Why Harley Riders are STILL Hated

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Harley-Davidson riders versus everybody else. Why is there still such a crazy divide amongst us?

[00:00:07]>> Every time you try to have a relaxing day, a bunch of on their Harley show up.

[00:00:12]Well, that's what we're going to talk about today because I find it very fascinating and interesting. Because if you listen to anybody that rides anything other than a Harley, it can be maybe an Indian, Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, the list goes on. You have probably said at one point or heard somebody say, "Man, Harley riders suck."

[00:00:31]But then when you listen to Harley-Davidson riders, if you ride anything other than a Harley, you're a trash rider. But it goes beyond the, you know, kind of sublevel things that you always hear. Oh, Harley guys are snobs or, hey, sport bike guys are just reckless. Actually goes much deeper than that. I was thinking about this topic when I saw this video pop up and, you know, this guy was just kind of cruising down the road. These two Harley riders come up beside him and they're kind of, you know, trying to intimidate the sport bike guy and they are douchebags. Don't get me wrong, I love Harley-Davidson and I love their bikes. These guys are douchebags. But the one guy's like, "Hey man, I'm just trying to cruise here."

[00:01:08]He's like, "I'm on a Harley." It's like, "What does that mean?" So, anyways, that's where I got the inspiration for this video. But I do want to cover some of these things because, like I said, I find it very interesting and I want to get your opinion, man. Why is there still a divide? Is it one of the things that I talk about in this video or is it something else? Let me know down below.

[00:01:26]Let's go ahead and jump right in. So, I want to break the ice here because a lot of people think it is just simply kind of those surface level things that I talked about, but think about it like this. If you look at Harley-Davidson over the past, let's just say 20 years, there's no way that the surface level divide is still the reason that there is a divide in the motorcycleycling community, right? Because one of the things that have always been aimed at Harley is their slow, aircooled sofas on two wheels. Well, that's still fair for a good majority of their bikes, but also look at the bikes they've made. The Paname, the Sportster S, the Nightster, the Bronx, just kidding, the V-Rod. So, if it were just a motorcycle thing, like the the actual motorcycles themselves, I think this beef would have been over years ago, but it still is there. Maybe it's even worse now than it's ever been.

[00:02:21]So, it can't be that. So, what else is it? Well, there's a reason that some Harley riders don't even like those bikes I just mentioned because it's not really about the motorcycles. It's more about a tribe. Harley built a tribe in in a good sense, right? The motorcycle is the catalyst that kind of brings all Harley riders together. There is a certain aesthetic, sound, feel, and a certain amount of cultural impact, history. my grandfather road, my father road, my this road, whatever that is allencompassing and Harley that really isn't with the other brands. It would be with more with Indian, but with the split with Indian and them closing down and then coming back to life and closing down, coming back to life, you know, you've had that split and then of course, you know, they were with Polaris, so a lot of people gave him crap about that. Not me really, but you know what I'm saying? they they just don't have that same cultural impact where Harley does. And so even though you had the motorcycles that brought everybody together, it was really about the who, what, where, that was more important. This is why the cultural impact to Harley-Davidson has been so significant. Anytime they do anything that is outside of the norm of their riders, people freak. Well, for good reason. This isn't a startup company, by the way. If they don't know their riders by now, they'll never know them. And so that's the point. Harley has spent decades kind of building this culture where you don't just buy a bike. They want you to stay in the ecosystem. And a lot of people do. From the rallies to the group rides to the charity rides, the mileage rewards, the veteran rides, everything is built around keeping people in the Harley-Davidson ecosystem.

[00:04:12]Or you could just buy a Yamaha. Then you might know a couple guys, man, you guys get your bolts together. Or a Kawasaki, right? Kawasaki is the best selling motorcycle in the United States. Harley knows that. I know that. But the cultural impact around those other brands is not even close to what Harley has. And so I think from the outside looking in, a lot of people are like, you know, oh, if you don't look a certain way or think a certain way, then you can't join the tribe. Now, we've seen that that's obviously not true.

[00:04:44]There's many, many people that have joined Harley-Davidson, ride and love Harley-Davidson that you might not think would ride a Harley. So, the whole tribalism thing on our side actually comes down to community. Now, I'm not going to sit here and try to pretend that, you know, everybody's just so happy go-lucky and, you know, we're all best friends and all that kind of stuff just because you ride a Harley. Well, no. But there is some deep cultural impact that brings some sort of tribalism with it. But here's the thing, like once you join and you realize that most of the people in this tribe, if you will, are actually really cool, you start to get it, then you start to buy the t-shirts and the hats and everything else that kind of comes along with it.

