Author Topic: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles  (Read 236216 times)

Offline Tom

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #210 on: December 29, 2013, 01:14:03 PM »
To go along with that.  You'd be surprised at the number of "seniors" competing in the World Triathlon Championships every year in Kona. ;-T  Just not my thing. ;D
From the Deep Deep South out in left field.  There are no stupid questions.  There are however stupid people asking questions.  🤣, this includes me.  😉

Offline ken farr

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #211 on: December 29, 2013, 01:37:10 PM »
Yesterday.
Not stupid, just interesting.

I had to ride the bus to get to the bus that would take me to where my bike was being worked on.

Anyway, I have my greenglowinthedark helmet, with my mesh jacket ( hey it's 75 here ), and I am waiting on the second bus.  I notice a fellow wearing a Harley Davidson denim jacket.  He asks if I crashed, so I have to ride the bus.  No, just going to pick it up from service.  He asks what I ride, I tell him a Moto Guzzi 1100 Breva.
He says he doesn't know anything about Guzzi.  I ask if he rides a Harley.  He says no....but he would really like to, but can't afford it. I ask about the jacket, he says everyone knows Harley, and it let's him enter into discussions about motorcycles, that he probably wouldn't be able to otherwise.

My bus shows up, and I bid him good bye, say good luck on getting a motor, and if you really want to have motorcycle conversations, get a jacket with a Guzzi patch....

He smiled and waved....



kjf
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Offline Stormtruck2

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #212 on: December 29, 2013, 03:24:21 PM »
My wife always telling me, "You're too old to be riding motorcycles!"
I tell her, "If you want to see me get old, make me stop!"

Bare

My wife, Sweet Lorraine (she is a saint for putting up with me) is always teasing me about "You/we should get a trike."  I told her when I get too old to ride the bike, I'll consider a trike.  "How old is that?" she asked.  "When I am too old to ride you." I told her.  I won't repeat her reply on this forum.  ;) :D ;D
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spyvito

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #213 on: December 29, 2013, 04:02:17 PM »
"I think your bike is out of oil."

No, (I say) that's a dry clutch.

"huh.  Maybe if you add some oil that sound will go away."

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #213 on: December 29, 2013, 04:02:17 PM »

Offline youcanrunnaked

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #214 on: December 29, 2013, 04:39:00 PM »
I notice a fellow wearing a Harley Davidson denim jacket....  I ask if he rides a Harley.  He says no....but he would really like to, but can't afford it. I ask about the jacket, he says everyone knows Harley, and it let's him enter into discussions about motorcycles, that he probably wouldn't be able to otherwise.

My bus shows up, and I bid him good bye, say good luck on getting a motor, and if you really want to have motorcycle conversations, get a jacket with a Guzzi patch....


Better advice would have been: stop drinking the H-D cool-aid and just GET A BIKE.  Harley has the general public bamboozled into thinking that they are the only motorcycle worth owning, and that unless you spend a minimum of $10,000 on a used bike, or $20,000 on a new bike, it's trash.  I am always surprised to meet so many people wishing and hoping and dreaming of owning a motorcycle, when they all could be riding today.  The truth is there is an abundance of complete, running, perfectly good motorcycles on craigslist every day, starting at around $2,000. 
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BigDave in PA

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #215 on: December 29, 2013, 04:50:16 PM »
OK, here's one from a few years ago. My dad, my wife, my son and a few friends were on our bikes coming home from the West Virginia Rally. We were at the Midway Service Plaza on the PA Turnpike and it was pouring rain. We had stopped to get out of the rain and to warm up a bit. We were all in the lobby putting on our rain suits and boots and had our helmets there. A lady coming in stopped and looked at us for a few seconds and then said: "What are the suits for? What are you people doing" My son quickly replied: "We're here to clean up the hazardous spill in the parking lot. There's a high level of radio active waste out there. I hope you didn't come in that way" She looked terrified as we walked away laughing our arses off.

dilligaf

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #216 on: December 29, 2013, 05:21:32 PM »
Better advice would have been: stop drinking the H-D cool-aid and just GET A BIKE.  Harley has the general public bamboozled into thinking that they are the only motorcycle worth owning, and that unless you spend a minimum of $10,000 on a used bike, or $20,000 on a new bike, it's trash.  I am always surprised to meet so many people wishing and hoping and dreaming of owning a motorcycle, when they all could be riding today.  The truth is there is an abundance of complete, running, perfectly good motorcycles on craigslist every day, starting at around $2,000. 

