Grief about owning a British bike?

sonny said:

Probably should have posted my thoughts in a Pm to Tiopirata but since I have the political constructiveness of a bull in a china shop will not. Today went on a toy run in North Tulsa. When I left the house was kind of joking with the wife that I could be the only white guy showing up. Not really white have a Indian card that says different. Well anyhow showed up early at the run. Ran up on some coworker's from the past and we all had a good laugh on how fat we got and grey. Good times. Then a group of about thirty of the low life's flying colors showed up. Bikes loaded with toys. Not cheap toys either. Not maybe the pillars of the community but they did take the time out from their busy schedule of raising hell and illegal activities to help out some kids in need. The bad of the bad but with a heart. A few of them were co workers and of course the greetings were hugs and hand shakes. Take it for what it is worth. I was the only Rocket. By the way had so many toys collected there was not enough boxes and had to lay the toys on the floor in piles.

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Nobody, or group, is all good or all bad, everyone is different and unique and has a unique understanding of their own relationship with the rest of the world. Even the most sociopathic of us draws a line in the sand somewhere. My family ate their enemies only four generations ago, if you weren't family you were livestock, literally. We evolve, and hopefully this evolution leads us to a better perspective, one where we may offer love and respect in the reasonable expectation that it will be mutual. For that to happen we must therefore offer that love and respect, without fear or condition, or we are still regarding others not of our tribe as livestock. There is no middle ground.

I dislike "groups" of any sort (Bikers to Tupperware). Any even slight pressure to conform is likely to set me off - so I stay isolated.

The only 1%'s I have ever met have been on a one to one basis. The last one was a bit of a surprise. Was pre the Internet being widespread. Was a UK Buell forum member and he called, broken down and stranded in a pouring thunderstorm. He called via another known mate (who vouched for him). Arrived to collect him - and there were the colours. But an offer is an offer. Stayed with us 2 nights and to this day Mrs b' will regale you with stories of his old world courteousness to her and my niece. A gentle man - if not actually what most would call a gentleman.

Later discovered that in a group he is a right "rascal" which would then have elevated the mind fence.

Nice way of putting things @Tiopirata - food for introspective thought.

Tiopirata said:

Nobody, or group, is all good or all bad, everyone is different and unique and has a unique understanding of their own relationship with the rest of the world. Even the most sociopathic of us draws a line in the sand somewhere. My family ate their enemies only four generations ago, if you weren't family you were livestock, literally. We evolve, and hopefully this evolution leads us to a better perspective, one where we may offer love and respect in the reasonable expectation that it will be mutual. For that to happen we must therefore offer that love and respect, without fear or condition, or we are still regarding others not of our tribe as livestock. There is no middle ground.

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You don't get to my size without running out of relatives too! One of the results of being born in Papua New Guinea

sonny said:

Probably should have posted my thoughts in a Pm to Tiopirata but since I have the political constructiveness of a bull in a china shop will not. Today went on a toy run in North Tulsa. When I left the house was kind of joking with the wife that I could be the only white guy showing up. Not really white have a Indian card that says different. Well anyhow showed up early at the run. Ran up on some coworker's from the past and we all had a good laugh on how fat we got and grey. Good times. Then a group of about thirty of the low life's flying colors showed up. Bikes loaded with toys. Not cheap toys either. Not maybe the pillars of the community but they did take the time out from their busy schedule of raising hell and illegal activities to help out some kids in need. The bad of the bad but with a heart. A few of them were co workers and of course the greetings were hugs and hand shakes. Take it for what it is worth. I was the only Rocket. By the way had so many toys collected there was not enough boxes and had to lay the toys on the floor in piles.

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I am a little confused as to why you think this is so outrageous it should be PM'd... Sounds great to me.

Tiopirata said:

Nobody, or group, is all good or all bad, everyone is different and unique and has a unique understanding of their own relationship with the rest of the world. Even the most sociopathic of us draws a line in the sand somewhere. My family ate their enemies only four generations ago, if you weren't family you were livestock, literally. We evolve, and hopefully this evolution leads us to a better perspective, one where we may offer love and respect in the reasonable expectation that it will be mutual. For that to happen we must therefore offer that love and respect, without fear or condition, or we are still regarding others not of our tribe as livestock. There is no middle ground.

