Pete Age 23 Harley rider for LIFE!!

The reason I’m ‘over opinionated ’ on Harleys is that I’m sick of ‘over opinionated ’ Harley owners. I’m tired of the ‘Why don’t you get a REAL motorcycle?!" type mentality when it is so obviously flawed in that their motorcycle is no where near 'superior' in anything but price. And as for taking my 250cc bike to the line any day, if I had a 250cc bike, I’d welcome that challenge. I think the outcome would be far different than what you envision, especially with the 250cc bike I'm thinking of.  The look on your face when technology met stagnation and opened your sleepy little eyes would be worth the price of admission alone.

Congratulations on the Sportster, I guess. A fool and his money are soon parted. I’m afraid you didn’t ‘trade UP’, Pete, you merely ‘bought IN ’ to the mundane existence that is the flock and you bought in on the lowest affordable level at that.  You'll get tired eventually of the other bigger bike Harley owners telling you to trade up to a 'real' Harley.  So you bought a Sportster and you think you traded up.  Sadly, you did nothing more than pay your membership dues to join the most overly commercialized hyper marketed scam in existence, but that is a matter of opinion.

The "Sportster" (how I love that name) it is a misnomer if ever there was one. Poor handling, poor acceleration, and you need 1200ccs to get anywhere near the performance of imported engines that take up one third the volume. It is a ‘Harley Light’ for those who can barely afford a Harley and want the mystique of owning a Harley but not the payments. Think of it as the "designated driver" of "hard drinking Harleys". 

Think of it as a "Harley with training wheels", one day, you may be able to afford a REAL Harley.  A "Sportster" isn't a real Harley, it's a entry-level, bare minimum admission ticket to a pasture of your own choosing.

1200cc Sportster with barely 80 horsepower. Don’t you see something wrong with that? It would be like owning an American car that had a 500 cubic inch V8 but yet had the same amount of power as a KIA inline four cylinder from Korea. I see a big problem with that, when it takes you three times the engine to make the same amount of power. Where is the technology in that? Oh, it rumbles and shakes windows when you ride past. Whoop-de-do. Let me cut off the mufflers of my Ninja, lose a lot of horsepower in the process, and I can probably do the same thing.   Of course, I'll be stepping back twenty years in technology when I do that, but that would put me about even with Harley Davidson then, now wouldn't it?

I don’t understand Harley, for all the show and bravado, they have no balls to back up anything they say, unless chrome and leather is a direct replacement for torque and horsepower or image is a direct replacement for performance. It doesn’t matter IF you are bad, just that you LOOK bad. With Harley, it is all show.  After all, they have nothing to prove.   They're the baddest motorcycle in the world and if you don't believe it, well you just don't understand because Harley owners didn't buy their bikes to race them... lemming logic, running in tiny little circles all over the place.

Rice. I think that calling import bikes ‘rice’ is pretty derogatory, especially when you are dealing with superior products. It is the old Aesop's  ‘sour grapes’ fable to me. So, riding with your buds, it takes twice the engine (your 1200 vs. your buds two 600ccs) just for you to keep up with them, and then only for the short run. I’m sorry, unless Harley has changed a lot in torque and horsepower, my '93 VFR750F would pull on any 1200 from standing start to top end. It just wasn’t a game. You mention that your buds are popping wheelies, etc. That is the sign of an amateur rider and one who knows more about ‘tricks’ than actually performance ‘riding’. When I pulled on Harleys at half throttle, I never popped wheelies. Who was I trying to impress, a Harley owner?

I can impress the typical Harley owner with either fire or electricity.  It isn't that hard to impress someone who has the IQ and mentality to buy a Harley Davidson.  Milwaukee counts on that, it's their only hope for survival.

