2 motorcycle related questions 1st is how to convince your high school friend to wear gear and he also said that hd riders only ride hd for the name?

I own and ride imports and HD. I however chopped every bike. My gixxer and my Busa are rigid framed choppers. Yea Im a complete nut for chopping. I dont ride anything for a name and neither do any serious riders. Rich Urban Bikers do that [RUBS] those are the guys who have all the official HD gear to wear. They trailer bikes to events. They dont ride if it even looks like it will rain. They bought the bike.Real riders like me never buy WE BUILD. Or have it built if they havent got the skills. Nobody at the Smokeout is riding a bought stock machine and they arent RUBS. Thats a chopper gathering every year if you arent aware. As to your fiend and gear: Its his choice. When I ride a friends sport bike I WEAR GEAR. But not on my choppers. I dont ride over 100 MPH not even on my sportbike chops.

1. I simply refuse to ride with other bikers who won't wear a helmet or gear. I always have this picture in my mind of having to explain to his family how he died. 8^P Everyone has their own individual rights, and I respect those rights. But _I_ have a right not to see a friend of mine get killed unnecessarily.

2. Just about everyone I know who has a Harley (not ALL but MOST) are simply not interested in any other marque. A Honda rider might get a Suzuki or a Yamaha next time, but a guy on a Harley, you can bet that he didn't want a -motorcycle-, he wanted a -Harley-. In fact, listen to them talk and you can tell! They never call it a 'motorcycle', it's a -Harley-.

And where did you get the idea that they cost the same as the equivalent metric cruiser? Especially used! I have great respect for Harleys. A friend of mine has a Heritage Softail and I've gotten to ride it a lot, and it's a great bike on the highway (not so much fun in the city). But they are a lot more expensive!

The worst road rash I've ever seen was a guy on foot. He slid into second base wearing shorts and a t shirt. He had the equivalent of 2nd and 3rd degree burns from the side of his chest to his ankle. Imagine if that had been on tar at 40mph? Why wear a helmet and nothing else? It's stupidity or a law (same thing, to me). I didn't care too much when I was younger, but there's lots of stuff that hurts. Rain at anything over 50mph feels like pins nd needles. I had welts the size of quarters when I got caught in a summer downpour on a lunchtime ride. My current tank looks like my left knee - I'm glad it was padded at the time.

About the Harley hater thing: 16 is a time to shut up and look,listen,learn. Not all is what you believe when you don't. My first 6 bikes were Japanese. Mostly Hondas, a Yamaha, a Suzuki....no Kaw. When my boy got killed in Iraq, he made sure his mother got me the HD he thought I wanted. So - I ride FXD35 #2347 in memory of the #2347th U.S. KIA there.

There's a lot more to see about everything when you keep your fat mouth out of the way.

In 8 years I would imagine both of you have experienced falls from your dirt bikes, if your friend chooses to risk injury there is little you can say to change his mind. At his age at least he will heal better than I will, my latest self-inflicted injury took two weeks to clear up despite wearing protective clothing – it only took a couple of seconds of inattention which is annoying.

There is no doubt that for a huge proportion of the non-riding population in the west the first thing that comes to their mind when you mention motorcycles is H-D, so I would not be surprised if there is a grain of truth behind the "buying the name" jibe Рbut, like most clich̩s, the grain of truth is outweighed by reported facts. H-D riders/fans will counter with "pot metal" or "you can't get parts if they are 10 years old" Рboth again with a grain of (dated) truth.

I don't particularly care either way, you can only make choices for yourself, if you try to force them on others they will resent it.

Excessive "speeds and doing stupid stuff" is not a reason to "wear gear".... it is reason NOT to ride !

Driving like a fool on the STREET can "KILL" other people!

I appreciate YOUR concern about HIS safety, but your read concerns me more about OURS.

Frankly, if HE thinks he can drive stupid on the street, ALL the" gear" in the world WON'T save him. The safest thing ANY driver can do is to use their head , and DRIVE safely.

If he doesn't agree with THAT, I could care less what he thinks about anything else ( including Harleys).

Perhaps you could talk him into just taking a BUS . Peace..

Motorcyclist ,more than 50 years.

It's O.K. to be friends with stupid people ,,, just don't let their stupid rub off on you .

Your friend is an idiot.