Confirmation that I am a dinosaur of a biker

Any time we stop at a bar/restaurant when out on a ride, my Commando gets all the attention regardless of what other bikes are in the group. My wife gets annoyed because she thinks her Ducati Diavel should be the focus of attention.

Touring switzerland in the summer of 2017 one evening at the quaint little hotel i stopped at, there was also a German called Fritz on a Harley. Talking about bikes with him, he complained that he was always losing bits off his bike...
The following day going up the simplon pass i was following another bike with a funny looking numberplate. He pulled into the cafe at the top of the pass and i joined him for a cuppa and a chat. He was on a harley and his numberplate had fallen off and had to make one from cardboard! He was hoping to get home to germany without getting stopped by the police as it would create loads of bother having to reregister his bike.

Might be different here in Aussie land where ever I ride my Norton or park up it draws a crowd, my Norton is no show pony and looks like its well ridden as its now showing its age, have owned it since new and built it into the Featherbed frame back in the early 80s, I also have a habit of parking in the middle of all the Harley's where ever they are parked up and a lot of the old timers do have some idea as most started out on old British but mine is a one off build by my own hands, part Commando, part Featherbed, I always get questions like what's that hanging off the side of the motor (the Joe Hunt maggie) and I always give a bit of BS story what it is, not many have a clue except some of the older ones and they have a good laugh if the other one has no idea, I can be a bit of a sh.t stirrer at times lol.
A lot of the younger ones have never seen a kick start on a bike and of course I always get a crowd around me when I put my leather and helmet on and of course the whispers "wonder how many kicks it will take to start" my Norton with the Joe Hunt always fires up on the first kick every time and the looks I get when it fires up first kick even sitting on the seat kicking it, my mufflers are loud and put out a great sound and when I take off give it a good hand full, bit of a show man when there is a crowd.
But a lot of young ones on their rice cookers always give me the thumbs up when out and about some catch up to me just to look that's when I open it up and take off as with the hot motor she gets up and goes and if up in the tight twisties and there is a pack in front of me it don't take me long to do my thing and slowly blast my way through the pack as the Featherbed handles so well, its light weight with lots of grunt and the amount of riders I scare when I sneek up behind them and past them before they know it, so much fun.
As a old school rider I will chat with anyone no matter what bike they are on, its just me, if you make the first effort to chat they normally open up, but then there are some snot nose people who wouldn't give you the time of day and a lot of Harley riders seem to put on their angry face when out for a short ride, I know some of my Harley mates do, makes me laugh when they do, it seems they change when they get on their Harley's from the person they really are and don't I let them know lol.

Ashley

dobba99 said:

Touring switzerland in the summer of 2017 one evening at the quaint little hotel i stopped at, there was also a German called Fritz on a Harley. Talking about bikes with him, he complained that he was always losing bits off his bike...
The following day going up the simplon pass i was following another bike with a funny looking numberplate. He pulled into the cafe at the top of the pass and i joined him for a cuppa and a chat. He was on a harley and his numberplate had fallen off and had to make one from cardboard! He was hoping to get home to germany without getting stopped by the police as it would create loads of bother having to reregister his bike.

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I think the reason most bits fall off of Harley’s is cos they’re shite Taiwanese ‘custom’ parts, stamped out by the million, and bolted on by people who simply shouldn’t be allowed tools!

Any Harley built in recent years is at least as well put together by the factory as any other decent brand.

I ride a few different bikes regularly. I’m one of those that almost always nods / waves to oncoming bikers, irrespective of the bike. I love waving to kids with L plates, they love the recognition and wave back with enthusiasm and surprise cos they’re normally ignored by ‘real’ bikers.

I’d say that only around 25% ever wave back. Some brands are worse than others, BMW GS riders almost never wave back.

But what’s interesting is that when I ride the Harley almost NO ONE except other Harley riders wave back.

So don’t blame Harley riders for their brand snobbery, there’s a lot of it about !

My niece started riding motos a few years ago, riding her KLR from Wash DC to Little Rock, AR for her first long ride. A few days later she was telling me about the ride and said that a lot of riders were "signaling" her as they passed in the opposite direction and she couldn't figure out what was wrong with her bike or her riding gear.

She was surprised/embarrassed when I told her that it was common for motorcyclists to wave/signal a greeting at each other. I did advise her, however, NOT to be surprised if Harley riders didn't initiate or respond to her waves.

Fast Eddie said:

I ride a few different bikes regularly. I’m one of those that almost always nods / waves to oncoming bikers, irrespective of the bike. I love waving to kids with L plates, they love the recognition and wave back with enthusiasm and surprise cos they’re normally ignored by ‘real’ bikers.

I’d say that only around 25% ever wave back. Some brands are worse than others, BMW GS riders almost never wave back.

But what’s interesting is that when I ride the Harley almost NO ONE accept other Harley riders wave back.

So don’t blame Harley riders for their brand snobbery, there’s a lot of it about !

