Harley Rider Gave Me the Finger

[ediddy]

Yesterday my wife and I were returning from a ride. We were approaching the highway where we turn left about 2 miles from home. I saw a light from a bike in my rear view mirror approaching. There is a traffic light where we turn left on a four lane to go home. The light was red so I starting slowing and moved into the left turn lane. The other bike, a harley softail deuce, came up beside me and I waved at him. I thought he was going to stay in the right lane to go straight or turn right. He came by and swerved into the left turn lane right in front of me. I had to slam on brakes to stop without hitting him. I can't repeat what I was calling him to myself. When the light turned green we turned left and he went over into the right lane. I thought OK buddy, I am going to see what you have but then remembered I was riding 2 up and he was riding single so the venture might not keep up. As he turned I could hear the roar of the pipes and knew he was twisting the throttle wide open. I twisted my throttle wide open and he was leaving me. When I hit the rev limit and my engine started sputtering I hit second gear and the venture lurched forward and I started gaining on him. When I was on his rear fender I hit third and swerved into the left lane and went by him like he was standing still. He was winding it out but I was steadily leaving him. I hit fourth and at 100 mph saw his light in my rear view mirror. It was time for me to turn right and go home so I backed off to let him come by so I could get back in the right lane. When he came by he gave me the finger. I guess it hurt his feelings because a metric bike riding 2 up blew his big bad harely away.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

And your wife, did or said what? Got bruises?

 

[Sylvester]

Very embarassing! I feel sorry for him..."OHHH the shame" by Sylvester Jr.

 

[Ponch]

Now Eddy, take it easy on them Harley guys. It might offend them if they see they can't blow a heavy metric tourer away with their sporty twin cammed over priced American (some Japanese components) made cruiser that they paid way too much for (redundant, I know).

Ok, I'm over it now, I just get fed up with my motorcyclist Harley brother's attitude (doesn't show, does it?). Having ranted, I still like them (bikes & riders).

Stay safe,bro. You might tangle with someone who'll do more than show you his finger.

Ponch

[Steve S]

I love it... It used to make my brother sooo mad when I would let him take off and get a good lead, then BLOW HIM AWAY. :banana: All I would say is "it's only got 1300 CCs". :stickpoke:

After a lot of growling and moaning on his part, I finally told him the story and HP of the engine. He was sick. Even though he was a wrencher all his life,, he never knew that Harleys were so over rated and underpowered.

Of course my buddy that rides the Roadstar, which could take the Road King, hates me too. :crackup:

[skydoc_17]

Hey Eddy,

Being one who has "snacked" on the safety chrome of more than one Harley, My hats off to you Bro, I had to tell a cocky Harley rider just the other day, "that the only way your Harley is gonna' beat my 23 year old Jap bike is if we race......IN REVERSE!"

Sometimes you just gotta' show these guys that they best "stay on the porch if they can run with the BIG DOGS!"

Oh, and Jean said, "I wodda' swatted him if he Had NOT blown his doors off!"

( and she wodda' probably flipped him off as well, gotta' love those Jersey Girls!)

Ya' did good!

Thats how we roll here in PA,

Earl and Jean

[Condor]

I love Harley's..... They're so tiny and cute.... :rotfl:

[MasterGuns]

I have a good running (but hard shifting) 86 VR and a Harley Ultra. Both are really great machines but I prefer the looks of the VR over the HD. I ride the Ultra occassionally and only when I know I won't need to go fast, leave rubber marks or do a wheelie. The HD is really only suitable for Dairy Queen runs. And I also hate dew rags and tattoos one can spot from orbit. Some HD riders simply look ridiculous in their riding garb.

[Greener]

Maybe it was a peace sign but one of his fingers had vibrated off??

[Venturous Randy]

He didn't give you the finger, he was saying.........

You're number one!!!!!!!!!!!!! :cool10::cool10:

RandyA

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I love Harley's..... They're so tiny and cute....

 

 

LOL...mind if I steal that?

 

[Guest Boomerbiker]

This subject of Harley Davidson motorcycles never ends. I have a friend with an '03 full dresser, 103 cu in. He has bugged me to ride it all summer. I finally took him up on the offer on a day I was planning to ride to a nearby dealer to look at the 2010 Ultra Glide Limited. The bike had been modified with pipes that made it noisy. I experienced the same experience at idle that others have written about - "shake, rattle and roll." The low end power was okay and the handling, too. Traveling the open road with the cruise engaged, the bike labored up the smallest incline. I arrived at the dealer to witness the salesmen trying to convince an older geezer (probably about my age) to purchase the Limited I was there to see. I listened to his sales pitch and had to chuckle. I think he was selling that guy a dream as opposed to a motorcycle. With that air cooled, ancient engine, it's well overpriced at $25 k.

 

I don't pretend to know a lot about engines, although I do the regular stuff on the Venture with the help of members on this site. For me, the Harley motor is underwhelming. I have referred to it more than once as an oversized lawnmower engine. It is no wonder the recent Rider magazine article tied the old Venture and Harley in its recent review.

