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

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.

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.

Hey! No Problem!

You will see many more of us in the future. Scooters are bringing a new generation to motorcycling! Report It

Good question Bob, I've wondered that myself. It got so bad here at one point that I didn't even visit this forum for months. It started getting really old.

Good question.
Answer? I can only guess.
Jealousy?
Immaturity?
Hate anyone different from themselves? (bias/prejudice/intolerance)

ignorance. I have ridden harley for 23 years never had a problem with them,have shown respect to fellow riders nomatter what they ride but yet the ones that show the disrespet ride mostly sportsbikes,to me it does not matter what you ride,just ride and be respectful.

First off ,if you're comparing H.D. to your Fiat you are mistaken, Some of the older (Pre- Evo) bikes can be temperamental but they don't just fall over dead.
In answer to your question, I really don't know ,but after a brief calm ,I have noticed a number of poorly concealed Harley hater questions and have been asking myself the same.

I don't really care for Suzuki or Kawasaki, but I can't imagine crafting an insult hidden in the form of a question to exclaim my opinion on these particular bikes.

***** rhand182 can you offer ANY example of a Harley owner "trying to make their bike out to be superior" or are you just blowing more hot air?******

it's cuz of the RUBS. they buy a HD and all of the sudden they are badass bikers. and HD is their choice of fashion. madison avenue tells them what to wear and drive and they follow. i'm not dissing the real riders, they pretty much respect that you ride not what you ride.

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!

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.

A stigma left over from the early days of Motorcycle clubs.

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 b.itch 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.

My Dad has been riding since 1969 and has always ridden Japanese bikes. He tells me the antagonistic behavior between H-D people and anybody else has gone on even before he started riding. He seems to think it all started with H-D people making fun of the old two stroke imports from Japan. One thing has led to another and so it goes.

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.

I have been owning and riding motorcycles for 20 years!
Long before motorcycles became popular!
Some new guy that never rode a motorcycle before goes out and buys a brand new HD!
Now this guy thinks he's all it! Mr. Motorcycle Expert, he thinks just because he owns a HD he's better than you!
He rides his HD to a bar and parks his HD right in front of the door and walks and talks like a tough guy!
He's not a tough guy, but he wants everybody to think his is a tough guy just because he owns a HD.
This same guy that knows NOTHING about motorcycles walks over to me and cuts me down and calls me names and calls my bike a "rice burner"
I have NO quarrel against HD Bikes, I have a problem with you POSERS that ride one!

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.

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 /

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.

What does an old Italian car have to do with this???

It's a remnant from the late 80s and early 90s. During that period, there was a lot of "buy American" sentiment. H-D wasn't doing so well financially because this was before the weekend warrior fad which persists today.

Some of my friends' bikes got called "Jap crap" and got kicked over in parking lots by H-D hardcases.

Anyways, I don't have any particular antipathy toward H-D motorcycles and riders in recent years. H-D makes some good motorcycles, and the people who ride 'em wave back when I wave. I wouldn't mind having a nice touring H-D motorcycle, but it's not in my budget because I'm a cheapskate.

It seems to start up every fall when the temperatures drop. I guess the freeze babies get bored so they start to stir some ****.

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

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.

I am a Honda and Yamaha rider myself. Some of my best friends ride Harley's. I have nothing against Harley but you know the reputation they built back in the day. So I do rib my friends about it every now and again just out of fun and they know that. But they pick on me too with my "Foreign Jobie's" Again with us it all in fun but you have the ones who cant take a joke or get all pissy about it and take it to far.
In my opinion we bikers are like a family and only we know why we HAVE to ride. So who cares what your riding as long as you ride!

What's the difference between a Harley Davidson and a vacuum cleaner?

With the vacuum cleaner, the dirtbag is on the inside.

It's because Harley owners are always trying to make their bikes out to be superior in some way. They always have this certain trashy attitude that just makes the "evil" flow toward them. And it's all because they are stupid this is not an insult nope it's just a fact. You pay twice as much money for something that is far less powerful, less comfortable, can't handle worth a damn, less reliable, and just all around inferior in every aspect. It's like going out and paying 3000$ for a 15' black and white TV and insisting that it's better than the latest 35' plasma screen they just paid 1500$ for. It's just pure stupidity and they're proud of it no less. And the proof is the fact that everytime you ask a Harley rider what makes their bike superior they just say "If I have to explain you wouldn't understand" well thats just pure stupidity that statement.

- Oh please ride on just take a look around a bit. If you really are having a hard time I can point you too a few people you can lookup for proof. Bill b, Harleylady, HD rider, Byron(on occasion), Crash(on occasion), Caveman, COblonde. All these airheads have repeatedly tried to say a Harley is a superior machine at some point recently. look it up.-

Yes, they are overpriced and inferior, but the attitude i have gotten as a sportbike rider is that I don't ride an American brand bike or a cruiser, so I'm not a true "biker". About the only bikes that do not wave at me on the road are Harleys. Harleys are not even made in America. Which makes me wonder why "rice burner" is used. Also, the amount of Harley riders that don't wear helmets or full-face helmets (over 60% of impacts occur on face/chin) speak to the attitude and intelligence of the rider. Sure, there are plenty of ***holes and posers on both sides, but my experience is that most Harley riders are brand loyal and brand blind to a fault and for some reason have a superiority complex. But I don't hate 'em.