."You're as old as the woman you feel"
Yep same here!!Then I need to change my poll results to the next lower bracket.
The aging demographics of Harley owners is one of the reasons the company is in a slump - near everyone that would buy one already has ... and they are nearly at the end of the road and won’t need another. Add to that corporate leaders who use liquid company assets to buy back stock to increase the share value because they get bonuses based on share value ... add to that no more Mr. Reagan yielding protectionist tariffs ... add to that the lack of interest that you mentioned from the current generation...i wonder what the age results would be of Harley owners, including modern bikes. Maybe not all old dotes like us but the average age might be older than you think.
In fact the average age of all higher capacity road bike owners seems to be approaching the biblical ‘three score plus ten’. I wonder what it was about us ‘baby boomers’ (I’m 62) that made us crave the ‘wind in the hair’ and the ‘heroic materialism’ of high power bikes and the open road.
As an 18 year old, to roll open the throttle on a high performance and feel the bike launch beneath me (T160) was thrilling and to ride past the city limits into the wide open country was real freedom. How computer games, virtual realities, skate boards and other diversions of our youth could possibly a substitute for a bike run with mates followed by beer and camaraderie is beyond me. On the plus side, it’s a lot safer, we lost a few.
Im surprised that some younger people I know aren’t even interested in a car licence or vehicle ownershi, this would have been inconceivable to us.
regards
Al
Good for you Peter!I own two Harleys and a Norton and I'm 32. Go figure.
Well said Al.Good for you Peter!
But I guess you almost demonstrate what I was trying to say.
Born in 1959 I hankered for bikes all my sentient life, from pump-up scooters to pushie, to mini-bikes till that glorious day in 1975, all grown up at 16 and nine months when I could get my L Plates and me and my Honda XL175 were king.
From there I progressed to a Yamaha TX500 (very quick) while still on my Ls and at 18 to my T160 which I still have.
The point is, back then a 30 year old on a bike was unusual and we thought of them as somewhat geriatric but fabulously interesting because of their wealth of life experience whilst remaining cool enough to still ride.
So a 32 year old seems young now but to the average bike rider then, it was old.
Anyway, excellent work in owning a Norton, I have to keep pinching myself that in 1976 a pre unit bike from the early sixties seemed impossibly old, an Arial Square Four or a Vincent from the fifties were from a golden age of bike production in another epoch and if I was riding a bike then as old as you are riding now it would nearly be a veteran possibly with leather belt drive and exposed rocker gear. At least the bikes from the seventies are very fast by traffic standards today so quite rideable which you can’t say for bikes substantially older.
all very interesting
Al
We had similar conversations back thenGood for you Peter!
But I guess you almost demonstrate what I was trying to say.
Born in 1959 I hankered for bikes all my sentient life, from pump-up scooters to pushie, to mini-bikes till that glorious day in 1975, all grown up at 16 and nine months when I could get my L Plates and me and my Honda XL175 were king.
From there I progressed to a Yamaha TX500 (very quick) while still on my Ls and at 18 to my T160 which I still have.
The point is, back then a 30 year old on a bike was unusual and we thought of them as somewhat geriatric but fabulously interesting because of their wealth of life experience whilst remaining cool enough to still ride.
So a 32 year old seems young now but to the average bike rider then, it was old.
Anyway, excellent work in owning a Norton, I have to keep pinching myself that in 1976 a pre unit bike from the early sixties seemed impossibly old, an Arial Square Four or a Vincent from the fifties were from a golden age of bike production in another epoch and if I was riding a bike then as old as you are riding now it would nearly be a veteran possibly with leather belt drive and exposed rocker gear. At least the bikes from the seventies are very fast by traffic standards today so quite rideable which you can’t say for bikes substantially older.
all very interesting
Al