The all controlling "in the family or a bad person" mentality where a group controlled by the corporation acts to squash any independent thought along the lines of "maybe I'll try a sportsbike next time" I find mildy disturbing and Orwellian. I actually asked Triumph to stop bombarding me with RAT stuff because pretending advertising was an owners organisation seems dishonest. I guess if you like the happy clappy, isnt what I bought the best thing possible reinforcement you may think differently and some cultures will have more people who like this.
I toyed with the idea of a Harley and HOG in the UK really put me off. Everything aped the US, the exclusive language, the uniforms, rules about not riding your non-Harley bike....it was heading towards some sort of cult. If i'm going to join a cult I at least want one where you get to dance naked and take mind altering drugs, fat blokes in tassles don't cut it.
Harley make good bikes now, so I wonder why they think they need to protect sales in this way? Younger, non-Americans, the buyers they need are surely split on this and a more neutral stance would be better?
Andy
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