And when I got my '95 Ninja ZX-6R (a full second and a half faster with 150ccs less motor!), it wasn’t even a contest between my little six tenths of a liter rice burner and the top of the line one and two tenths liter Evo motored sofas.  I remember sitting at the light one night, and this commercial sheep in all his regalia pulls up next to me. My Ninja was quiet, even with the Yoshimira 4:1 performance pipes on it. I'm wearing a full face helmet, visor up, and I couldn’t hear myself think with this farting dinosaur idling next to me. Blah.  Blah.  Blah.  Blah. 

All show, no go.   Well, the sheep in leather turned to me and gave me this look of utter despise like I was some kind of national traitor, then he turned and stuck his nose up in the air. I simply looked at his chaps, his vest, his little ash-tray helmet with a chin strap, his iron cross mirrors, his vibrating tassels, etc. and shook my head. What a trend humping no original thought buffoon. He looked like he was trying to be the big kid on the block, not riding a motorcycle. The light on the other side of the intersection turned yellow and this guy started grabbing throttle, rolling it back and forth, looking at me and saying something (too bad with a full face helmet and his stupid ass exhaust I couldn’t hear what he said, but it must have been ‘wanna race your stupid little rice rocket against my superior Harley American Made Real Motorcycle Dream Machine’ or something equally witty). The light in front turned green and I started grabbing throttle, rolling into it easy but firm, keeping the front wheel one hair from rising and the rear likewise one step from breaking loose. Next to me all I heard was the sound of what I guess is a Milwaukee three tooth hill scoggin squealing like a sodomized pig.

I felt the Ninja start to pull as the motor pulled into its power band and I never looked back. The tach screamed to 13,000 rpm and I shifted into second gear, letting the RPMs fall just enough to get to the G-spot of my motor's power band, then I worked the clutch and throttle and let the four hungry Kheins breathe deep again.  Halfway through second gear was all it took and I let off and coasted to the next light.   By the time I got to the next light, it was turning yellow so I grabbed some brake and came to a stop. I looked back, about six car lengths and slowing rapidly like a epileptic yak was this big bad Harley. The guy didn’t rev his engine at the light this time. A Mustang convertible pulled up behind me and a guy leaned out of the top.

"You blew that shit away, man!" he shouted. "What kind of bike is THAT? Ninja!
Damn!  That thing is so damn fast!  Do it again, man!  Do it again!"

I gave the people in the Mustang a thumbs-up and when the light turned green, I just slowly rode away. The Harley rider refused to try to pass me and eventually turned off in one of the richy-rich neighborhoods, you know, the kind where they don’t let blacks live and they have a little guard at the front gate who checks vehicles before they enter. About what I figured, some doctor or lawyer out posing on a brand new POS.  Probably his first bike ever and he thought it was the greatest thing in the world.

If your friends are not able to pull on you like you were standing still, they’re not very good riders, IMHO. Or you’re a much better rider than they are. I’ve seen great riders on crap bikes beat crap riders on great bikes. It’s all in how you ride. Popping wheelies when you roll the throttle isn’t a display of power, it’s a display of inability to ride effectively.

As for how can I compare a four cylinder ‘Jap’ motor to a V-twin ‘Crap’ motor, I’m comparing a lot of things. Harley ONLY makes a V-twin, so any comparison will have to be done with the top of the line EVO motor to the top of the line ‘Jap’ motors. If Harley made other motors, I’d compare them, but since Harley only produces one tired old motor that is 60 years old in design, I have to compare what they offer (which isn’t very much). So, how does a 1200 EVO stack up against a 600cc DOHC 16valve four cylinder ‘Jap’ motor? Not very well. Which is the main problem that I have.

If Harley is so bad ass (which they claim 24 / 7 / 365), if they are the epoch of American motorcycle design, then why don’t they have a 250hp 1200cc EVO motor instead of a motor that (barely) makes the same hp as a ‘Jap’ motor half its size? You tell me how that is American, how being twice as big and half as strong is ‘American’ or ‘bad’? I doubt you can.  That certainly doesn't sound very American to me.  Since when did being fat and slow and dumb come to be trademarks of being an 'American'?  I must have missed that part of history class.