 

I rode back to Coldwater, Harley experience behind me with, the trusty Venture waiting in the parking lot. I laughingly said to my Harley buddy, "I canceled the chiropractic appointment, the bike did the adjustment for me.

[Condor]

LOL...mind if I steal that?

 

 

Be my guest.......

[Skid]

I love a good story...

[mini-muffin]

The only thing worse than that is when you pass em two up pulling a trailer. They really hate that. We refer to that as harley hunting. Never had one tell us we were number 1 though. Gonna have to try harder I guess.

 

Margaret

[Yammer Dan]

Just point at it and laugh. They will give you both fingers. I have one here that won't speak to me because I busted his Hardley. So I make a point of speaking to him and then telling everyone around why he just stares at me. Probally going to try the "Old Man" one of these days. May get same results as when he tried the "Old Bike."

[Venturous Randy]

First of all, this is not Harley bashing, but Harley people bashing. You gotta admit folks, Harley Davidson does one hell of a job perpetuating their image. You really do have to respect them for that. And, they do a real good job of building a bike to fit the market they are selling to. Harleys are nice bikes and I respect them for that.

That being said, a couple of years ago I paired up beside one of the Big Dog type Harleys that was extremely loud just ideling, not that the rider allowed it to idle much. The rear tire seemed about a foot wide. We were turning up a long on ramp the was two lanes going into one before it merged on to the interstate. I was on the outside lane swinging to the left and when the light went green, he turned it on and was about a bike's length ahead of me due to the shorter arc and me not wanting to get too close to his lane. There was no doubt he was wide open. So, I cranked it on too. By the time I was at about 8,000rpm,s in 1st, I was already passing him at a good clip. By the time I was that far in 2nd, I was a several bike lengths ahead and coming up behind a car in front of us getting to merge onto the highway. I had to slow a lot and he was right on me. I moved over to the left as far as I could and as soon as I was sure the car was going to stay in the right lane and nothing was coming in the left lane, I nailed it again. He again got left behind. I went off at the next exit and slowed for him to pass before I exited and he would not even look over at me, so I just had to assume I was NUMBER ONE without him indicating so.

RandyA

[BigBoyinMS]

Y'know, I wouldn't mind the finger (well, maybe I would) as much as the a-wipes that don't even acknowledge that you are there.

I was headed home on my Road Star from work one evening when I noticed another bike behind me. When I pulled up to the stop light I turned to wave or nod... as he blew by and made a right turn without even stopping or even looking in my direction. I think that he was embarrassed that my Roadie sounded so much better than his bike.

Back when I rode H-D's I considered joining the local H.O.G. group so I attended a meeting once. By the time I left I felt the need for some Pepto and I was tempted to mail them a 5-lb box of Ex-Lax to snack on for their next meeting. They sure acted like they needed it. I don't even think that they wanted to be there. It felt more like they thought they HAD to be there. Now if they only had a Shovelhead Owners Group... I could probably stand to hang around with those guys. LoL

[Brake Pad]

not worth crying over. we would have just let him go.

see, for me, (I carry) so toying with the guy, could back fire.

a cop would think my intent would be deadly.

[halfwitt]

Mrs Halfwitt will tell you that sometimes I have a bit of a road rage issue. On two wheels though, I behave myself. We were riding up to the Poconos a few weeks ago and had a potential road rage incident. We were on the cloverleaf from one highway to another. When I'm two up I do tend to be a little more cautious. We were doing about 40 in the curve. Posted was 35. An H-D came up on my tail and on the one lane road, blew past me on the right. Fortunately I saw him and kinda thought he might do something stupid. Had I drfited right at all there would've been chrome and leather all over the place. In a car I probably would've had a one finger response for the guy. Instead I let it go. He wasn't even in that big of a hurry - I stayed 50 yards behind the guy for the next 10 miles.

 

Glad your idiot confrontation didn't result in any, um, issues.

[ken]

Ediddy,

I should check the Harley forum. He’s probably over there posting how he blew away a metric bike.

[bmxndad]

Some of the worst riders on the road are riding the Milwaukees.

It is kind of counter to what most people would think.

He or she has a Milwaukee, must know how to ride safely and respectfully.

This is not the case at all in many instances.

I was getting tailgated bad by a pickup last week.

When I fianally had a chance to pull over to the shoulder to let this ****head by, I notice he's got a "I Ride a Harely" sticker in his back window.....real nice.

[Mariner Fan]

Funny thing about riding with my Harley buddies. They are always shifting into third when I'm shifting into second.

 

As far as their attitude, there are jerks riding every kind of bike. I hate dealing with the kind of people you did Eddie.

[FJR Rider]

The only thing worse than that is when you pass em two up pulling a trailer. They really hate that.

 

Been there done that! Actually, that one happens quite a bit up this way, and they really DO hate it . Especially when you're riding a fully loaded RSV two-up with a fully loaded Bunkhouse camper in tow

[bongobobny]

Gee, if youu would have had a good running 1200 1st gen, 1st gear would have been all you needed...