(Ready for some big, fat, broad generalizations based solely on my perhaps-limited perceptions? Great ) The culture & lifestyle of southern Harley-Davidson riders is truly something to behold. My first two bikes were bought in Georgia and built in Milwaukee, so I was exposed to this world early on. Now I’m on a beemer, and things look a little different from behind German handlebars. Of course it’s not my brand or bike’s country of heritage that changed, it’s instead the groups of riders and experiences I’ve been exposed to that have broadened my horizons.
Harley bikers in the south are a proud, loud & horrifically tacky bunch (my incredibly beautiful & stylish friends are exceptions, of course.) I am constantly amazed at the number & variety of apparel items – plus jewelry, tattoos, any accessory you can imagine – that carry the bar & shield. The licensing dollars must be astounding! Although I bet 50% or more are bootleg (TANGENT: and as a brand marketer, my feelings on this are mixed… do you demand only corporate-controlled, regulated use of your logo to protect it & ensure consistency, and follow a path of prosecution of those who use it without authorization; or turn a blind eye & allow your enthusiasts to mold & personalize their experience with your company? I believe Harley has chosen the latter, and I think for their audience it’s the right choice. Nike has come under fire for their unyielding adherence to the former philosophy, but they probably would have experienced brand degradation – not to mention millions in lost profits – had they gone the other route. :END TANGENT). This loyalty to the H-D brand – a corporation –is truly amazing, and of course I’m far from the first to notice, as multiple case studies have been written. As crazy as it might sound, Harley events are a place where my hobby & work brain collide!
Many of my friends are Harley riders, so I still frequent events dominated by American V-Twins. Sometimes I’m the only person at events I attend not riding a Harley. For that matter, I’m also often the only rider in a full-face helmet and protective clothing! But other than a few stares when I first ride in, I usually have no problems, and only have to endure some good-natured ribbing. In general, riders respect each others’ choices.
Once, at a rally in rural Georgia, my battery decided to die on me & not hold a charge. Pushing a German-engineered machine through a campground of hundreds of Harley bikers is not an activity I recommend for those without a sense of humor! But when I finally got to our campsite, the crew across the pathway were quick to offer assistance. A group of nice country boys from Tennessee spent their entire evening dissecting my foreign ride, marveling the whole time at the differences in construction from Harleys, but never hesitating. I was very impressed at their mechanical familiarity with bikes in general that gave them the confidence to take apart a bike some of them had never seen before (at the time I must say my confidence was not as strong as it is now in retrospect!) They hooked me to a small generator, and proceeded to charge my bike’s battery for several hours, finally getting me started (“don’t turn it off before you get home or to a shop!”) I have no doubt a bunch of gearheads at a BMW rally would have done the same to help out a fellow rider, but I’ll never forget the leap those guys took to get me out of a sticky situation, brand of ride be damned.
There are a lot of aspects of southern biker culture I despise –racism & rebel flags, sexism, tobacco use, violence, elitism – but I know that there are genuinely good people in this group as well. This post by no means completes my thoughts on Harley culture, but for all my undercover giggling at their wardrobe choices, under the leather fringe and sleeveless rally tees are a lot of hearts of gold.
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