"I must say going from rice to harley made me a little weary at first but i am not dissappointed and have no problem saying that i will never go back. Any smart investor would buy a harley if they were interested in making their money back on trade in or a retail sale."

Like I said, who really buys a Harley to ‘ride’, they buy them because they look good next to the Lexus, because people look at you and go "He owns a Harley, he must be doing well." or other such lemming based illogical nonsense. The part about ‘any smart investor’ kills me, like motorcycles are investments… you truly are brainwashed, Pete.

A motorcycle is an investment?   Bwahahahahaha!  So is a U.S. Savings Bond, but you don't see me swinging my legs over a USSB, now do you?  You people are all one sad bunch of ignorant scoggins.   That much is so very true.

"Anyone on jap bikes loses so fast due to the high depreciation of them."

If you don’t know how to buy a motorcycle, yeah. But I’m sorry, I’m not going to pay my dues and join the flock of sheep. The ‘depreciation’ that I lose on my ‘Jap’ bike is still well within the limits I would have lost if I bought a Harley and then spent money to modify it to be anywhere near what I wanted in performance. So I think I get a good trade. $7000 for a 13 second Harley Sportster with no balls, or $7000 for a 10 second Ninja that will go from one coast to the other without a problem and is ten times safer. Hmmmm… A fool and his money are soon parted. Milwaukee is counting on you and others like you to be monetary fools, Pete.  Milwaukee needs your money.  Send it soon.  Send it often.

"There are several good points about harleys you forgot to mention conveniently. When i buy a chrome piece or an acessory for my bike i know the value goes up."

Bwahahahahaha!

You can't be that ignorant!   You mean that you believe that a Harley is somehow like a phone card, that you can add to the value just by dumping money into it tacking parts on to your bike?! You mean that if you keep an itemized statement of what you spent that your bike increases in value? What the hell did your mom smoke when she was pregnant with you?

Pete, here is a big dose of financial common sense tucked inside a fast dissolving capsule of what we like to call "reality".  A $7000 Harley Sportster with $1500 worth of accessories is still not going to ‘magically’ become a $8500 bike!! It will be what someone else is willing to pay you and what you are willing to accept. That means that even though you have spent a total of $8500, you are only going to get back $8500 for the bike if someone else agrees to pay full retail price for a used bike and parts.

Please don’t fool yourself into thinking otherwise. At 23 years old, you should be financially smarter than this, man.  You really should.

"On your bike... dont bother you wont gain anything."

Well, I have to break it to you gently, my naive young mental virgin.  The old saying of "Chrome makes it go faster." is just a hot rodding joke.  Adding a bunch of accessories to your bike is going to do three things:

Cost you money.

Ruin your aerodynamics.

Add weight to your bike.

I never put anything on my bike to try to make it something it wasn’t, Pete, or try to increase the market value. Carburetor jet kits, high performance headers, ignition advancers, porting of the heads, new camshafts, they were all for FUNCTION, not FORM. They all were worth their money because they increased the FUNCTION of my bike, not the gingerbread factor. And there are enthusiasts out there who will pay extra for a well designed ‘Jap’ motorcycle, especially one that goes as fast as it looks, not just looks as fast as it goes.  It all goes back to image over substance.  You're riding a facade, Pete, and apparently, you're only adding to the facade without doing anything to back it up.

That's stupid.

"When you ride a harley you get to enjoy your ride and not have to worry about a sore back."

Only if you have the physiology of an orangutan.  I sport toured on my Ninja across other states, I never had a sore back. I think crouched down over a motorcycle is a very comfortable way to travel. I don’t like the wind in my face or sitting up like I’m a woman at the OB/GYN clinic with my legs spread in some highway pegs (don’t forget the tassels on my chaps flapping in order to let me know how fast I’m going!). I never had a problem with long distance on my Ninja, which had one of the ‘harshest’ of all of the ‘Jap’ suspensions. You’re falling into stereotypical Harley-ownership already, Pete.

