Author Topic: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles  (Read 236244 times)

oldbike54

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #270 on: March 26, 2014, 01:36:58 PM »
And what is your response?  I can think of some great responses for that.
Usually something silly , I have actually had folks argue that BMW doesn't make MCs , and Guzzi is really a Honda , Harley , some South Korean brand , and my favorite was years ago , " Well ya know , my uncle had one uh them things, built by GM , that's why the cylinders are atta 60 degree angle , just like a Chevy ." We can all see what is wrong with that statement  :D
Skromfols , tell us some of your ideas for responses .
Dusty

Offline Lannis

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #271 on: March 26, 2014, 01:54:27 PM »
"Gosh, you must be rich if you own a Harley"

The guy must have been in a closet for the last 50 years. 

Back when a new Duo-Glide cost $2100 and a man started a good manufacturing job at $2.45 an hour, that's one thing.

But today, with 250,000 a year being sold and a thousand of them passing by any given point on any highway any summer day?  Rich guys?  Really?

Lannis
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Offline skromfols

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #272 on: March 26, 2014, 02:20:37 PM »
Skromfols , tell us some of your ideas for responses .
Dusty

Is that a real Moto Guzzi ?

No, it's really a Harley, but I don't want my neighbors to think I'm rich

Yes, it's one of only 3 made in 2012 and very rare.  Would you like me to take your picture standing next to it.

No, actually it's counterfit, but please don't tell anyone, I don't want to go back to prison.
Stan

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Offline lucian

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #273 on: March 26, 2014, 07:38:08 PM »
 A lady pulls into the parking space beside me and then states, " I could have hit you if I hadn't missed"  I,m still thinking about that one!

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #273 on: March 26, 2014, 07:38:08 PM »

Offline ScottR

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #274 on: May 29, 2014, 06:47:18 AM »
Stopped in a Wendy's for lunch a couple of weeks ago.  Guy asks "what kind of bike is that?"  I reply "Moto Guzzi."  He says "is that made by Honda?"
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Joe G

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #275 on: May 29, 2014, 08:17:28 AM »
The dumbest thing people say to me is " be careful riding that thing".  It happens often.   ???

      Joe G


Offline Late to the party

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #276 on: May 29, 2014, 09:08:35 AM »
A lady pulls into the parking space beside me and then states, " I could have hit you if I hadn't missed"  I,m still thinking about that one!

If you stop and think about that statement, it's actually quite terrifying.

However, not nearly as terrifying as that inanimate object over there.

I think they call it, "Ottoman".

oldbike54

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #277 on: May 29, 2014, 11:20:18 AM »
Just recently . "Well what the heck is that , a Moto , er , Gussi ? '" No , explaining just a bit of the history " been around since 1921 " . " Hey Fred , c'mere and look at this 1921 Moto Gussi "  :o :D Now Fred isn't anymore clued in than the other fella , so he says ," Well daayemn , sure in good shape for a 1921 motorscooter" . I just walked away.

Dusty

Offline Lannis

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #278 on: May 29, 2014, 11:38:16 AM »
Just recently . "Well what the heck is that , a Moto , er , Gussi ? '" No , explaining just a bit of the history " been around since 1921 " . " Hey Fred , c'mere and look at this 1921 Moto Gussi "  :o :D Now Fred isn't anymore clued in than the other fella , so he says ," Well daayemn , sure in good shape for a 1921 motorscooter" . I just walked away.

Dusty

Motorcycles must have a strange effect on people.   I realized that I've "been into" motorcycles, either reading about the Smothers Brothers testing Honda Super 90s in a 1967 Popular Science, or building my own trailbikes and minibikes, or buying and selling and riding and rallying them for lo these many years, so I know a lot about them and their history, and don't expect everyone to understand them at that level.

But I don't THINK I'm as blindingly ignorant about ANY aspect of machinery or material things, even if I'm not at all involved with it (steam engines, skis, hot-air balloons, saxophones, longbows) as some people seem to be about motorcycles.   It's like they're an absolute mystery surrounded by a swirling fog of Hell's Angels, Sons of Anarchy and their mothers' disapprobation ....

Lannis
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190 Octane

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #279 on: May 29, 2014, 11:40:00 AM »
While gearing up in a McDonald's parking lot, one of the employees walks by and ask "What kind of bike is that?"

I respond, "It's a Moto Guzzi."

