DGS49
Diamond Member
With its main customer demographic dying off and age-ing out of motorcycling (as I am), Harley Davidson ("The Motor Company") has decided to increase its initiative to train people to ride motorcycles safely, in a controlled environment, by competent, trained instructors, in the hope that this familiarity will encourage people to buy a Harley. They are charging around $300 for the course.
In my area (can't speak for the rest of the country/continent), the Motorcycle Safety Foundation offers FREE courses on motorcycle safety, which is taught on either borrowed 150cc street bikes or your own bike, if you have one. I took it many years ago, after 20 years without riding, and found it very informative.
I have never encouraged anyone to buy a bike, or to ride. In fact, I often try to talk people out of it if their life situation calls for a risk-averse lifestyle - say, with a wife and three young children. Most people who ride feel a perverse need to do so, and the fairly controlled danger is part of the charm of riding.
Like many things today, WOMEN are being encouraged to ride, and some seem to think it's a demonstration of their being bad-ass. Whatever. If you are not strong enough to "right" a bike that is starting to tip over, then you should not be riding that bike. Which rules out most Harleys/most women.
Thoughts?
In my area (can't speak for the rest of the country/continent), the Motorcycle Safety Foundation offers FREE courses on motorcycle safety, which is taught on either borrowed 150cc street bikes or your own bike, if you have one. I took it many years ago, after 20 years without riding, and found it very informative.
I have never encouraged anyone to buy a bike, or to ride. In fact, I often try to talk people out of it if their life situation calls for a risk-averse lifestyle - say, with a wife and three young children. Most people who ride feel a perverse need to do so, and the fairly controlled danger is part of the charm of riding.
Like many things today, WOMEN are being encouraged to ride, and some seem to think it's a demonstration of their being bad-ass. Whatever. If you are not strong enough to "right" a bike that is starting to tip over, then you should not be riding that bike. Which rules out most Harleys/most women.
Thoughts?