James May, who writes about automobiles for the UK-based newspaper, The Telegraph, recently spent some considerable time travelling throughout Southern California, and offers up a unique perspective about Harley-Davidson riders...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/..../ motoring/2007/08/18/mrmay118.xml

In Britain, Harleys seem to be ridden by people who secretly wish they'd been born American. My friend Richard Hammond recently bought a Harley, but he already had a big hat and some cowboy boots so he probably thought he might as well keep going.

And then May goes on to say this about Harley riders in Southern California...

Out here it resonates perfectly with the mountains in the infinite distance and the futility of trying to go anywhere quickly rather than at leisure, and suddenly it's blokes on Japanese sports bikes who look horribly misguided.

I can't help thinking, however, that May has lumped all California Harley riders into the same bucket.

That is, there are some who ride a Harley because they think it's thing to do, they're posers, wannabes. They dress up in full biker regalia, when in fact, they wouldn't dress that way when they're taking the wife and kids out to dinner.

It's interesting to see how people's taste in clothing changes depending on what vehicle they're driving.

Then there are Harley riders who just like Harleys for any one of several reasons. It's no different than liking Kawasakis, or BMWs, or whatever.

Labels: Biker Life, Motorcycle Bashing