Old Hogs

Uncle Bubba really likes his hog. It doesn't matter if he's just sitting on the porch admiring her resting in the sunshine or sitting on her back as she takes him on a ride. Recently he watched a YouTube video about Harley Davidson's biggest challenge in the future and that's the fact that their core demographic of customers are aging and will eventually fade away, and the young bucks just aren't into motorcycles as much as playing video games. The video also postulated that the younger generations are more inclined to buy crotch rockets because they're faster and cheaper. It's a hard argument to contradict. Harley's are expensive. Sportbikes are fun. But for a while now Uncle Bubba has been tired of the Harley Davidson paradigm. Short of their sportier bikes targeted at younger riders, most of their cruisers are just getting too many comfort features that in Bubbie's view take away from the ride and add to the cost. It wasn't until he thought about the info that the video presented that he realized that all these comforts do go hand in hand with older riders. Aside from Bubbie, there's not a lot of old dudes that want to ride stripped down bikes of their youth. They want low vibration motors, 6-speed transmissions, soft comfy seats, farings loaded with radios and stereo speakers, GPS, LED lights, heated grips, and on and on. These new bikes are practically 2 wheeled cars! That just ain't Bubbie taste. He likes to feel the bike as it rumbles under him and he likes to listen to the motor and the wind and the sounds of nature and the environment. He doesn't want to be distracted from the ride with a radio or GPS, clock or cell phone. He wants to be connected in spirit to the band of Wild Ones that came before him. Easy Rider and Born To Be Wild. All the brothers and sisters that rode not to show off their style and make a fashion statement but because a bike was their primary choice of transportation due to their rebel hearts. It wasn't about comfort it was about freedom. Uncle Bubba likes the idea of being in that pedigree. He reckons that every rider likes that idea and feels similarly but in Bubbie's view, it's a lot easier to connect the dots without the radio distracting him.