Reviving a thought from a previously locked thread may not be the best of ideas, but there was a thought that intrigued me. Please let's try to discuss this without Harley bashing. I think we ALL know that peacocks and newbs alike ride/drive every vehicle ever produced. Please leave your prejudices and preconceptions outside the door for a little while.
Back in the '80s, as a newbie when I first started operating a motorcycle on the street regularly, I had little idea what would constitute a particular "uniform." I rode a big-bore Honda, knew about leathers, but was basically too poor to even consider a leather jacket. I rode in what I wore every day. I was a welder in my early days and associated myself with a couple of Harley riders. Hard core, they were. Great guys. All their leather was functional and well-worn. Harley gear was too expensive for me and my buddys and we all wore pretty much what we had.
Fast forward to the 90's and my '85 ElectraGlide. I wore what "looked right." I didn't consider it a uniform, but as a protective jacket and chaps. I did a lot of highway miles and got a number of rocks and debris to the legs so chaps were in order. I didn't buy into the Harley mystique too deeply, but a person has to spend their money wisely, and full racing leathers would have looked pretty wrong on a touring bike.
Now I drive an older big-bore Kawasaki. I have a nice ICON jacket that matches, and I wear jeans and my old military boots. They just seem to look right together and provide some protection. The wife rides and has her modern fabric jacket with armor, along with sturdy leather boots that go up over the ankle. I would consider this a tad above the absolute minimum and not at all "uniform-like."
As humans we watch what others do and emulate. Nobody wants to be ostracized or ridiculed. It's innate, and we do it without really thinking.
In today's world where you can't walk five feet without being bombarded with advertising, and 90 percent of a motorcycle magazine is advertising, we are shown what is correct for the bike. Full leathers, edgey helmet and jacket graphics for the sport bike crowd. Touring jackets and matching helmets for the touring crowd, and a mix of 70's, 80's, and 90's wear from the old guys that still wear their old stuff. German bike riders where these things, Italian bike riders wear those things, American bike riders wear these other things. Likewise, pipes and windshields, and graphics, and tank bags, and tail bags, and electronics are used as accessories to each kind of bike. Each type bike has it's own style of accessories, and while may not used as a "uniform," the effect is inescapable.
Peacocks, on the other hand, are simply peacocks. They would strut and crow no matter what they were doing, whether on the road in full leathers on a fastbike or standing in the middle of a party talking the loudest about last week's trip to the Bahamas. It's a personality trait that is not associated with a particular car or bike, but may point that person to a particular car or bike (or clothes, or wife) to manifest it.
Eyerolls and tch,tch noises to the peacocks are understandable, but can we be that hard on newbies that are unaware and at the results of the industry advertising?
Back in the '80s, as a newbie when I first started operating a motorcycle on the street regularly, I had little idea what would constitute a particular "uniform." I rode a big-bore Honda, knew about leathers, but was basically too poor to even consider a leather jacket. I rode in what I wore every day. I was a welder in my early days and associated myself with a couple of Harley riders. Hard core, they were. Great guys. All their leather was functional and well-worn. Harley gear was too expensive for me and my buddys and we all wore pretty much what we had.
Fast forward to the 90's and my '85 ElectraGlide. I wore what "looked right." I didn't consider it a uniform, but as a protective jacket and chaps. I did a lot of highway miles and got a number of rocks and debris to the legs so chaps were in order. I didn't buy into the Harley mystique too deeply, but a person has to spend their money wisely, and full racing leathers would have looked pretty wrong on a touring bike.
Now I drive an older big-bore Kawasaki. I have a nice ICON jacket that matches, and I wear jeans and my old military boots. They just seem to look right together and provide some protection. The wife rides and has her modern fabric jacket with armor, along with sturdy leather boots that go up over the ankle. I would consider this a tad above the absolute minimum and not at all "uniform-like."
As humans we watch what others do and emulate. Nobody wants to be ostracized or ridiculed. It's innate, and we do it without really thinking.
In today's world where you can't walk five feet without being bombarded with advertising, and 90 percent of a motorcycle magazine is advertising, we are shown what is correct for the bike. Full leathers, edgey helmet and jacket graphics for the sport bike crowd. Touring jackets and matching helmets for the touring crowd, and a mix of 70's, 80's, and 90's wear from the old guys that still wear their old stuff. German bike riders where these things, Italian bike riders wear those things, American bike riders wear these other things. Likewise, pipes and windshields, and graphics, and tank bags, and tail bags, and electronics are used as accessories to each kind of bike. Each type bike has it's own style of accessories, and while may not used as a "uniform," the effect is inescapable.
Peacocks, on the other hand, are simply peacocks. They would strut and crow no matter what they were doing, whether on the road in full leathers on a fastbike or standing in the middle of a party talking the loudest about last week's trip to the Bahamas. It's a personality trait that is not associated with a particular car or bike, but may point that person to a particular car or bike (or clothes, or wife) to manifest it.
Eyerolls and tch,tch noises to the peacocks are understandable, but can we be that hard on newbies that are unaware and at the results of the industry advertising?