| Author | Message | ||
     General_ulysses |
"In terms of pure work-manship, personally I don't like Harleys. I ride them because I'm in the club, and that's the image, but if I could I would seriously consider riding a Honda ST1100 or a BMW. We really missed the boat not switching over to the Japanese models when they began building bigger bikes. I'll usually say 'Fvck Harley-Davidson.'” —- Ralph "Sonny" Barger, Hell's Angel Anyone surprised that the actual founder of the Hell's Angels motorcycle club says this about Harley Davidson? lol I was. | ||
| Buewulf |
That is hilarious. | ||
| Uly_man |
No not at all. Sonny Barger, like others, came to use HD bikes because they were old WW2 surplus and cheap transport. They had been taught to kill and came back to nothing. All they wanted to do was ride and be left alone. The Honda/BMW thing is more than 20 years after that period and must have been close to his passing. I think He may have liked the Uly. He had his faults but He did know something about bikes. | ||
| 1313 |
must have been close to his passing. When did he pass? I couldn't find anything online about it. News to me... 1313 | ||
| Unholy |
Sonny didn't pass. Been on Sons of Anarchy recently even. | ||
| Brighton |
According to Wikipedia, that quote comes from Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling. Released by HarperCollins on June 8, 2010. (Message edited by Brighton on July 31, 2013) | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Well since Sonny Barger, that pillar of the motorcycling community, says that Harley should go Japanese then by God it should be so. Not. | ||
| Ratbuell |
He didn't say HD should go Japanese...he said the Angels should have opened up some when they started making bigger bikes. | ||
| Krabykarl |
I've always said, "Stick my other foot in the grave the day I ride a Harley or Gold Wing." Harley riders won't even look at me so I guess I'm still safe. | ||
| Teeps |
Sounds about right. Back in the day; we had a number of local "club" (not Hells Angels) members that were customers. One guy preferred the Kawasaki Mach III (H1) 500 over his harley, when he was "working." Said; He liked the handling and acceleration. | ||
| Smokey3644 |
I'll have to agree with Sonny, I have Road King but usually take the Uly. A friend of mine has a Super Ten and a Harley and he's conflicted, he'd rather ride the Ten but he has too much invested in his Harley riding gear.  | ||
| Pnw_uly |
Excerpt from Hell's Angel, the Life and Times of Sonny Barger pp.52-53 "... Hell's Angel started riding Harley-Davidsons because unlike today, they didn't have much choice. In 1957, it was either ride a Harley or settle for a Triumph or BSA. They'd already stopped building Indians. It's always been important for Hell's Angels to ride American-made machines." (emphasis added) Barger goes on to say he owns (at the time) the Harley FXRT "because it's their best model for people who put on a lot of miles. Harley doesn't make them anymore, but they're the best of both worlds - - a good bike for long distances and also handles and corners well..." Thought it was worth a mention since Erik Buell was a fundamental part of the FXR design team (and I believe was instrumental in the aerodynamic design of the FXRT fairing / luggage system). | ||
| Rfp52 |
Sonny Barger is still alive. He had his vocal cords removed from throat cancer and talks with a mechanical device. He has been riding a Victory Vision since they first came out. |