"You get to enjoy this great country and not see just a blur when your riding."

Yeah, if you like the pace of a constipated snail. But what makes you think that because you own a Harley that the scenery magically changes for YOU, Pete? Do you think I don’t notice the beauty of this country (at about half of the price you’re paying to partake of such beauty)? Do you think I’m zipping along at 160mph EVERYWHERE I go? More stereotypical non-sense, like Harley riders are the only ones who can see the beauty of nature or enjoy their motorcycles, like you don’t take a sportbike sport touring or riding through unknown two lane twisties to see new sights and go exploring. Oh, the ignorance of the typical catalog-clothed Harley owner…

Yes. Especially since even with 1200ccs of "American Muscle", the fastest (and that too is a misnomer) Harley is still tantamount to a Jersey cow being powered by a mouse fart.  90% of having power ISN'T about USING that power, it is about HAVING that power TO use.  Just because America has nuclear weapons, you don't see us nuking everyone every day, now do you?   But we have the power.  And when we say "We're going to nuke you." that doesn't mean that we're going to shoot an ESTES model rocket over their border with the word "NUKE" on the balsa wood nose cone and nothing but gunpowder in the cardboard tube of the body.  It means we're going to reduce one of their cities to a glowing crater.  Power isn't about USING power, power is about having power on tap, Pete.  If you're going to claim that you're powerful, then you better be powerful.  Otherwise, shut up.

I guess it just is no longer American to have any kind of performance to back up your bad ass image which is news to me.  I don't buy it, but I guess you and others like you do.  I guess you wouldn’t want to buy a Corvette that runs 170mph either, would you, Pete? You would feel that Corvette owners don’t see the beautiful scenery of this country because it is all a blur to them, or that at the end of the day, after you've driven your minivan and you both meet at a bar that the Corvette owner is going to wish he had a minivan instead of that luscious Vette.  Hell, if image ranks so much over function, let’s just sell Corvettes with 350 cid small blocks in them that only make 80 horsepower, or how about putting in the new 500cid big block motors that Chevy has introduced, only we'll keep the technology of 60 years ago so that these 500 cubic inch monsters only produce about one quarter horsepower per cubic inch, where we have 500cid motors producing less power than imported four cylinders. Yeah, you do that, Pete, and see how many ‘Vettes you sell. Chevrolet isn’t stupid. They have an image of being a world class leader in sports cars, and they back that up with honest to God balls under the hood to prove it, hammer down, anytime someone rises to challenge them. Something that Harley can’t do and doesn’t even attempt to do.  Harley would rather walk loudly and carry a small stick.   Harleys are for posers and the ignorant, for people with too many preconceived notions and too much money.  Harleys are for fools.

"But ill make sure i give a horn toot when i rumble by and theyre pulling your teeth out of a tree that you wrapped your pretty little face aroung at 160 miles per hour."

And I felt SO bad for that Harley rider of 30 years who’s big ass heavy Harley didn’t have the brakes to stop in time, the suspension to outmaneuver, or the speed to outrun that deer that entered the road in front of him. I guess he was too busy thinking about his image that he was projecting or just enjoying the scenery as you say Harley riders are so wont to do. The fact that he’s paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life because he rode a big ass POS that handled like a pregnant yak at speed is testament to why I don’t buy a Harley. I don’t ride Lazy-Boy recliners on wheels. I like to be one with my machine, I like to sense the road, to feel for danger, to cache myself ahead of my machine, to know exactly what I’m going to do five seconds before I ever do it.

