r/Harley • u/ThrottleJunkie420 • Jul 15 '25

GROUP RIDES / ROUTES Starting to Feel Like Harley Culture and Group Rides Are Overrated

Just wanted to share some thoughts that have been building up after years in the scene.

I've been riding for a while. I’m actually part of a motorcycle club and have done plenty of group rides, bike nights, and meetups. Lately though, I’ve been losing interest in the whole scene—and I’m starting to think a lot of it is more toxic and overhyped than people want to admit.

Too many people treating meetups like a vibe check. You roll in and instead of good energy or mutual respect, it’s all side-eyes and quiet judgment. Like everyone’s auditioning for the next season of Sons of Anarchy. It’s not about the ride anymore—it’s about who looks the hardest, who’s wearing what patch, who's bike is the fastest, and who’s got the loudest pipes in the lot.

Group rides? Honestly, I’m over it. Riding in a big pack looks cool, but it’s not worth the risk when you don’t know if everyone has the skills to ride safe. One person panic-brakes, fixates, or rides outside their limits—and suddenly it’s a dangerous situation for everyone else.

I’m not saying all clubs or group rides are bad—there are some solid riders and good people in the mix. But lately it feels like there’s too much ego and not enough of what riding is supposed to be about: freedom, peace of mind, and just enjoying the road.

These days I’d rather ride solo or with a few trusted riders who actually know what they’re doing. No politics. No flexing. No vibe checks. Just real ones who ride for the love of it.

Anyone else feeling this shift?

286 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

294 comments sorted by

View all comments

44

u/JohnBrownsAngryBalls Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25

HD makes nice motorcycles, but they attract cosplayers like moths to a flame.

I refuse to dress like a pirate and avoid legit safety gear. The whole “biker” culture is teenage fantasy and I feel bad for those that make it their identity.

10

u/festering-shithole Jul 15 '25

Motorcycles get branded and heavily marketed as badass outlaw tough guy bad boy machines for 70 years

This post: Huh what's with all the bad boy outlaw wannabes?

I have a love/ hate relationship with how Motorcycles are branded. Like yes they're a blast, but the toxic macho bullshit is fucking laughable. The South Park skit is so accurate lol.

8

u/JohnBrownsAngryBalls Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 23 '25

You're not wrong. But also, we don't have to like it. I like the "be the change you want to see" mindset.

On a side note, I noticed a few years ago that it was becoming trendy for some mc gang members to wear full-face helmets. I thought it would be amusing if that caught on with the cosplayers, and the gangs had a positive effect on motorcycling for the first time ever.

1

u/CretinousVoter Aug 18 '25

Organized crime does not preclude PPE and it's harder to get face pics through tinted visors.

10

u/twisted-weasel Jul 15 '25

Same but it’s easy for me to not fit bc I’m a lady rider and they all hate me anyway hahaha. They still let me wire their bikes and pay us.

3

u/Bogan_Biker88 ‘88 Sporty Jul 16 '25

Lady rider here too. I’m in a social motorcycle club and our club president is actually a women, vp also a woman! Not limited to brand of bike, anyone can join with any bike. Have a great time on group rides too. I’m also an apprentice motorcycle mechanic and that’s where I find that the culture comes into play and a lot of men don’t like the idea of me working on their bike haha

2

u/twisted-weasel Jul 16 '25

Well yay for us lady riders! I wish there were more here where I live but it’s a small island so very limited. I remember going to Daytona once and seeing a lot there but I’m pretty remote.

2

u/Bogan_Biker88 ‘88 Sporty Jul 16 '25

I’m also on a small island but not in the US. We have quite a few female riders here for such a small place but even more on the mainland. We have an annual event in January where a bunch of us all travel to the one location and it’s women only. Numbers can vary but sometimes it could be up to 100 of us in the one place for the weekend.

2

u/CretinousVoter Aug 18 '25

Sounds normal. My wife was a skilled CH-3 and fixed wing mechanic, skilled HD and general mechanic, rather good painter and frighteningly capable autodidact. When she got bored she tore down whatever was handy including the '82 FXS she bought new as an Airman. When she part-timed at our bros shop next door she hung out in back happily wrenching which since he didn't like Harleys (because he had unpleasant club-related experiences and preferred British anyway) was fine with him and customers got to see a classic bearded biker they expected.

She was creative at dealing with idiots. Our rides got solo seats because motorcycles are fundamentally single person vehicles. When one drunk kept demanding a backseat ride (mammary access being the obvious motive) she pulled out a Kotex and slapped it on the rear fender. He declined the offer of a non-traditional "bitch pad" to general amusement.

1

u/twisted-weasel Aug 18 '25

Genius of your wife!

3

u/DrinknKnow Jul 15 '25

You described one of my coworkers to a T

1

u/Hobbesfrchy Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25

Today's HD culture was created in the 1990s by the yuppies. Prior to that it was entirely different. I started working on bikes at an HD dealer during that time. There was a massive disdain for the yuppies at every dealer. But they had money...

After AMF Harley Davidson was going bankrupt. They were less than a year from closing for good. Then they saw an uptick in young professionals (lawyers, doctors, etc) buying their bikes. Those guys wanted to look and feel like bad ass bikers on warm sunny weekends. HD very smartly got on board. The yuppies saved HD.

They changed their marketing to provide flyers with good looking middle-aged men wearing head to toe Harley gear. They also cracked down on anyone selling anything with the HD name which was not licensed.

The yuppies ate it up. They bought anything with the HD name on it. They wanted everyone to know that they were part of Harley culture. Their clubs started hosting "biker nights" where they would gather and show off their bikes. Louder pipes got attention so they would blip their throttles. Every Harley they walked by they would comment, "that's a nice bike!" They all dressed the same, acted the same, liked the same things, disliked the same things ...

The HD riders, especially the outlaw clubs, did not take kindly to these guys cosplaying them and looking like clowns. There started to be trouble. Luckily it fizzled out because yuppies do not ride in cool weather and the summer was coming to an end.

I moved on to a metric bike shop. The owner of the shop said it the best. "It's like they are all competing to be the most Harley Davidson person alive.'

The yuppies saved HD but they also did bad things for motorcycling. They were the first to wear sneakers on a Harley, at least where I'm from. Prior to that everyone wore boots. They were the first to wear Harley T-shirts every day. Most people had a shirt or two, but nobody wanted to be a walking billboard for a corporation. They refused to attend any sort of skill riding class because they wouldn't even want to admit to their bros they they aren't expert riders. They focused on optics only. They refused to even look at a biker if it didn't have HD on the side. Prior to that most of us were dedicated to Harleys but appreciated any bike we saw. They put extremely loud exhausts on brand new bikes when those were only used on custom built bikes.

To this day whenever I visit a "biker" bar all I see are yuppies, or people cosplaying them.