Modern Vespa

Oh I understand it totally.

It's about your level of commitment to the brand or at least your desire to be totally immersed in the product or look.

Either that or the stuff was on the shelf and you couldn't be bothered to go anywhere else.

It's a bit like being displaying your loyalty or at least your depth of commitment.

Would you actually want to wear a Hodna or Piaggio product ?

I doubt it.

Bill x

I wear a piaggio zip-up fleece quite a lot in cooler weather.

You'll never catch me wearing a product that promotes a brand.

I'm guessing those sales aren't going to come from Europe. Immediately after you guys put a 25% tax on European steel, an additional 25% tax was added over here to a bunch of US imports including HD. I understand HD were looking to move some of their production to Thailand to save costs.

Yes, they will be moving some production outside of the US as result of the tariffs and the global economic climate. I'm no poli sci or economics major but IMHO protectionism needs to be practiced with care otherwise punitive measures can cause more harm than good for a country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44604280

But I want to ride one every day and my dream bike is a Honda X-ADV. So there's that 8)

Actually, that's a really good question.

Why do people wear manufacturer's branded clothing ?

Wouldn't you rather wear a jacket from a brand that makes really good jackets not a from a subcontractor with your bikes name on it ?

Just sayin.

Bill x

I wear Lee's jeans with a zip up fly. All the time when riding.

Gotcha! Caughtcha!
Looks like a good quality advert shirt.

I have a bunch of Harleys, several BMWs, and the BV250 scooter. Just about every time I ride the scooter to the Harley dealership the store manager tries to buy it. He says guys would line up to buy it from the dealership as a starter ride for their womenfolk.

The manager also keeps telling me I really need to stop taking Harley rider's money by racing them across the parking lot...them on their great big hogs and me on my dinky, cute lil' scooter: if I want a new tee shirt, I just line up a quick race with someone. Sometimes I almost feel bad though; an ego is a terrible thing to bruise.......

I like Harley's. My uncle had one when I was a kid and it absolutely implanted my love of riding. Even though I love and ride an Italian "made" product...well assembled in Italy. I LOVE that Harley had/has manufacturing here. I don't like that they are closing down plants to move production out of country. I get it, globalization and all but I don't like it.


I was shaking my head at the sales person who upsold a new rider to a larger bike than they could handle to get their commission as the rider had great credit and qualified for financing.

My illustration of my aunt's boyfriend is that he has a newer bike, a touring bike. But even by that riders own admission he has 10 years or less of riding it as eventually it will be too big and heavy for him to operate. This is the problem with Harley relying too much on the marketing to the Baby Boomers who are in fact ageing out.

Double illustration was the conversation with the local Hell's Angle. When many of them are trading in for BMW's because of comfort and better fuel efficiency. Again, it shows the problems Harley has with the focus on the larger bikes and the MC associated closest to their brand are leaving their bikes behind.

I don't want to see them go away. I like that they support so much aftermarket/customization with their bikes but I'm not a large CC person. I hope they don't scrap the under 1000cc bikes from their line as I see that as an underdeveloped market for them both domestically and abroad.

I traded my scooter in for a Harley nearly 2 summers ago. It was a huge hit with the employees. They lined up to ride it. For weeks when I came by the dealer someone was riding it. They reluctantly sold it about a month later.