r/BoomersBeingFools • u/CyanShadow42 • 1d ago

What is it with boomers and Harleys?

Some background: I am a lifelong motorcyclist, who likes to do lots of different kinds of riding, so I have a few different bikes. I'm also a bad influence and people who spend much time around me usually end up riding too, so my wife now rides and has a bike of her own. Between us we've got 5 bikes in the garage, all different types, and none of them Harleys because all of them together don't add up to the price of a new Harley and if I wanted that kind of bike I'd rather buy a Royal Enfield for all the 1940's tech without the $25,000 sticker on the gas tank.

The other day my MIL, the boomiest baby boomer to ever boom, upon seeing our garage, comments that she's "never seen so many motorcycles" with disgust almost dripping from the words. I point out that in her own neighborhood, I've seen a few garages with several Harleys that look almost identical except for color and a few accessories and suddenly having multiple bikes seems okay in her mind. I wish that was the only case of boomers being like "motorcycles bad but Harleys good" I've experienced, but it's just one of the more obvious and recent instances. Make it make sense please.

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u/TheRealSatanicPanic 1d ago

Harley is a boomer brand, like Jack Daniel’s and Gibson guitars. It’s a symbol of their youth. I think you’d need a time machine to know exactly why, it must have been in some movie. 

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u/DoctorWinchester87 1d ago

This is really all there is to it. Boomers are just super attracted and loyal to certain brands. Among those you mentioned, Levi jeans and John Deere mowers come to mind. It must be all the advertising and brand marketing they were exposed to as children. And to their credit, back in their younger days, certain brands were heavily associated with a high mark of quality. But in the decades since, a lot of these brands are no better than the multitude of cheap knock-offs you can get on Amazon or at Walmart.

Boomers in general are just obsessed with branding. My dad is convinced that the Eggland's Best eggs are the premium egg choice because they advertise so heavily on television.

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u/TheRealSatanicPanic 1d ago

I actually like Levi’s- they’re one of the few companies that tries to police their factories for abusive practices.  Ironically they’re based in SF and one of the more “woke” brands around.  But yes totally this. It’s the branding. 

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u/CovidLarry 1d ago

I find their Jeans are pretty good quality for the price as well (although I hate this trend of putting elastic in damn near everything).

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u/Reggaeton_Historian 11h ago

Levi jeans

My boomer father was more of a "Wrangler" jeans guy because COWBOYS!