And he replies, "Moto Guzzi, they sure do have some strange names for motorcycles these days, it use to be everything was either a Harley or a Kawasaki."

oldbike54

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #280 on: May 29, 2014, 11:55:33 AM »
It's the spinning wheels and shiny chrome that gets 'em Lannis  :D Probably more mythology and more urban legends surrounding MCs than any other fairly common appliance .
 Hey 190 , Kawasaki sounded pretty strange back in 1968  ::) ;D

Dusty

barenekd

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #281 on: May 29, 2014, 02:55:03 PM »
Quote
Kawasaki sounded pretty strange back in 1968

Didn't sound more strange than Yamaguchi.
Had a wife once that said I couldn't have any more motorcycles. That was really stupid. Obviously, she's an ex.
Bare

rocketcaptain

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #282 on: May 29, 2014, 02:56:11 PM »
I have a son who is simply not into mechanical stuff, speed or anything else related to motor vehicles.  But he decided he'd like to give it a go and took a MSF course, license and free seat time from me.  Our first trip to the mountains, and of course he had to field a lot of questions about the Griso he was riding.  He'd grin and explain that it "that guy's" bike, and he didn't know squat about it.  When someone asked him if it was water cooled, he said he guessed so if it was raining.
I had to wait at a gas station for him at the end of nice twisty road, and was talking to some other riders when he finally rolled up.  I asked if he'd had some trouble that kept him so long, and he said, no, he just lost a lot of time when he'd get off to push the bike around the curves.
« Last Edit: May 29, 2014, 02:57:09 PM by rocketcaptain »

Offline Late to the party

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #283 on: May 29, 2014, 03:10:37 PM »
While gearing up in a McDonald's parking lot, one of the employees walks by and ask "What kind of bike is that?"

I respond, "It's a Moto Guzzi."

And he replies, "Moto Guzzi, they sure do have some strange names for motorcycles these days, it use to be everything was either a Harley or a Kawasaki."

Any question as to why that person worked at McDonald's?

Offline Dean Rose

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #284 on: May 29, 2014, 03:30:20 PM »
The wife said, why do you want another Moto Guzzi?


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Offline FGO

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #285 on: May 29, 2014, 05:40:08 PM »
A gent cut me off on Mulholland highway, hit me and took me out, I was laying on my side underneath my 02 Cal SS with gas dripping all over me, and hot bits laying on me.  A friendly gent stopped and said he saw the whole thing and it was the other guys fault and did I want him to call the cops.   I gathered my wits and said "why thank you, but if you could help lift this burning hot motorcycle off of me, it would make the rest of the ordeal a bit easier"  He instantly realized I was under a bike and in not to great of condition and pulled the sucker off of me. The gent who cut me off did come back, but the cops don't take kindly to any motorcyclist on Mulholland highway..... I did come out fine in the end...  But as for stupid, having to ask a guy to help me lift a hot, leaking motorcycle off of me is pretty good
Jon

Offline rodekyll

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #286 on: May 29, 2014, 07:47:23 PM »
BMW makes motorcycles too?

I got my kid a t-shirt that says "I didn't know BMW made those until I passed one"

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #287 on: May 29, 2014, 08:51:58 PM »
Since moving to the US, I've given up worrying about why locals asking why my CalVin's cylinders point in the wrong direction. I recently met up with a friend from UK who used to ride Japanese bikes. After looking over the Guzzi for 10 minutes, and asking what size engine it was, he finally said "is it a 4 or a 6?". When I looked at him strange, he replied 4 or 6 cylinder.......? I thought a European engineer would be more knowlegeable      :beat_horse

Offline jas67

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #288 on: June 03, 2014, 05:42:18 AM »
I asked if he'd had some trouble that kept him so long, and he said, no, he just lost a lot of time when he'd get off to push the bike around the curves.

Seriously?     Maybe the Griso wasn't the right bike for him to be riding?   ::)
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rocketcaptain

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #289 on: June 03, 2014, 06:29:31 AM »
Seriously?     Maybe the Griso wasn't the right bike for him to be riding?   ::)


No, not seriously.  He was joking, but he was seriously disinterested in speed.

Come to think of it, maybe the stupidest thing anyone ever said regarding motorcycles wasn't said to me, since I was pretty young, but to my Dad.  We were on a Saturday morning cruise on his Lambretta, and stopped at a motorcycle shop in an old wooden barn beside the corn field.  My Dad wanted to see the new Japanese motorcycles they would be selling along with their normal line of HD, Triumph, etc.  Another customer told my Dad that he didn't think those Honda motorcycles would ever catch on.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2014, 06:40:08 AM by rocketcaptain »

Offline dawdish

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #290 on: June 03, 2014, 07:51:36 AM »
  He'd grin and explain that it "that guy's" bike, and he didn't know squat about it.  When someone asked him if it was water cooled, he said he guessed so if it was raining.... he said, no, he just lost a lot of time when he'd get off to push the bike around the curves.



Your son has quite the sense of humor ;-T   
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Offline Wayne Orwig

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #291 on: June 03, 2014, 08:05:45 AM »
The stupidest thing anyone ever said to me:
"You should get a Harley"
Then, about 4 decades later, me with about 1/2 million miles on motorcycles, him with about 20,000 miles on Harleys, he says:
"You should get a Harley"

From that data point, I NEVER want a Harley.
 :BEER:
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Offline Lannis

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #292 on: June 03, 2014, 08:10:34 AM »
No, not seriously.  He was joking, but he was seriously disinterested in speed.

