i guess i am a biker after all. I like to get with my frineds,all 2 of them, and just go ride someplace. stop at backward country bars and have a beer and burger. laugh with the waitress and keep moving. I guess it is all what you believe in. i do still enjoy the sound of a group of bikes thundering down the road....

Thank you Tim! I don't think that it could have been summed up better then what you wrote. I feel the same way. I think that is is the general feeling among people that ride. They just want to get out there and enjoy themselves and don't want any trouble from anyone.

Exactly. What you believe in. Not decided by a committee, or a trend, or a movie or slick advertising. Just a guy on a bike.

I like the drone of big V-Twin engines on the highway, myself. A few days ago I was headed to the shop for coffee, when two Electra-Glides passed me. They rode in front of me for a mile or so, and then turned down the same off-ramp I did to get to the shop. Very nostalgic.

There once was a different time, I took part in it, and I enjoyed it. Those times have passed. And just as time evolved me into that life, time has also evolved me into the person I am now.

And Black is White.
You not only are but you also know that you are probably some of those very twenty somethings icons.
The fact that you wrote that you're not only shows how much you truly are.
One of the most fundamental understandings of successful biker-ship is staying below the radar, denying the obvious and avoiding the confines of any definition. Freedom.

Freedom to drink a beer at some obscure little tavern with all 2 of your best riding buddies. Looking just knarly enough that people stay out of your way but not over the top to say "HEY I'M A BIKER". Your leather jacket is a part of your safety not a statement.

NO hype just a guy out riding his bike.

Well put.

Funnier or maybe disapointing is throwing the word "Brotherhood" around the various WWW's like they know what that means. Aparently its yet another en vogue cliche word to use while your wearing your cut,azzless chaps and fingerless gloves.

Don't confuse Brotherhood with your brothers keeper.....helping someone in distress is being your brothers keeper. Brotherhood, I suppose in the sense that we are all on the road on 2 wheels is understandable. There is another level and I supose thats where and why I get frustrated with the newly add water and stir cyber riders of today.

The Brotherhood I mean is where you got each others back. Thru thick and thru thin. You leave together, you come back together. Don't start none won't be none. Everything is decided jurisprudently. Respect.

The only places on the WWW where there is true Brotherhood does not allow non members access.

Its my bad, my unreasonable expectations. What was I thinking,lol.

I'm too old to hit the bars and the BBQ's so I guess I'll be more than happy for me and momma to keep doing what we do. So far in the past 2-3 years we have ridden to:

* Ashville/Maggie Valley,NC
* Nova Scotia
* Outer Banks,NC
* Willmington,NC(Carolina Beach)
* Key West,FLA
* Paintsville,Kentucky
* San Diego,CA
* Pigeon Forge,TN
* Ozarks,ARK

And many other 4-500 mile day trips like Lake Placid,NY/Mohawk Trail,MASS/E.Providence,RI/North Conway,NH to name a few.

Was hoping to meet 2-3 solid stand up riding partners, its just not in the cards. Apparently most of the old timers don't care to post or get involved with the WWW saying "we have nothing in common with those guys."I have sworn off cyber biking and post here because Tourist is still here. We are on the same page even when begging to differ.

Well I can see that you have put some miles on that bike and all I can say is good for you.. You are able to do what a lot of use might not have the time or ability to do. I don't see anything wrong with the "WWW" I have meet a lot of very nice people here and have had the pleasure of meeting some in person.


The problem on the "WWW" is that everyone is from somewhere else. Not from your local hood. I have had the pleasure of living vicariously through some of the stories and trips that I read about and am looking forward to a few new destinations all complements of the "WWW". I for one like the forum atmosphere and like this site as one that I look forward to visiting on a continuous basis. I like to keep an open mind and if ever I meet someone that is geographically desirable to be a friend or not in the area and they are good people I will call them friend.

As for the Tourist at least he is good for something by keeping you around. Just kidding Tourist!!

Nah, don't worry. People know when I'm mad.

But I will say this, this topic is one that truly upsets me. I've known some great, serious and sincere bikers. BI63 once wore out a tire during a vacation. One guy at my gym puts about 1K on his bike per year--this year I cannot comment on even one mile. At this rate the tire will decompose from ozone checking long before the tread is gone.

Now compare that to the rhinestone bikers we meet in cyber space. More money spent on polish than fuel. More inks than hijinx. More tap-outs than camp-outs. More the Mickey Mouse Club than a bike club. More sitting at home than chrome...

And I have have to read about threads like this. It's like seeing Michaelangelo's Sitting Pieta and then looking at a kid's soap carving. BTW, I saw the Pieta at the 1964 New York World's Fair...

Tip of the iceberg......the problems with the WWW from a motorcycle rider point of view is to numerous to mention. From keyboard commando's to being what ever you want people to think you to be and every other conceivable problems/concerns in between. I have as well met members from other forums in person. The majority are mealy mouth pussies in person until they get back home to the safety of their key boards. Yes there are a few, too few, that post as they present, we stay in touch.

Instead of living vicariously through others, create your own reality. Baby steps man,baby steps. Of course unless your crippled, handicapped, to old or such then it is understandable.

In a perfect world HD riders would network...meaning create a national network of safe places for fellow 2 wheeled traveling Harley riders. You partake but you contribute too. This country and its people are too f*cked up to ever make that happen to the extent it could be.

Tourist is a left over relic of a time gone by..imitated, never duplicated.

Relic? Gee, thanks for coming to my defense...

The problem is that I feel that way myself, sometimes. I see the new breed, and it looks to me like they hollowed out a real biker and stuffed him with a geek from his mom's basement. Tats on the outside, gamer on the inside.

BI63 is right about brotherhood. Sadly, it's gone. For some odd reason it's of no further value. A few months ago my wife and I watched "The Time Machine." In one scene Rod Taylor has to save a girl from drowning while uncaring Eloi not only watch her perish but do not understand why anyone would want to save her. I commented to my wife that Taylor's contempt for the Eloi mirrored my own in meeting the new boys' choir. How the hell did any of them get (or deserve) sheet music?

I've been eyeing up a new Deluxe or Fat Boy Lo. Something calmer, something for more distance, something for more quiet reflection. Oddly, something downright selfish. You cannot be a mentor to an empty cause.