I think Harley's, when seen from the perspective as purely a "machine" with none of that absolute bullshit "lifestyle" marketing surrounding them, are fine for cruising around. I think most Harley riders buy into that terrible lifestyle scam in between their days at the office, but only a very few truely ruin it for the rest of them.
Most Harley riders get points for not racing around like crotch rockets (mostly because their reaction times are begining to show signs of wear in their old years
), but at the same time, they lose points for their insanely loud pipes. As if your giant chrome bike isn't already slow enough, you've ruined the tuned exhaust setup and probably hurt your power numbers.
Harley riders get
because for the most part, they're aware that their bikes do one thing good, and only one thing: Cruising. My car isn't the newest or fastest sports car around, no, but it still runs faster than most modern harleys, which says something.
Cruising: Yay. Power/Handling: Nay. Style: Your call
Ps: Loud pipes don't save lives, volunteer fire fighter buddy of a friend of mine who rides a cruiser (I think a yamaha or something, i dunno) says that during our short (4 or 5 months if we're lucky) riding season, he typically see's about a 50/50 split of cruisers/sport bikes that have been munched as a result of driver's not seeing them. The difference between the cruisers and the rockets? The cruisers are loud as shit, the crotch rockets are quiet. "Doesn't matter how loud you are, someone will ALWAYS turn left in front of you, the difference between the crotchet and the cruiser? The cruisers are always going slow as shit and are able to avoid people who turn in front of them more than the speeding crotch rockets"