Now I've been riding bikes since the 70s and I'm no lunatic on the road as I need my licence. I have always loved super sports bikes so they are what I ride. Over past couple of years been noticing that when I give approaching bikers a nod, riders of BMWs and Harleys ignore me! Now I can imagine that riding bikes like that they may be half asleep but since when has elitism had any place in biking? Is it just me or are others getting the same treatment?
You are not alone and it is getting worse. It appears more riders are now taking up Harleys as part of a missed part of their life and it can come across as they just don't have a clue about biking in the slightest, just a big wad of money, all the gear and no idea, generally the die hard Harley riders are very good and I have found they always have been, but Harley's and BMW's .....elite, PMSL, maybe some in their own heads
The grungy old Harley riders normally wave and you can have a bit of a chat/banter with them when having a brew, whilst the Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy Wild Hogs type rider tend to stick to their own clique. As for the GS riders, well most of them think they are riding across the Russian Steppes in total isolation except for when they meet fellow intrepid explorers at remote and isolated locations. McGregor and Boorman have a lot to answer for.
I sometimes muse on seeing large cruisers coming towards me, often in groups, often brand spanking new, ridden by gentlemen of my own age, all in brand spanking new leathers, Schuberths, rodeo rider gloves, scalas, and mirrored aviators. All looking dead ahead, only their eyes flicking occasionally to their mirrors, and all ignoring the nods, waves, or flashes from oncoming bikes. And what I muse is, that a group of merchant banker/fund managers/barristers all get talking at a fund raiser/golf match/human sacrifice, and someone suggests what fun it must be to be a bike chap. So they all pocket a portion of their bonus/hit fee/my pension fund and go and buy themselves the complete kit in one go, then cruise around the countryside for three quarters of an hour every Sunday morning while their wives are all sleeping off the hangover/colonically irrigating/shagging their pilates instructor. And when I flick them the thumbs up, the comms goes something like. "Do you know that chap, Russell?" "No, Rodney. I thought you might." "Well whatever you do, don't make eye contact. It may provoke him". Terrible stereotyping, I know, but admit it, you've thought it too...
^^^ lol. So true though. When i see brand new harleys I instantly think "newbie" I think if you own a harley it has to be an old classic.
I know, I know, it's my own fault for mentioning the fecking parasites. Google smart ads. Always watching. Now I'll never get rid of them.
Sometimes in the early morning when I've still sleep in my eyes I've accidently nodded at...scooters but bless their little cotton socks they wave back like a drowning man at a dingy especially the college kids.....and after an initial eeeeek f*ck it kinda makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside spreading a bit of happiness
Lol yeah agree.....tho sometimes it's not lads it's those chubby blokes with glasses that still live with their mums & then it's just plain weird
I nod at any motorbike / scooter I see, always have done, always will do, those that don't nod back, I just say "kn*b" and continue with my happy ride
I notice the "some" BMW and Harley riders ignore nods . But mostly the charley and Ewan look a likes are the worse
Gets a bit tedious on bike nights though. Makes your neck ache. I tend to just stick my thumb out when a stream goes by.
I might be wrong, but I always assume that the "nod" also means that there is nothing waiting down the road for me, therefore I do likewise to give them the all clear.