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Funny you should say that about the L plates
A few years ago I bought my son a Honda 125 varadero
While I was was fixing it up I was riding it about using it to commute for a little while
Plenty of bikes flashed/nodded etc but as soon as I fitted L plates ready for him to ride that complely stopped

baz said:

Funny you should say that about the L plates
A few years ago I bought my son a Honda 125 varadero
While I was was fixing it up I was riding it about using it to commute for a little while
Plenty of bikes flashed/nodded etc but as soon as I fitted L plates ready for him to ride that complely stopped

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Indeed.
I get the point that we don’t wish to wave to deliveroo riders etc!
But young enthusiasts just starting out deserve to feel more welcomed by us grumpy old b*stards…

Fast Eddie said:

Indeed.
I get the point that we don’t wish to wave to deliveroo riders etc!
But young enthusiasts just starting out deserve to feel more welcomed by us grumpy old b*stards…

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The thing with those 125 varaderos they don't look like a 125
They look more like a 600 or so
The difference in attitude to the L plates was very noticeable

Fast Eddie said:

Indeed.
I get the point that we don’t wish to wave to deliveroo riders etc!
But young enthusiasts just starting out deserve to feel more welcomed by us grumpy old b*stards…

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I've made a point to acknowledge L platers. I think, in my own mind at least, it might just encourage them to keep going.

Fast Eddie said:

I think the reason most bits fall off of Harley’s is cos they’re shite Taiwanese ‘custom’ parts, stamped out by the million, and bolted on by people who simply shouldn’t be allowed tools!

Any Harley built in recent years is at least as well put together by the factory as any other decent brand.

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Both the harleys were modern ones, a couple of years old at most. Maybe the harley dealers should issue a bottle of loctite with every sale!

Mark Savage said:

I've made a point to acknowledge L platers. I think, in my own mind at least, it might just encourage them to keep going.

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I try to do the same while ignoring everyone else

trident sam said:

I try to do the same while ignoring everyone else

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I've given up trying with Hardley owners though.

Am I the only anti-social git who actually rides a bike to get away from other people???

Which strangely enough makes me more sociable and benevolent towards other individuals on two wheels...

(Unless there's a migratory herd of them)

dobba99 said:

Touring switzerland in the summer of 2017 one evening at the quaint little hotel i stopped at, there was also a German called Fritz on a Harley. Talking about bikes with him, he complained that he was always losing bits off his bike...
The following day going up the simplon pass i was following another bike with a funny looking numberplate. He pulled into the cafe at the top of the pass and i joined him for a cuppa and a chat. He was on a harley and his numberplate had fallen off and had to make one from cardboard! He was hoping to get home to germany without getting stopped by the police as it would create loads of bother having to reregister his bike.

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Had a similar fractured number plate on my T140 while touring around europe. I wrote the ...882V part of the number plate on a piece of cardboard and taped it to the remaining part of the number plate. Did a load of miles like that, and across several borders. No problems anywhere.

Fast Eddie said:

Indeed.
I get the point that we don’t wish to wave to deliveroo riders etc!
But young enthusiasts just starting out deserve to feel more welcomed by us grumpy old b*stards…

Click to expand...

I was at the Hay Festival last week. I was pleased to see a couple of L plated kids on noisy/buzzy mopeds around town, 'crazy frog' sort of stuff. Another 'back to the seventies' experience this country seems to be going through.

Also saw a HD rider (Sportster) a few times, noticeable for the height of the apehangers on his bike.

Better to be a dinosaur than a fossil, it's sad to hear some of your experiences with other riders. I myself have seen some of that but for the most part people are just out for a ride and don't care what you ride, most interaction with people is positive and friendly. Maybe it's where I have lived and I just don't pay attention to any of it, I knew loads of Harley riders back home and all of them were cool. They could care less what you rode, the Norton gets it's looks at times. Now where i live there are loads of dual sport bikes (adventure) that ride around and they also seem like good guys. I guess i just don't meet many of the guys you speak of?? OK i'm headed out to the garage to work on my Atlas now. Have a great day.

I mainly hang out and ride with the CVMG guys. Our Section is pretty agnostic when it comes to brands and countries of origin of our rides, and we appreciated them all. Lots of encouragement for everyone involved. It is quite refreshing.

My high school buddies that I ride with have grown quite an appreciation for the old Norton, and a few have actually taken it for a spin (plus I get to ride their modern "exotic" hardware - win/win).

Richard Tool said:

Just returned from a ride on my 1950 ES2 - absolutely beautiful day . While riding happily along at 55 , which it will do all day long I was passed by a small group of Harley riders . The guy out front smiled and gave a thumbs up as he passed but the rest would not even turn their heads . Caught up with them in traffic and passed most of them . The mommas on the back smiled but their men folk wouldn’t even make eye contact. What’s up with these guys ?
Hard to conceal my smirk …

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"Those guys" probably thought you were the one riding behind them collecting and reselling all the shiny parts found bouncing down the road that you had to avoid running over.
You know, the pieces that kept falling off their AMF era Electra Glides.

I have a slightly different take on this. I only wave if waved to. Don't really care, not like it's 1974. The vast majority of bikes come across going the other direction are Harley Street Glides, etc. If they see me in my neon green jacket and matching full face helmet, and think "this guy isn't one of us, let's pretend he doesn't exist", I consider it a badge of honor. The only people I ride with are either on Nortons, Triumphs, Ducatis, and Guzzis, or BMWs. They feel the same way.