I guess that’s why when I hit a deer with my Ninja, that I walked away with just some skin missing from my right leg, and that was a 70mph collision. The Harley rider hit his deer at 45mph. Now, Pete, you tell me, feeling safe out there with all that weight and no performance. If you wanted to see the country from a comfy sitting position, you could have saved beau-coups of money by buying a Lazy-Boy recliner (and they come with massagers and drink holders, you might can even get one with tassels on it, if you are particularly tacky), a nice multi-function VCR, and then watch some of the channels like DISCOVERY and TRAVEL from the safety of your home. If you want performance and safety, go ‘Jap’. If you want unsafe at any speed, look at me I’m a poser who buys their life from a catalog mailed to me from Milwaukee, then buy a Harley. But please, don’t talk to me about stuff like zipping by, and scenery, and the dangers of speed. Ask any USAF pilot what speed is and they will tell you, "Speed is life".

Performance.

Performance is speed, handling, acceleration, deceleration, braking and a host of other factors which allows you to meet danger and avoid it. All the tassels and official logo endorsed leather clad teddy bears in the world won’t save your ass if your machine isn’t up to the task, and a Harley is an inferior piece of shoddy production if I ever saw one. I wouldn’t bet my life riding a Harley. I’ve seen far more hurt Harley riders than I have ‘Jap’ riders. Riding upright and ‘comfy’ imposes a false sense of security on you that you cannot afford to have, if you want to ‘ride to live’.

"And anytime your ready lets take a ride around the country and compare ailments at the end of each day. I think it would be funny to walk into a bar at the end of the day of riding and see how hunched over you would be."

Well, when I got off of my Ninja after packing in 500 miles or more, I always felt alert and refreshed. Amazing how the ‘cruiser’ and ‘Harley’ guys always complained about being tired and beaten. Well, I guess standing facing a 75 to 80mph wind for six hours would wear down anyone. That’s why I ride low, becoming part of the aerodynamic envelope generated by my bike. I don’t get as tired as a upright rider because I’m in a more ergonomic position that keeps me from being beaten to death by the speed of the wind.

"I think its all a comfort thing and a ride thing."

That’s what most of the posers say. "It’s not the destination! It’s the journey!" What a bunch of sheep… Harley is an amazing corporate parasite.  If its the journey, then why are you taking the journey on one of the world's most retarded pieces of hardware?  I once saw a cartoon that made a lot of sense, it was in a National Lampoon magazine and it had the Chinese philosopher Confucius about to set out on a journey.  His first thought was "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the realization that a thousand miles is a hell of a long way."  If I was going cross country, or even out of state, you can be damn sure it wouldn't be on a POS Harley, no matter how 'comfy' it was.  If you want 'comfy' get a car...

"Sure theres jap cruisers but, look at them all, they are almost carbon copys of harleys. I say if you do something do it once and do it right."

Exactly. Japan realizes that there are truly ignorant people in the world with lots of money, and that Milwaukee, unable to compete on quality or performance with Japan, had to find a way to quickly make a buck or go hungry (which wouldn’t have been a bad fate, in hind sight to what we have today). So they marketed their crap to people who were too stupid to know the difference, and it WORKED! Man, those three tooth hill scoggins in Milwaukee were bathing in moon-shine and dancing a jig around the old still that night when they found out that you really could sell a gold spray painted turd to morons and tell them it was a Twinkie.  You think Japan is stupid?  The reason so many 'Jap' cruisers look like Harleys isn't because Harley is a 'superior' motorcycle, it is because stupid people are paying top dollar for retarded hardware, and the market is driven by the dollar.  So why do so many 'Jap' bikes look like Harleys?  Is it a form of flattery?  No.  Is it because Harley is a great motorcycle and the Japanese are trying to imitate Milwaukee's superior product?   No.  Well, why then?  Because stupid people have lots of money, and Japan is only trying to get into that market segment.  The 'smart' dumb people buy the 'look alike' Harleys for far less than the real thing.  They get the same 'look', at half the price, and better quality.  Japan recognizes that morons will buy carbon copy Harley motorcycles.   Japan isn't imitating Harley because Harley is a superior product, they're 'imitating' Harley because stupid people have lots of money, and the Pacific Rim wants some of that.  Hell, I want some of that!