[00:05:28]So you'll hear Harley riders actually defend the culture first, the bikes come second. Well, here's the other thing. In other communities, they defend the bike first. They don't have that cultural impact. So, they lean on performance, technology, value, handling, reliability, all of which in almost every other motorcycle manufacturer is better than Harley. It's easy to pick those things apart. Oh, your bike has 89 horsepower and it weighs 700 lb. My bike is 400 lb with me on it and it's 200 horsepower. There ain't no competition there when it comes to power ratings and all that kind of stuff. So, you'll you'll see a lot of people defend the motorcycle first outside of the Harley community where we're kind of defending the culture and the community itself, then the bike second. Actually, it's kind of hard to defend why we spent 30 grand for a bike that doesn't even have 100 horsepower uh for most of Harley-Davidson's history. It was only until 2024 when you got over 100 horsepower in a $30,000 machine. Now, if you're doing long-d distanceance touring and you want maximum comfort, things like that, there is no better motorcycle. You you you'll see a lot of the benefits from Harley-Davidson 2, uh, but you can't really defend the bike for bike. So, you'll see one side defend bikes, the other side defends culture and identity. That's where I think a big part of the clash comes in. Now, before we go any further, May 5th is quickly approaching. This is the deadline for our 2022 Harley-Davidson Street Vibe giveaway. We only have a couple of weeks now. And this is an incredible motorcycle. 9,500 miles, beautiful blue paint, blacked out everything, brand new settlement seat to go along with it. No matter if this is your first Harley, your second, your fifth Harley, your first motorcycle. Maybe you want to put this next to your sport bike in your garage. Whatever. All I know is that somebody will potentially have this thing in their garage for less than like a couple of days worth of coffee, less than a hoodie in most cases. So that's pretty incredible. We of course are working with Fan of them, a small veteranowned business, because first of all, they're a great company. Second of all, they make these really easy.

[00:07:43]There's one link in the description of this video that will take you over where you can buy a piece of merch associated with the Street Bob. Once you do that, you're automatically entered. Now, when you join these, you actually support myself as well. So, the reviews that you see, the rallies I go to, the topics I cover, everything, you actually aid in supporting me. Do what I do here, unfiltered and unbiased. So, again, May 5th is the deadline. Click the link, get yourself entered. Good luck to every single one of you. One of the other huge things that affects the uh divide between Harley and non-H Harley riders is, of course, money. Now, it's not that one side has more money than the other.

[00:08:22]Let's just be honest. But just look at the Harley lineup, right?$10,000 or $11,000 for the Nightster. Street Bob starts at 14,500. Fat Bob Low Rider S 181 19,000. Street Roglide 28,000. CBO models, right? 4450,000, you know. And then you look at Kawasakis and Hondas and Yamahas, you know, starting at 4,500, 5 grand, you know, 6 grand, 7 grand. The point is, I think that a lot of Harley riders look at their bikes because they're more expensive. That means that they hold some kind of higher status. But then the other side is looking at it like, well, you paid a lot more money for something that isn't nearly as capable. The thing is like both sides are actually putting value into something but what they're valuing is different things.

[00:09:14]>> Brother >> Harley riders tend to value based on emotion, heritage, culture, identity, where the other side bases solely on mechanical performance technology.

[00:09:32]They're just two different sets of value. And so I think that creates tension between the two groups as well.

[00:09:39]One looks at theirelves as potentially superior while the other one says, "Hey, bike for bike, you're nowhere close."

[00:09:47]And that identity becomes powerful too because remember a lot of Harley riders in my opinion anyways attach their identity to their bikes. But what comes along with that is also that tradition.

[00:09:59]So they're not cross shopping on, you know, performance and little upgrades here and there. You might see some of them go over to Indian and stuff, but primarily if they don't buy a Harley-Davidson, they've lost part of their identity. Or maybe that's kind of how it feels. And that's pretty powerful to keep people defending machines that to outsiders actually seem undefendable.

[00:10:24]Now, this one's kind of interesting.

[00:10:25]Even though it's created a divide, I think that divide is starting to shrink a bit. Uh it basically comes down to what a real rider is, right? So for the longest time, Harley-Davidson meant, you know, uh or their definition, I think of real rider was long miles, distance, comfort, handling, weather, right?

