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[ST] H-D hatred



I just want to say that if you've never ridden an H-D Sportster, you're
missing one of life's great pleasures.  Until last year when they went
to the heavier rubber-mount frame, the Sportster was basically the same
bike they've been making since the 50's--and it rode like it.  Which is
fun in the same way that driving a 50's Porsche 356 is fun. I considered
my 2001 1200 Sportster to be a 2-wheel time machine.  It shook and jumped
and coughed and backfired and farted and vibrated and just gave off the
aura of a machine from back in the days of external pushrods that you had
to manually oil with a brass oil can.  It was terrific fun to ride about
40mph on a curvy sun-dappled road.  I ground almost half the diameter of
my forward-mounted footpegs off.  You always felt like you were going 
twice as fast as you really were, the sensation of speed was much greater
than it is on my ST.  It was easy and safe to use up all the capability
the bike had...at nearly legal speeds, too.

But all the social baggage that comes with the brand is difficult to
ignore.  Other H-D riders sneer at your "girl's bike".  They measure their
manhood by how much money their bike costs and how perfectly unused-looking
they can keep it.  Rider's of other brands tend to lump you in with all the 
black leather and novelty helmet "Dangerous Rebel" accountants on their
chrome encrusted Heritage Softails that do maybe 500 miles a summer.
You rarely see Sportsters in these herds of Tough Rich Guys at those
certain bars where they congregate to admire each other's fringed assless
chaps and skull-and-crossbones do-rags.

I subscribed to the sportster.org list for years.  There are all the same
guys over there as you guys.  Sportster riders who actually ride are a
completely different group than your stereotypical "Harley riders".
They tend to have multiple bikes, all brands.  I'll bet there are some
of those guys who are also on this list.  A Sporster is like a blank 
canvas.  You can take a Sportster and turn it into everything from a full-on 
touring machine to a cafe-style peg-scratcher to a drag racer with huge
back tire and way way more power than a Sprint.  From a push-rod air-cooled
V-twin.  That's one of the things about Harley's, every single piece you
need to build one from scratch is manufactured by dozens of different
companies.  If you like to tinker and modify and hot-rod, there is simply
no comparison in the spectrum of choices you get from the aftermarket than
for any other brand.  What are there, three choices for aftermarket seats
for a Triumph?  There are probably twenty times as many seat choices for 
a Sportster.  Same story with every other part.

Anyway, maybe differentiate between the big-twin poseurs and dirtbags and
the cool guys who like charming antique machinery.  It's sort of like 
flying a 65h.p. Piper Cub low and slow with the door open.  Sometimes this
is more fun than going 500 mph so high you can't hardly tell you're moving.

--Les
02 ST Seattle



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