Come to think of it, maybe the stupidest thing anyone ever said regarding motorcycles wasn't said to me, since I was pretty young, but to my Dad.  We were on a Saturday morning cruise on his Lambretta, and stopped at a motorcycle shop in an old wooden barn beside the corn field.  My Dad wanted to see the new Japanese motorcycles they would be selling along with their normal line of HD, Triumph, etc.  Another customer told my Dad that he didn't think those Honda motorcycles would ever catch on.

Well, you know, you can hardly blame him.   The Japanese had a terrible reputation for making cheap junk; my father took apart a little tin toy wind-up car that had quit working for me when I was about 7 - and on the inside of the body you could still see the beer-can label.   

The transition from "Made in Japan" being a joke for horrible quality to being Toyotas and Hondas that set the standard for everyone else's quality caught EVERYONE by surprise, I think ....

Lannis
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Offline Triple Jim

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #293 on: June 03, 2014, 08:31:02 AM »
Very true, Lannis.  I remember the days when "Made in Japan" meant "Don't Waste Your Money" too.  When Honda introduced the Civic to the US I remember being among the people who laughed at the silly idea that a tiny Japanese car had any chance of selling well.  A friend said that he had heard that they were actually a pretty good car.  That was the fist of many positive comments I heard about the Civic, which of course was one of the cars that changed the whole US auto industry.
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oldbike54

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #294 on: June 03, 2014, 08:52:26 AM »
From On any Sunday 2 " From the land of the rising Sun comes a YA MAH HA , and from the looks of things it might be the last one we see " . Commentary from the Big Bear circa 1958 or '59 .

Dusty

Offline Lannis

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #295 on: June 03, 2014, 09:05:47 AM »
From On any Sunday 2 " From the land of the rising Sun comes a YA MAH HA , and from the looks of things it might be the last one we see " . Commentary from the Big Bear circa 1958 or '59 .

Dusty

Must have come out OK in the end, because Yamaha actually named their 250 twin the "Big Bear Scrambler" after their successes ....

In the 50's, Japan had been bombed to rubble and was frantically trying to build anything they could in order to get their foreign exchange going in the right direction, hence toys and appliances made out of beer cans and scrap metal (probably plenty of that from the occupying GIs).   

It's a little different with the real and perceived low-quality crap we get from China and India today.   They know just what they're doing, and they are accurately meeting the specifications that they've been given by the US customers who are outsourcing to them.    As far as I can tell, there are three quality specifications covering metallurgy, assembly quality, and fit-and-finish:

1) It must be done the cheapest way possible
2) It must be sold for the least money that can possibly done
3) It must cost less than anything else we buy anywhere

So (because we are a "First World" country that wants to pay "Third World" prices for everything), that's exactly what we get.   Them boys have been at this game for thousands of years and they know JUST how to maximize their foreign exchange, whether they're trading rice and teak in the 5th century, or trading cars and DVD players in the 21st century ....

Lannis
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Offline segesta

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #296 on: June 03, 2014, 09:53:40 AM »
Yet this is why Walmart has done more to improve the living standards of lower-income rural Americans than any bazillion-dollar government program.
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Offline Lannis

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #297 on: June 03, 2014, 10:02:58 AM »
Yet this is why Walmart has done more to improve the living standards of lower-income rural Americans than any bazillion-dollar government program.

I'd hate to think that was true.   To me, WalMart has always been a way to flood people's lives with cheap junk that they've been sold on "having to have".

Maybe it's a people problem rather than a WalMart problem.    I'd never want to thread my way past the apathetic-looking employees smoking on the front sidewalk and flinging their butts where I have to walk ....

But in a "material things" sense, you could be right.   "Lower Income" people below the poverty level today have their houses full of more "stuff" than the doctors and lawyers did when I was growing up.

Lannis
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kidneb

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #298 on: June 03, 2014, 10:19:05 AM »
Since moving to the US, I've given up worrying about why locals asking why my CalVin's cylinders point in the wrong direction. I recently met up with a friend from UK who used to ride Japanese bikes. After looking over the Guzzi for 10 minutes, and asking what size engine it was, he finally said "is it a 4 or a 6?". When I looked at him strange, he replied 4 or 6 cylinder.......? I thought a European engineer would be more knowlegeable      :beat_horse
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Offline rocker59

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #299 on: June 03, 2014, 11:04:51 AM »
I pulled into the office parking lot on my 1991 LeMans the other day.  One of our IT guys (a self appointed gear head) was walking out as I was walking in, and had seen me pull in on the bike.

"Nice bike", he says.  "Is that a Two-Fifty?"

 :o

I was almost speechless, but replied, "nah.  One Thousand".

He got a puzzled look on his face and said, "oh...", as he walked away...

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