"Ill e-mail you when i hit my first hunderd thousand on my bike and all the 99 jap cruisers are in the bone yard."

Please do, Pete. Before I hit the deer with my Ninja, I was approaching 45k miles on my little 'Jap‘ bike with zero maintenance problems and zero mechanical problems. I don’t see why it wouldn’t have gone for three or four times that amount of mileage. My '84 VF500F Honda Interceptor, a liquid cooled DOHC 16 valve V-four (as opposed to the 60 year old V-twin design) had over 88,000 miles on it and would pull like it was factory brand new.  I was the fourth owner and I bought it in 1990.  Do you think that a Harley will go forever and that Japanese (or German or Italian) bikes somehow magically wear out at 20,000 miles or so?  Think again, your ignorance is showing, Pete. The fact is that most people don’t KEEP ‘Jap’ bikes forever because there are newer models, more powerful models, innovations in design and technology, innovations in styling and performance. Not so with Harley. This year’s production models from Harley look pretty much the same as the ones from ten years ago. Not so with Japan. So, why would you trade up a Harley, if you’re only going to be paying more money for what you have now, maybe with a fresh coat of paint on it and maybe the letters jumbled around in the name? People keep Harleys because the factory is stagnant, and one Harley is about as good as another.  No innovation in Milwaukee, nope, that gene pool is inbred and still if ever there was one.

Why don’t you see 200,000 mile ‘Jap’ bikes when you see 122,000 mile Harleys? Because people like change. People buy change. There is very little difference between a Harley Sportster from 1985 and one from 2001. Maybe some cosmetics, but on a day to day scale, their almost identical bikes. You take a 1984 Honda VF500F Interceptor (Honda’s premier lightweight sportbike back then) and you compare it to the 2003 Honda CBR600F4I and you’ll find light years of difference in performance, handling, construction, materials, geometry of design, etc.  And with that difference comes a substantial difference in price, you pay for technology, you don’t pay for stagnation (unless you’re an ignorant Harley owner with far too much money and no brains). Would I pay $6000 for a 2001 VF500F Interceptor if it was built the best it could be, according to 1985 technology? No, you would have to be a fool to do so. Would I buy the logical evolution of the VF500F Interceptor; the CBR600F4I, if it was built using the latest materials, production technology, engine, suspension, and computer controlled fuel injection systems? In a heartbeat!

"So just to keep it real, we all love to ride or we wouldnt own motorcycles, I dont care what kind of a bike a person rides."

Obviously you don’t care what type of bike that YOU ride, otherwise you wouldn’t own a Harley. A Harley isn't about riding, otherwise it would be a much better bike.  A Harley is about image, it's about being seen and heard.  A Harley, and repeat this until you learn it, IS NOT A MOTORCYCLE! It is the world’s best selling motorized wheelchair for posers, hippies, and wannabes. It makes noise and has no balls. It is overrated, underpowered, over priced, over weight, and owned by people with the mentality of sheep. You don’t ‘own’ a Harley, you pay your dues to join a flock of sheep. Just wanted to clear that up. Print this part out and tape it to the windscreen of your Harley. Maybe with all the vibration, it might sink in… eventually.

"Just wanted to give a harley riders point of view."

A sad, deluded Harley rider’s point of view and one I’ve heard time and time again. What a bunch of ignorant whining.

"Its a totally different feeling on a harley a feeling of freedom knowing that the road begins here and doesnt end."

Oh, brother.  Here comes the sock puppet with Milwaukee's hands shoved up my ass and I'm fixing to start quoting the HD propaganda machine segment.   Oh, I went to the Harley website because what Pete is saying sounds a lot like brainwashing to me, he chants it in a religious overtone like a mantra. To prove my point, here is a screenshot just to show you how brainwashed poor Pete really is.  You thought the communists were bad at brainwashing, they don't have anything on the PR juggernaut that is run by those three tooth hill scoggins in Milwaukee.  Man, Milwaukee has the best marketing department in the world, I kid you not.