[00:10:43]Fatigue, experience. And other types of riders valued training, slow speed skill, braking control, trail breaking, etc. Like I said, that bridge has been gapped pretty well, right? You see a lot of people training and slow speed maneuvers with Harley-Davidsons and, you know, of course, King of the Baggers, you know, the the techniques that they use. Uh so it's not just a sport bike thing as far as control and slow speed and uh trail breaking and all that kind of stuff, but it's still a part of it, right? what defines a real writer quote unquote in a lot of people's heads also makes it easier to look down upon people that you don't think are real writers in a way that's not an opinion that I hold but fortunately I feel like that gap has been bridged quite a bit here's the other thing that has been true in the past uh maybe those barriers starting to break down a little bit interested to see what you guys think about this but uh essentially gatekeeping right there's a lot people that feel like Harley-Davidson riders gatekeep the entire brand. And there's some truth to that. When you tell people they're not riding a real motorcycle unless they buy a Harley-Davidson, you keep the culture pretty strong on the inside, but then it starts to show cracks in the foundation and then the outside has disdain towards them. Then you take away entry-level motorcycles. Well, now there is no gateway for a lot of people, younger people especially, to get into the brand. Now the disdain gets even deeper.

[00:12:16]I think that's what you've seen. And for a long time, this worked with Harley-Davidson because they still had a decent ladder in which you could move up in, get started in, and end your career on a motorcycle through Harley. But those cracks, man, they've been really significant over the past 5 years, especially when you get rid of all those options, and the bikes haven't gotten any cheaper. Now, fortunately, it looks like the gap will be bridged once again.

[00:12:42]There will be some entry-level motorcycles, and that's what we need because, like I said, it's hurt Harley-Davidson in the long run, and we definitely need new riders filling some of these spots. Here's the thing, though, man. Harley-Davidson actually has come around in a lot of these areas with little recognition from the outside. I think because of some of the things that we've talked about, but they have a few things that most other motorcycle companies would love to have but may never have, at least in the United States. From the culture to the rallies to the rides and the members, Harley-Davidson has a deep cultural history. You can't take that away from them. And what a lot of outsiders may not realize is that the bikes over the past few years have actually gotten more tech upgrades, bigger screens, more electronics, better electronics, actually more safety features, more efficient, lighter. They're not lightweight motorcycles, but on the outside it's so easy, right, to poke fun. Oh, now it's 105 horsepower. Oh, well, my bikes had that for a long time, right? So, even when Harley does make these upgrades, right, it's still easy to kind of pick at what they're doing, but they have made some pretty significant upgrades in the motorcycles over the years. And so, if your argument is, oh, it's just outdated nostalgia machines is all you're buying, well, that argument is getting lazier and lazier. But there also is something to, you know, the sound, the look, the heritage, the culture of Harley-Davidson, right? It is a special thing. So there's there's truth to all this. And then on the counterpoint to that, right, the skill riding, slow speed maneuver, braking, trail braking, all that stuff is real and should be learned by all riders, right? Wearing gear is not a bad thing. This is part of the disdain on the Harley side. Oh, you're all geared up. Like, it's a bad thing. Now, I couldn't wear all that gear in the middle of summer and be passing out. But having a helmet, having gear on, that's a smart thing to do.

[00:14:50]Training for bad situations on a bike is a smart thing to do. And some of those riders just don't want a tribe. Now, that doesn't mean when you join Harley, right, there's some kind of like stupid cult initiation. There's not. But some riders don't care about it. But there's also validity to the money argument, too. Let's just be honest. A lot of other brands offer something that Harley has not for years now, and that is an entry-level price that's affordable for a lot of people. That's a legitimate argument. Everybody in each corner is kind of defending what they've learned or what they've been told. At the end of the day, if you just want to keep it real, there's problems in the sport bike and the nakeds and the sport touring and the dual sport world, like all of it.

[00:15:37]And there's problems in the Harley world, but it all comes down to identity. And here's the thing, it's easy to say, "Oh, I'll just get over it.

[00:15:45]Let's all get along." The divide is still going to be there. Harleys are still going to be expensive. Hopefully, they'll do a good job in bridging the gap. But don't kid yourself. They're definitely not going down in price. At least they're staple motorcycles.

[00:15:59]They're never going to have the performance of some of these sport bikes, but they will always be desirable and have the cultural impact and heritage and rides and community to go along with it. Sport bike guys will always have an edge when it comes to performance, horsepower, electronics, value, and all that. But this divide is alive and well, and that's actually not like a terrible thing. That means people still care about their motorcycles. And when it comes to like poking fun at somebody for riding a sport bike or riding a Harley-Davidson, that kind of stuff, I totally get it. You should do it. Enjoy it. Now, when it comes to douchebags like we talked about in the beginning of this video and trying to run guys off the road because they're riding something other than a Harley, that's where I draw the line and I just say that you're an idiot. But at the end of the day, it keeps the motorcycleycling community healthy because it means people care about their side. I don't know. That's just my opinion. I'd love to hear yours. Let me know what you think down below. If you like what I do, consider subscribing.

[00:17:03]Also, again, make sure you click the link down below and get yourself entered for the 2022 Street Bob. Big thanks to you guys. See you in the next one. And as always, hold