experience to base it on.
comparing Harleys to sport bikes is like comparing SUV,s to small turbo tuner cars. their made for entirely different purposes & markets with only the 2 wheels in common. but all the ridiculous claims & statements can be entertaining & most of us enjoy taking part occasionally when we're in the mood. its always fun to see how the little airheads sputter when their fantasy's are confronted with hard facts & numbers.