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/DW171 1d ago

The best part is when they have $25k in accessories, without understanding that it adds almost zero to the resale value of the bike. "No low-balls! I know what I got!" But at least they think they look tough when they ride 3 miles to cosplay down at their local bar on Sunday.

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u/dreadpiratemyk 1d ago

As a Jeep owner, nothing grinds me more than A) a $50k brand new wrangler that's never seen the pavement outside a parking lot tricked out with enough high-end gear to tackle Moab; or B) same rig covered in dollar store Amazon doo-dads and rubber ducks with some wacked-out hairspray karen boomer screaming through red lights in a vehicle that weighs 5000lbs. Fucking toddlers with money.

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u/DW171 1d ago

As someone who is in Southern Utah often (Moab is too busy now), I can relate to this. My favourites are the ones with $10k paint jobs.