What would you have said to this Harley dude?

[Scottish]

Yesterday I came up on a couple our for a drive in a beautifully restrored '29 Ford...  Being held up by a pack of Hardly's.

good one Bicks

[silentbob]

I was riding the 1098 with Joel following me on the 848.  We stopped at a light and a guy on a Harley pulled up behind us.  The light turned green and we all made the left turn and headed toward the entrance for the freeway.  The guy on the Harley went flying by on the left and cut in to the ramp at the last minute.  He hit the ramp at about 80 mph and I thought this guy doesn't realize he is on a Harley and he is going to run off the side of the road or lock up the brakes and go down in front of me.  Instead he throws the thing into the turn as hard as he can and accelerates.  The ramp is two lanes wide and he is running as wide as he can in the left most lane so I dive into the right lane and start passing him on the inside.  As we get to the end of the ramp there is one of those metered lights and it is red.  We both hit the brakes and roll up to the lights.  His light turns green as he approaches so I jump into his lane along side of him.  He hit the gas and lifted the front wheel a good foot off the ground and was doing triple digits before he even reached the end of the merge lane.  You just never know what the man and the machine next to you might be capable of.

[kopfjäger]

Not another Ducati snob thread. 

[eesnas]

Not really related, I am sure I have said this to a Harley guy though because I say it to everyone... Whenever people ask me about if my bike is fast I say, "no, it's only got something like 60 horsepower but it's good for me." I don't know if it's just my honesty, maybe I seem modest, or the fact the bike is loud might help but people still insist it must be fast, I think mainly because I the small size they think it's really light. I just insist "no, really, it's not fast..." For some reason people never seem to think less of the bike either, no real point in posting this, just felt like chiming in. 

[desmodue]

If he was just being proud of his bike, I would have just listened and nodded, throw in a couple "nice bike" comments. But if he was the stereotypical a$$hat braggart, this may have been the dialogue:

"Wow! I bet that bike's a real pu$$y magnet"

"Yeah, it is"

"I could tell...it attracted you"

[the_brose]

not all harleys are slow in acceleration, but absolutely none of them can corner or stop and with the new watercooled ones they are starting to move forward a bit...
 really they are more of a motorised lounge chair than a performance vehicle.

[duc996]

You did the right thing,i would've done the same thing and amuse myself with this guy.It's more fun for me to just listen to guys like that and make them happy.I know i have a better bike anyways.....

[akmnstr]

Akmnstr you should have invited him for a romp up Turnagain Pass. That hill is a great way to seperate the the wheat from the chaff.

 On a side note Bob the former fianance guy at the Anchorage harley dealer owns among other things a 998, Rc51, Rz 400..... at any given time he owns a dozen bikes.
Always has a duc and a H-D. Bob tells a great story about spanking a half dozen squids on R6's along Turnagain Arm on his Rz " you do know that a fat middle aged guy on a 20 year old bike just owned you? "  Not all H-D riders are ignorant.

Sno-duc,  Bob is a good friend and a hell of a guy.  The perfect example of someone that loves all motorcycles including Harley's and Ducatis.  Haven't seen him at all this summer.  I'll have to give him a call.

[akmnstr]

You did the right thing,i would've done the same thing and amuse myself with this guy.It's more fun for me to just listen to guys like that and make them happy.I know i have a better bike anyways.....

Oh yeah.  In the end I feel like I did the right thing.  After this happened I had a lot of fun at dinner telling my wife what I should have said.  I don't mean to be bashing Harleys.  Like I said above I have friends that ride them, Sno-duc included, and we used to own a Buell and loved it.  It is the closed Harley culture and myopic view of motorcycles that amuses me. 

And I should have pointed out that the station where we met this fellow also houses the State Troopers, not a good place for racing, burnouts, or wheelies

[Capt baz]

after 35 years of  h-d'n, i see what a dunce i was with the narrow mindednees of it.  now, i always like saying stuff like "haven't they been turning gasoline into noise since 1903"?.... or they are wearing a t-shirt from "palo's harley shop, portoviejo, ecuador", & i ask," do you  know raul, in parts there"?, as i know they have never set foot in that dealership.....they sure are(as i know) broad in the shoulders & narrow in the mind.

[Manx]

really they are more of a motorised lounge chair than a performance vehicle.

I like the sound of that, do they come with cup holders?

[akmnstr]

I don't really like the way this is going.  I don't want to be responsible for creating a Harley bashing thread.  So I'm going to lock this. 
Before I do, I'd say that anyone that owns both a Harley and a Ducati has to be one diverse and truly cool dude.  Nothing like the character that
inspired me to start this thread.  Lets end this while we are all friends.