It's called advertising and, in Harleys case, it works.  :BEER:
Matt

oldbike54

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #217 on: December 29, 2013, 06:31:15 PM »
Radioactive waste , have to remember that . HA !
Dusty


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Offline ken farr

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #218 on: December 29, 2013, 11:27:32 PM »
Better advice would have been: stop drinking the H-D cool-aid and just GET A BIKE.  Harley has the general public bamboozled into thinking that they are the only motorcycle worth owning, and that unless you spend a minimum of $10,000 on a used bike, or $20,000 on a new bike, it's trash.  I am always surprised to meet so many people wishing and hoping and dreaming of owning a motorcycle, when they all could be riding today.  The truth is there is an abundance of complete, running, perfectly good motorcycles on craigslist every day, starting at around $2,000. 


...I don't think he was close to 2 grand net worth.  Some folks can only afford the jacket, more power to him.

kjf
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Offline Lannis

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #219 on: December 30, 2013, 06:07:17 PM »
"I think your bike is out of oil."

No, (I say) that's a dry clutch.

"huh.  Maybe if you add some oil that sound will go away."


Funny thing is, he's exactly right!   :D

Lannis
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Offline lomax

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #220 on: December 30, 2013, 06:25:45 PM »
Loud Clutches save lives.  ;D

Marc
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Offline nsumax

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #221 on: December 31, 2013, 01:54:24 AM »
I am MSF instructor and while taking a lunch break two younger students in their 20's were looking at my freshly rebuilt '76 Convert asked me "what kind of bike is that and where was it made"? After I told them it is a Moto Guzzi and made in Italy, one of them looks at me and completly serious says "we thought it was a Suzuki or Kawasaki that you made up a cool sounding name and had new badges made". Another student who was my age (mid 50's) and a bit more knowlegable than the two youngsters over heard the conversation and burst out laughing. While the boys looked at him like he was stupid. I just smiled and thanked them for the compliments.

JWD

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #222 on: January 01, 2014, 08:19:45 AM »
So many over the years, but my two recent favorites:

While stopping for gas on my Norton, a kid on a Kawasaki came up to me and said: "Mr. your motorcycle has an oil leak"

While parking my Griso at the hardware store, a guy jumped out of his car and came running over yelling: "Is that a Corvette motor?"

oldbike54

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #223 on: January 03, 2014, 09:34:41 PM »
A Corvette motor , really ? Sheesh , what next , a Saturn booster ?
Dusty


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Offline Triple Jim

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #224 on: January 03, 2014, 09:36:50 PM »
I was thinking maybe Corvette boy had seen a Boss Hog in photos, and saw a front view of the Guzzi...
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Offline Lannis

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #225 on: January 08, 2014, 05:33:54 PM »
I was thinking maybe Corvette boy had seen a Boss Hog in photos, and saw a front view of the Guzzi...

A WHAT in photos?   He was the guy on Dukes of Hazzard wasn't he .... ?   ;)

I think that a lot of those people that aren't riding because "they're waiting to get a Harley" don't really want to ride, they just want to talk about it, and not having $10K for a bike is their excuse ...

Lannis
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Offline Triple Jim

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #226 on: January 08, 2014, 05:55:55 PM »
A brother of a friend was definitely in the category of wanting a big full-dress Harley, and nothing else would do.  He never owned a motorcycle, and almost certainly never will.  Even if he tried to save up to buy one, I'm quite sure his wife would put a stop to it.  So he can honestly keep on telling everyone that he wants to buy a full-dress Harley.  My friend was the one who asked me to teach him to ride, using my H2, so he could see if he wanted to buy a motorcycle.  I may have posted about that earlier in the thread.   :D
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Offline lomax

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #227 on: January 08, 2014, 06:01:19 PM »
teach him to ride, using my H2,

Oh that is just so wrong in so many ways.  :D

Marc
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Offline Triple Jim

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #228 on: January 08, 2014, 06:05:36 PM »
More than you know.  I don't mean to make fun at all, but he weighs about 350 lbs.  It would have been quite cramped for him with the drag bars and all.
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oldbike54

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #229 on: January 08, 2014, 06:12:12 PM »
More than you know.  I don't mean to make fun at all, but he weighs about 350 lbs.  It would have been quite cramped for him with the drag bars and all.


