Posts Tagged ‘HOG’
Harley Davidson Keeps Owner Groups Active
October 12th, 2009 | 
Author: About an hour’s drive from Beirut, over two-hundred Harley Davidson riders checked into the InterContinental Mzaar Lebanon Mountain Resort and Spa recently. They were gathered for a motorcycle rally and tour sponsored by the local H.O.G. (Harley-Davidson Owner’s Group) chapter.
Yes, I said “Lebanon”, and yes, I also said, “About an hour’s drive from Beirut…”.
It is apparent that the fraternal order of Harley Davidson fans and the successful marketing machine of the marque reaches even the most unlikely places. I presume Lebanon has regained some of it’s old glory as a hot vacation destination for Europeans; I just didn’t realize it would extend to the biker crowd so soon…even the European biker crowd.
I also may be making a wrong assumption that these are vacationers for the most part. Perhaps most of them are native Harley owners. If that’s the case, even more kudos are due the solid American motorcycle brand for some incredible outreach. The investment of time and attention by Harley Davidson for it’s owner’s groups is highly commendable.
One of the things that I had looked forward to after purchasing a Triumph motorcycle back in July was admission into rather cool sounding R.A.T. (Rider’s Association of Triumph).
Alas, after several weeks of trying to get into the R.A.T. website and getting a standard reply of “it must be your browser” from whoever Triumph has outsourced their IT business too, I have given up on ever uncovering the benefits of being a R.A.T. member. From what I see in forums and just by eavesdropping on conversations at bike shops, Harley-Davidson pours a lot of effort and funding into making sure the H.O.G. chapters across the globe are active, vibrant, and have plenty of cool things going on year-round. Triumph apparently just touts R.A.T. membership to new owners as a means of collecting email addresses for future spam opportunities.
It isn’t surprising that there are a bunch of Harley riders blazing trails through the beautiful mountains and seaside roads of Lebanon.
Now I’m wondering what the H.O.G. chapter in Baghdad, Iraq is up to this week?
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Sick of Harley Davidson
I rented a Hardly-Did-It-Son Fat Boy several months ago. Liked it. Fair power, well balanced, nice running machine. I was thinking about buying a Harley.
Who could have blamed me? I personally can’t recall anyone in the last decade telling someone “You shouldn’t have bought a Harley.”
Motor officers in law enforcement divisions across the nation depend on Harleys. The Hell’s Angels depend on Harleys (even if they don’t care much for the HD corporate entity). With a spectrum of users like that, how can there be anything wrong with buying a Harley Davidson motorcycle? I ended up with a British bike instead, because it just happened to fit all my criteria, from power to styling to price. It had nothing to do with any failure in the quality or design of the HD.
Nevertheless, I’m sick of seeing and hearing all things Harley Davidson. I look for motorcycle rags and books and everything is divided into two piles: 50% HD, 50% metric. I don’t even know where British bikes fit. Of course they have metric bolts and nuts, but “metric” bike rags all seem to focus solely on Asian bikes.
I pass HD riders on the road and some of them have their noses turned up so far they’d drown if it started raining.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not some newb who waves frantically in a desperate attempt to make sure that the rider approaching me knows I’m riding a motorcycle too and therefore we are automatically in a close-knit fraternal brotherhood with secret handshakes and sacred underwear. I just give the casual gesture of the left hand out to the side in a calm, indifferent and unobtrusive twitch to say, “Yep, we’re both riding bikes past each other.”
A few Harley Davidson riders wave back or even initiate this time honored rider greeting. But many simply ignore any other rider on the road who isn’t riding the holy grail of motorcycles. Virtually every rider on a metric or Europeon bike is willing to partake in this simple exchange, but too many HD riders would rather behave like popular high school girls.
The HD snobbery and overwhelming marketing is simply getting to me. I have nothing against HD riders who realize they aren’t any better than any of the rest of us. It’s the ones who haven’t come to that realization that are getting on my nerves. With so many other great choices out there, and a growing selection of American made alternatives as well, isn’t it time HOG members toss out the false impression that they’re the only game in town?
After all, riding a bike that has to have a $4,000 engine upgrade just to get it to perform well enough to keep up with an equivalent sized off-the-rack metric bike wouldn’t be anything I’d be all stuck up about. But I like to focus on power. Harley makes a great looking and sounding product. They have an awesome marketing department.
It’s just a percentage of their customers who are jerks.
I like the attitude in this 2009 Triumph promotional video much better…and the ColdPlay song is a perfect fit:
And here’s a top ten list some anonymous person came up with on why Harley riders don’t wave back:
10. Afraid it will invalidate warranty.
9. Leather and studs make it too heavy to raise arm.
8. Refuse to wave to anyone whose bike is already paid for.
7. Afraid to let go of handlebars because they might vibrate off.
6. Rushing wind would blow scabs off the new tattoos.
5. Angry because just took out second mortgage to pay luxury tax on new Harley.
4. Just discovered the fine print in owner’s manual and realized H-D is partially owned by Honda.
3. Can’t tell if other riders are waving or just reaching to cover their ears like everyone else.
2. Remembers the last time a Harley rider waved back, he impaled his hand on spiked helmet.
1. They’re too tired from spending hours polishing all that chrome to lift their arms.