"The road starts here."   Well, it looks like the road starts way out in the middle of Bumphuck, Iowa now doesn't it?  That's a great start, Pete.  Hope your Harley can outrun that dueling banjo music you hear in the background otherwise fifteen minutes into your ride you'll be heading for a big ass raping, hillbilly clan style.  Great road, Pete.   It is long and flat and straight, no curves, so you can ride pretty safe on your Harley. 

"It never ends."  Neither does eternity in Hell, but you don't see people lining up at a dealership to buy that, now do you?  You poor, brainwashed ignorant sheep, Pete. I truly pity you to have bought into a façade so lock stock and barrel. Truly, there is no hope for you.  You have given your life over to mediocrity and commercialism.  You were for sale and Milwaukee bought you, soul and all apparently.  Sad.

"A feeling that you have so many friends in the world."

There are lots of sheep in the world. Sheep need love to.  Sheep hang around in big groups called 'flocks'.   They feel safe that way.  It is a false sense of security but one that they cling to nonetheless.  Wolves like sheep, Pete.  They're usually all together in one place and they don't run very fast and they're really tasty and ...

"Harley riders are the nicest people always willing to let you know a good ride or lend a hand."

And I suppose that when I stopped to help a mother and her daughter on the side of the road change a flat on their Volvo that I was somehow dispelling this ‘nasty mean old rice rocket riding heathen’ image. Sorry about that… I guess that non-Harley riders are not the ‘nicest people always willing to let you know a good ride or lend a hand." Thanks, Pete, for making yet another unsupported generalization, like when Harley riders pull up next to soccer moms in minivans that the power door locks don't get checked and activated...   I've seen it too many times.

"Theres alot more to it then nasty fat gang bikers in bars man."

Really? But THAT is what makes a Harley THE thing to own, Pete! I mean, bad ass mean people ride them (and since when did bullies really have much brains, so that should be your first clue). Again, the bikes I choose to ride don’t have this image with them. Score one for my side. The average leather wearing knife in the boot bar hopping tattooed retard couldn’t begin to cope with a bike like my Ninja. Why are Harleys so big? So drunk retards can find them when they leave the bar at night…

"I had a chance to go to a swapmeet in new hampshire this spring and there were thousands of bikes there, i can honestly say in my 6 years of riding a jap bike i never saw that many prople in one place with so much pride and love for their sport."

Ever notice how wolves are solitary creatures, yet sheep and cattle are in massive flocks and herds, Pete? Same thing applies here. I don’t call them ‘swapmeets’ anymore, I now refer to them as ‘cattle drives’. Glad you found a slot to fit in and be one of the faceless many in life. Pete, you really don’t seem happy being an individual or trying to make a place for yourself in this world all by yourself.  Don't you feel better that you can order your life out of a catalog?  That everything you need to present PETE to the world is just a credit card and a phone call away?  Better just to engage in some Brownian Mimicricy, to act tough to scare away the wolves when you couldn't fight them if you had to save your life, that way, maybe the bad old wolves won’t see you in the huge crowd of sheep and they’ll get some other poor luckless sheep instead.

I’d love to ride with you, Pete. I really would. I feel that I could change some of your negative stereotype issues with ‘Jap’ bikes. The funny thing is, I always ride my sportbike like a Harley. Slow and easy. enjoying the ride (and the looks that I get for my choice in bikes, a Ninja is something awesome, a Harley, well, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all...) I keep my power on reserve for when I need it (and that is the beauty of a sport bike vs a Harley) and that doesn’t mean that I NEED it from stop light to stop light. Sure, there are some retards who ride sportbikes wide open all the time, Harley has their share of these morons as well, just like the retard I met on the Harley at the stop light. I tried to set a better example. I ride my ‘Jap’ bike like a Harley, but that doesn’t mean I want a Harley. Riding slow because you want to is one thing. Riding slow because you have to due to the limitations of your machine is another…