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Offline Triple Jim

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #230 on: January 08, 2014, 06:17:11 PM »
Speechless, Dusty?
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Offline youcanrunnaked

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #231 on: January 08, 2014, 06:24:34 PM »


I think that a lot of those people that aren't riding because "they're waiting to get a Harley" don't really want to ride, they just want to talk about it, and not having $10K for a bike is their excuse ...

Maybe so, but there is also a large sub-culture of people who consider themselves motorcycle enthusiasts, and for whom there is only one brand of motorcycle worth paying any attention to.  In my experience, those people have no idea of the market value of other brands of motorcycles.  (They also, in general, have no idea what constitutes good protective motorcycle gear, or what that should cost.)  Why?  Because they don't care.

When one of them bothers to ask me what I paid for my bikes, they seem genuinely surprised that each cost substantially less than $5,000.  Of course, they can always rationalize the price disparity between what I own and their chosen brand; after all, none of my bikes are "real" motorcycles.   ::)
"The transverse vibration is a great sensation -- hey, I think I just wrote a song!"
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"If Moto Guzzi were any more of a cult, you'd need a chicken."
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Hellgate

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #232 on: January 08, 2014, 09:32:12 PM »
An Ex-boss, "Oh! You ride a murdercycle!!!" Yup, I guess so. 6 years later, 32 years of riding I'm STILL here. Much to the disappointment of a few people.  ;D

Online Muzz

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #233 on: January 09, 2014, 01:01:10 PM »
  The funny part is that this was when I was riding my Kawasaki H2.

A brave man indeed sir! ;D
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barenekd

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #234 on: January 09, 2014, 02:16:23 PM »
Quote
A brave man indeed sir! Grin

Which one? The guy who owned it or the guy who wanted to learn on it?
Bare

mickyvee

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #235 on: January 09, 2014, 02:56:50 PM »
 ??? As a Brit, living in the UK, I find it highly amusing, and somewhat disconcerting, that so many people consider HD's to be the only bike worth owning, and that Guzzi's are a complete mystery to them. Over here, every motorcyclist knows what a Guzzi is, and is aware of all the shortcomings of your typical Harley. Two totally different cultures I guess!

Offline Stormtruck2

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #236 on: January 09, 2014, 03:30:22 PM »
??? As a Brit, living in the UK, I find it highly amusing, and somewhat disconcerting, that so many people consider HD's to be the only bike worth owning, and that Guzzi's are a complete mystery to them. Over here, every motorcyclist knows what a Guzzi is, and is aware of all the shortcomings of your typical Harley. Two totally different cultures I guess!

Coming from a Brit, I apprciate you giving us credit for having a culture.  ;) :D  Being an American, I sometimes wonder whether we have any culture left in the states anymore, espcially when you look at what we put on the "telly".  ::)  I miss the time I spent in England. I really miss the pubs!! :BEER:
« Last Edit: January 09, 2014, 04:14:45 PM by Stormtruck2 »
If you wish to know what a man is, place in him authority.
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oldbike54

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #237 on: January 09, 2014, 03:43:18 PM »
Of course the Brits failed to recognize the shortcomings of their own MC brands in the last century .
( Did he just say that ? Uh oh ! )
Dusty


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Offline segesta

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #238 on: January 09, 2014, 06:51:27 PM »
Being an American, I sometimes wonder whether we have any culture left in the states anymore, espcially when you look at what we put on the "telly".

Speak for yourself, my oikophobic friend. I'll take Breaking Bad or Mad Men any day over British imports like The X Factor and Celebrity Fit Club. It ain't all Downton Abbey!  ;D

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Offline Stormtruck2

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Re: The stupidest thing anyone ever said to you regarding motorcycles
« Reply #239 on: January 09, 2014, 06:56:04 PM »
Speak for yourself, my oikophobic friend. I'll take Breaking Bad or Mad Men any day over British imports like The X Factor and Celebrity Fit Club. It ain't all Downton Abbey!  ;D



Oikophobic!!!  Okiophobic!!  REALLY??  How dare you call me that!  I have never been scared of pigs in my life!  ;) :D :D :D :D
If you wish to know what a man is, place in him authority.
False accusations reflect more on the accuser than the accused.
They can take everything from you, including your life, except your honor and integrity.  That you must give away.
Do or don't do. There is no try.
μολὼν λαβέ-molṑn labé

 

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