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I am enjoying this discussion, not something I usually get involved with on the net and am finding your thoughts very interesting.

I agree, nobody or group is all good or all bad. There surely must to be a majority though one way or the other, for example take my local Orchid Club - I would say mostly good, now take a Neo Nazi club - in my point of view these people would be mostly bad. Of course it's all dependant on your point of view (some people really hate orchids), and that of the majority of society in general. (Please note I am not trying to compare MC's to Nazis!)

Everyone draws a line in the sand somewhere but unfortunately allot of the time we are not privy to where that line is until someone has their knife and fork out, so some form of assessment must be made. At least with an outward show of alliance to a particular group through the wearing of colours, badges etc one can more easily tell whether that persons values may align with their own. Depending on your colour, religion, sexual orientation etc this can be the matter of avoiding an unwanted situation. Surely one can not be surprised that the wearing of a patch will often result in choices being made as to the values the wearer may hold.

Whether it's a Swastika, the Sea Shepherd symbol, the ISIS squiggle or the WWF Panda, if that symbol is worn by a person then you can take it as granted that that person hold the values of that group high because it aligns with their own. It's great to hear you have never heard of any such behaviour as I have experienced happening in your Chapter, I will continue to not associate with patch members and I'm sure none of them will feel worse off for it LOL. I hope you do not feel my thoughts are unreasonable, I have enjoyed reading yours.

A "Certain Group" of people that are faithful to a "Certain Brand" will want to talk smack about any make of bike that is not their choice. I don't understand this need for them to resort to grade school playground attitudes ("My bike is better than your bike") mentality. Here in the states, many take the position anything other than American Made is crap...I can understand a certain level of Patriotic pride in owning something that is made in America, but these days literally nothing is FULLY manufactured here. Additionally there are those who have the brand of their choosing emblazoned on everything from their pickup truck to their underwear...meanwhile their bike is only collecting dust in the garage between polishing sessions. I have nothing against any of this, but I do get tired of explaining why I chose Triumph instead of _______. Bottom line is, I like to ride, and I chose the bike that I like after careful consideration. It seems to me that imagery and branding has become more important to most people. I really don't give a $#!+ if someone else doesn't like what I ride, if I wanted to be like everybody else, that would be easy to do. I chose to "Go my own way".

I doubt I’ll catch grief from anyone around here for riding the R3. Triumph seems to have few haters from other die hard brand worshippers. Not that I really care about that.

I have taken the reverse course of some here eying Indian then buying Triumph. We bought several Indians and love them . They look great and ride very nice. Much better than than all the Harley’s that we have owned. We were the Harley snobs and not proud of that. Switching to Indian broke us of that immature mentality and has led me to better appreciate other motorcycle makes.

The R3 will be a bike very different from the others and that’s the point of ANOTHER motorcycle. I have not bought it yet but I’m pretty hot for it.

Dr.D said:

I doubt I’ll catch grief from anyone around here for riding the R3. Triumph seems to have few haters from other die hard brand worshippers. Not that I really care about that.

I have taken the reverse course of some here eying Indian then buying Triumph. We bought several Indians and love them . They look great and ride very nice. Much better than than all the Harley’s that we have owned. We were the Harley snobs and not proud of that. Switching to Indian broke us of that immature mentality and has led me to better appreciate other motorcycle makes.

The R3 will be a bike very different from the others and that’s the point of ANOTHER motorcycle. I have not bought it yet but I’m pretty hot for it.

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Glad to see you have moved to a higher level of thinking...I love the new Indians, I love the Beemers, love some of the Hondas...and yes, I even like Harleys...what can I say, I'm a Bikemonger, and I hope to build a stable of a variety of makes of bikes if my financial future allows. But for now at least, if I can only have one bike, the R3 is my number one choice. That doesn't mean it's the best bike out there, other bikes handle better (or at least easier), other bikes may be more nimble or versatile, but bottom line is I don't think they would bring that $#!+ eat in' grin to my face like the R3.

I made the deal on the phone late this afternoon. I’m a R3 owner. It’s going to be colder than kraut this weekend when I divest of the last Harley and pick up the rocket ship but I’m doing it.