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Are you a motorcyclist?

ontherearwheel said:
The question is not what you think you might be, but what another person might think you are........

You might think you are a motorcyclist......even if you ride a Harley, but then there can be those that think you are not....because you ride a Harley.....

So, is the opinion of someone you meet randomly really that important to you?
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I read the OP a bit differently. I read it as how do you view yourself and how do you think you'd come across to another motorcyclist?
 
Climber said:
I read the OP a bit differently. I read it as how do you view yourself and how do you think you'd come across to another motorcyclist?
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I think the only point the original poster was trying to make is that some people don't seem to want to talk about motorcycles even when they're wearing clothing advertising their particular motorcycle. And that a true motorcyclist should want to talk bikes with any other rider they meet.
 
I haven't ridden in like three days and I am getting twitchy.

But I am not an addict. I can stop any time.
But why?
 
Got 3 bikes, total mileage is 155,000 miles. I’m a motorcycle whore.
 
Maybe now that I've achieved codger status people don't assume I ride unless I am wearing riding gear.

'That relic rides a bike? Yeah, right!'

I've got a few places I like to take a break at when I am out on my favorite local rides, though. I see people I recognize from time to time or new people, and we usually talk about this or that MC related thing.

I've been bringing a bike with me to St. Anthony (Idaho) every Summer for the past few years, and nearly everyone is a Harley rider up there. Most of of them are tourist-riders going to or through Yellowstone and don't seem to be interested in my bike(s). Bonneville, KTM.

Nobody wears a helmet in SE Idaho, unless they are the Beemer Adv guys passing through.
 
Who cares what others think.
Who cares about being labeled.
You ride or you don't.
You talk about riding or you don't.
You talk about motorcycles or you don't.
You do what makes you happy.
 
I think there are motorcyclists who happen to own a Harley and there are Harley riders. The former being a friend to anyone who rides two wheels and the latter not so much.

We have many motorcyclists who have Harleys here on BARF that are friends to all, ob1ventura and TheRobSJ to name a few.

I consider myself a motorcyclist, I consider myself a rider, seems synonymous. I chat it up with anyone who displays any form of motorcycle related interest. I always find there are much more things we find in common than any petty differences.

Just :ride
 
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Not sure where I fit.....
Been a Harley rider since 1984....
Been a sport bike rider since 1977...
Been a dirt rider since 1966.....
I don't consider myself a motorcyclist or a biker.
Im just a RIDER.
a1scoot:teeth
 
I'll listen up to a limit. If someone is going on for over 5 minutes about a bike that doesn't interest me (most of them don't interest me) my brain will go into survival mode and start to shut down as I blankly stare off into the distance and think about boobs or some such stuff.
 
ScottRNelson said:
I think the only point the original poster was trying to make is that some people don't seem to want to talk about motorcycles even when they're wearing clothing advertising their particular motorcycle. And that a true motorcyclist should want to talk bikes with any other rider they meet.
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Are you kidding me?
Talk motorcycles to a complete stranger?
Don't you remember what your momma told you? :shame

Besides...
I talk to people all day, every work day about motorcycles.
Help them get them and/or keep them running.
All types. Bikes and riders. New and old.
Yup, I work at a motorcycle shop. :eboy

Why would I want to talk moto outside of work? :x
Because they are there, I suppose.:applause
 
Climber said:
That's why they don't wave back at you. :twofinger :laughing

I think that love/enjoyment of riding which doesn't have to include racing, brand recognition, etc to make you a motorcyclist.
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I'm actually surprised at the number of Harley riders who wave back - riding a sidecar gets you lots of attention!
 
ScottRNelson said:
I spent a couple of weeks in Mexico recently and talked to quite a few other tourists, both from the USA and Canada. There were probably half a dozen guys that I talked to who were wearing Harley shirts of various types. I always asked them if they owned a Harley and most of them did. I tried to strike up a motorcycle conversation and not a single one of them wanted to talk bikes beyond mentioning a trip to Sturgis or to "Tail of the Dragon".

Today at the gym I was wearing a Triumph shirt that I picked up years ago for taking a test ride on one. A guy came up to me and we started talking bikes. He has a Moto Guzzi California - which is as much a cruiser as any Harley - and he wanted to talk bikes. I found out that he had moved here from Fresno a couple of months ago and he figures that he might be the only Moto Guzzi owner in all of Idaho - no dealers in this state.

This got me to thinking about those of us who are motorcyclists vs. those who are Harley riders but don't seem to recognize that any other brands exist.

So if I bumped into you randomly somewhere, would you come across as a motorcyclist?
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Not really. Except I somehow managed to gather a Moto Guzzi, Triumph, Royal Enfield, Ducati, BMW and Yamaha having owned and sold all the other popular bikes before. I'm not really a motorcyclist but have done solo ride on the Himalayas for 8 days in sometimes deadly roads. And I for sure, don't want to talk about my articles in motorcycle magazines. :)
 
My favorite rider was Cal Rayborn on the Harley XR750. http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=76 When my interest in motorcycles was just starting, Harley had just won the 250cc World Championship. When the Harley museum trailer came to my town with one of the 250s and the steamliner Cal Rayborn rode I started chatting the curator up. He acted very surprised that I knew quite a bit about those bikes. I guess most people had no idea what they were looking at so he spent quite a lot of time with me.
I'm a motorcyclist and I will ride anything and talk to anybody.
 
I dont know... the hate comes from all angles. I’ve owned multiple harleys, multiple priuses, and multiple BMWs—the trifecta of douchebaggery. Even one of those Jay Leno turbine powered bikes wouldn’t pull me out of the black hole of internet hate. I also still have the Harley t-shirt the dealer gave me. :cool :afm199
 
HD is in a financial prelude to a monetary high-side and their market research guys don't visit this site. Ironic.

Anyway. . .six thousand miles from home, in a pub on the outskirts of Cardiff, Wales, at midnight and a random dude walked up to my booth and poked me in the shoulder, "Hey", he says, "that's a riding jacket. You ride?"

Drank the pub dry, shared a cab back to town, still exchange holiday cards twenty years later. Motorcyclists.
 
radvas said:
I dont know... the hate comes from all angles. I’ve owned multiple harleys, multiple priuses, and multiple BMWs—the trifecta of douchebaggery. Even one of those Jay Leno turbine powered bikes wouldn’t pull me out of the black hole of internet hate. I also still have the Harley t-shirt the dealer gave me. :cool :afm199
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You didn't happen to own some of those box Volvo's before your prius, did you? :twofinger
 
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