What's the dumbest thing anyone has said about your bike/gear?

cape821 said:

"Love your bikes, was thinking of trading mine in for 4 of them"

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Classic! I'll remember this one

i Have owned my Hyper since saturday 3 days, and 3 different people have already asked : "is it brand new?, wow, how much did it cost?" .

+1 @cape821

It's just depressing to see all this trash talk...bikers come in all types. How much less snobby is the guy with the latest, greatest superbike? Or any "BMW ueber Alles" type? Ever seen a "Japanschrott, Nein Danke" sticker on one? (That's "Japanese junk, no thanks" if you don't know German).

I used to have a similar attitude. Harleys are junk, yadda yadda. Then I bought one (used) and rode it 6000 miles in ten days to Florida and back, with the wifey on the back. It was flawless.

I know plenty of HD riders who also own and like other makes. I still think my '06 Road Glide (w/ABS, cruise control, stereo and footboards F&R) is the best two-wheeled choice for traveling any distance on our Interstate highways.

plus one, zippy. if they ride two wheels, they are part of the tribe, full stop.
i really don't care which kind of bike they prefer, and those preferences can vary over time and place. i've ridden Harley and it was comfy, but i wore the hell out of the floor boards - in tight turns it needed to be (nearly) stopped, turned slowly, then re-accelerated again... didn't suit my personal preferences, but i really enjoyed the group ride.

BlueSwede said:

plus one, zippy. if they ride two wheels, they are part of the tribe, full stop.
i really don't care which kind of bike they prefer, and those preferences can vary over time and place. i've ridden Harley and it was comfy, but i wore the hell out of the floor boards - in tight turns it needed to be (nearly) stopped, turned slowly, then re-accelerated again... didn't suit my personal preferences, but i really enjoyed the group ride.

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Yep, with you both on this. Heck, I don't even care if there is a motor. If your ride has 2 wheels I will wave, or nod if my hands are busy.

zippy49 said:

It's just depressing to see all this trash talk...bikers come in all types. How much less snobby is the guy with the latest, greatest superbike? Or any "BMW ueber Alles" type? Ever seen a "Japanschrott, Nein Danke" sticker on one? (That's "Japanese junk, no thanks" if you don't know German).

I used to have a similar attitude. Harleys are junk, yadda yadda. Then I bought one (used) and rode it 6000 miles in ten days to Florida and back, with the wifey on the back. It was flawless.

I know plenty of HD riders who also own and like other makes. I still think my '06 Road Glide (w/ABS, cruise control, stereo and footboards F&R) is the best two-wheeled choice for traveling any distance on our Interstate highways.

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You're off-base. They are clearly talking about the riders on the bikes, not the choice of bikes. I shake my head at challenged riders on sport bikes more than any other platform but, I still like the sports and will probably own one again.

This clearly wasn't a case of blatant HD stereotyping/ discrimination, which you are condemning.

The oddest thing anyone has every said to me about my gear is when hugging a friend of mine. She said 'it feels like I'm hugging a beetle' when I had full leathers and a spine protector on.

Funniest thing anyone has ever said about my bike? 'I'd never ride one 'cause I know I'd kill myself' - like somehow bikers head out the door with a death wish every day?

My favorite question from friends and co-workers:

Q: "How did you talk your wife into letting you get a motorcycle?!"
A: "I didn't ask her."

But, seriously. Unless it's just a cover for being timid about riding (often the case), that's such a selfish stance for a significant other to have. Some people - like my mother-in-law - seriously only see a coffin on two wheels. If you approach your first bike with the intention of doing stand-up wheelies the first day out, it's probably gonna end ugly (speaking from experience). But for those of us that survive the young and stupid years and keep riding, you develop a deep respect for all the limits that surround motorcycling: the bike, road conditions, other drivers, you, etc.

They say operating manuals for aircraft are written in blood. One way or another, you learn from mistakes...it just helps if they aren't all your mistakes.

A few weeks ago I got off the bike to fuel up.....wearing full leathers, white helmet and tinted visor.....little kid in the car next to me was shouting to his mum in the front that there was a power ranger out side!!

Kid was qute as

So, yesterday the dentist, who is a nice guy and turns out to be a rider (I did not before), asks me which bike I ride. I explained it was a Ducati 821 Hyperstrada, a '13. He says, "is that the Testrossa?"....

Yesterday out on a ride, another rider commented that the Dainese logo on the front of my jacket looks exactly like the frontend profile of my Strada in His mirrors... He asked if that was intentional or not.

On and another Harley rider commented that I've got a strange looking Jap bike..

Time to spark up this ole thread...

Coming from an RC51 to my HS, I've had people tell me 'Sweet CBR bro; Is that a Ninja?; How fast have you been on it?; Why is it so loud?; I used to have one of them but it was the 600.

Only owned my HS since last October so haven't been out on it as much as I'd like. I'm looking forward to the fun comments I'm going to get whilst out and about this season.

I work with a lot of older guys that have probably never even sat on a bike. When they find out I ride and ask what I ride, I tell them it's a Japanese make, pronounced "Doo-ca-tay". Reactions are mixed.

I haven't got too many comments on mine. I think people just don't even know what to think, it doesn't look like most traditional bikes!

I thought I'd see them everywhere in Italy. Much like the states, mostly Monster's. The locals in my area save the pretty bikes for weekends, preferring cheap ADV's or scooters for daily transit.

kuksul08 said:

I haven't got too many comments on mine. I think people just don't even know what to think, it doesn't look like most traditional bikes!

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Same, every so often I'll get the "nice/cool bike" comment while fueling up at a gas station.

Yesterday I'm waiting at a light. Beyond the intersection the right and left lanes merge into one after a few hundred feet. I'm in the right lane. Next to me are two Harley dudes in the left lane.
I really couldn't hear anything they were saying over the obnoxiously loud exhausts on their bikes. But I could tell they weren't saying anything nice.
So this isn't so much about the stupid things they were saying as I only caught the random 4 letter word. It's more about the stupid thing they did.

Which was try to race me.

The light turned green and these guys took off instantly and as hard as their bikes could go.
I took off at my usual leisurely pace and let them get ahead of me by a couple car lengths. I figured they intended to beat me to the merge. It didn't happen. I rolled on throttle, shifted, shifted, shifted more throttle and then there was a shiny chrome and black blur in the left of my vision and rapidly fading Harley noise behind me. Then the merge passed and my dashboard indicated some very illegal speed and RPMs so I looked in the mirrors and saw a gratifyingly large gap between me and my foulmouthed friends on their two wheeled lawn tractors. It was obvious they didn't intend to chase me so I rolled off the throttle and let my speed bleed back down into the 70's and continued on my enjoyable Sunday ride. When I stopped for my break in the park I realized with a chuckle that I was in Urban mode.

jerdog53 said:

On that same lines was in the local battery store replacing the battery in the wife's Monster. Clerk asks what motorcycle the battery came out of to which I replied A 696 Ducati Monster. 4 or 5 minutes go by while the clerk looks at the computer then asks who makes Ducati? to which I reply Ducati makes Ducati…..

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+1 loved this one...I live in ABQ now...

Frank Rizzo said:

...Harley...engine and put it in your snowblower...

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I was raised on Harleys and have had several, the engine is a glorified lawn mover engine, more OHV than Briggs & Straton...

gatdammit said:

...I tell them it's a Japanese make, pronounced "Doo-ca-tay"...

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+1 LOL...I'm going to use this...