Triumphrat

Butcher

I will just add my two cents now I guess....
I have have metric and Harley cruisers and will hopefully be getting my Triumph this season. I am looking forward to having the Triumph and have looked forward to it for a long time but for different reasons as time has gone on.
This thread started with the disgust with the whole "Harley" scene. I have to admit, I became so sick of it as well and that was my primary reason for wanting to get the Triumph. Well, after stepping back and looking at my reasons for wanting something different than Harley I can say that I still want the Triumph, but not to "escape" the Harley scene, but because the Triiumph group is very diverse, very unique and very into "I have one and ride one because I like it, not because everyone else has one or thinks I should have one".
I guess my point is.....the whole Harley scene really urkes me, too - the doo rags, the shirts, the pants, the caps, the socks, the chrome, the endless money spent on having everthing visible say "Harley" on it just becasue it's cool to do so. I ride with a get-up similar to James Dean...jeans, white t-shirt, work boots and messy hair. I dont buy into all the commercialism. I ride what I feel is unique.
So now in my lifetime rather than jumping onto all the perverbial "bandwagons", I own a 61 Chevy Corvair, a 74 Harley Sportster and am anxious to get my Triumph. All three items are concidered my many groups to be "oddball" or "not quite as desirable" items, but you know what?....it makes me love those possesions all the more because it says "these are mine" rather than "I have these because people say I should want to have them".
Be yourself and everyone else can go piss up a rope, right?
Ride safe everyone and worry about the big stuff. Remember, if something won't matter 50 years from now, why even let it ruin your life for an instant....think about the literal meaning of that statement and it may make you less stressed........

[ This message was edited by: Butcher on 2007-05-17 19:33 ]

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Another round over here.
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ssjones

Butcher:
Lets see some more shots of that Sporty. Looks pretty cool!

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Al
66 Bonneville Chopper - The Beast
02 Bonneville America - Beauty

MA0458

[just a note that a lot of hd posts go bad after page 3. ]

Lived-to-tell,
Mare

Congrats on not being TOO hostile so far... :razz:

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Best,
Mare
Trumpet Cottage
In the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mtns

doogin

Goin-Commando, "Flavor Flavious or what ever his name was". ... He was referring to Phaedrus. Phaedrus, by Plato, Written 360 B.C. You just put the book down too soon. It was a good read. Pirsig, was not trying to piss you off. Much of the book was about the concept of quality. I am not trying to piss you or anyone off. I'm defending, Pirsig. I'm outta here.

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Dance with the lady with the hole in her stocking
790 Bonnie Black

Butcher

ssjones....
I am almost finished with the Sporty...I will get some photos up soon. You guys in there may really like it since it is reminiscent of the 60's type track racer look.
Talk to you cats later........

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Another round over here.
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davidc

Yeah Doogin. Pirsig's first few hundred pages - the travelogue, his son, friends, etc. - belie the substantial remainder. The book is simply, or not so simply, a philosophical examination of life - or more exact - existence. While it has been a while since I've read it, I was impressed by his use of "maintaining" a motorcycle as a metaphor for the maintaining the soul. The "gumption" of learning how to weld - and doing it right - is so much like learning how to live and doing that right. As a high school English teacher, I am frequently asked by students about influential books I have read. In the non-fiction category, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is my first response. Many students have read it and found ideas that will linger with them always.

It is not light reading and certainly not for everyone, but its value is there. I was just thinking of its place in this posting, and it occurred to me that PERHAPS HD ownership - by the posers/polishers/vacuous - is analogous to the "top of the mountain" [Pirsig] and the Triumph experience the same as "the side of the mountain." A sensible argument for this could be made.

mutineer

Pirsig wears me out to no end

I have read the book at least three times. I like less each time which tell me I getting to the point where continued attempts are merely evidence of my own tendency to learn slowly and the hard way

anyone who wants us to believe his whole metaphysics of quality argument while not bothering to learn how to actually work on his bike effectively is an*****

Pirsig is often the judgmental prig he tells us not to be. His way of defining his friend through his choice of motorcycle is allowing objects to define the experience and the relationship, rather than allowing the object to become an aspect of each.

when you are reading thought he book consider how you would feel about anyone you know talking to his child the way Pirsig addresses his son on the book. Pirsig is driven by ego and emotion, if we consider the text of his own, autobiographical, book as primary source material.

Pirisg summarizes his Metaphysics of Quality philosphy as

"The Metaphysics of Quality, or MoQ, is simply a philosophic answer to the question of what is Quality, or worth, or merit, or value, or betterness or any of the other synonyms for good. There are many possible answers but the one the MOQ gives is that you can understand Quality best if you don't subordinate it to anything else but instead subordinate everything else to it."

Ego and emotion should be, at best, secondary concerns. Our primary pursuit should be to find the "quality" and to allow that to, essentially, replace whatever other thing represents metaphyics fro you.


and you know with all that ultimately meaningless bull***** I wrote above, and how much I disagree with many elements of the philosophy Pirsig espouses

you gotta admit


if this is his idea of a good time

well

it would be hard not to find something about the guy to really like

Gob-ny-geay

I agree regarding Pirsig - It's a very wonderful read, but I get a little tired of the preachiness near the end. None of us are perfect. Should be required reading before purchasing a bike though, along with the 2 Peter Egan books..
A few words on the whole H-D thing...
1.) For whatever reason, I've only met one Harley owner that I cared for (out of say a dozen or so I know of). I can't put a finger on it, but I just don't care for the whole "attitude" I guess.
2.) When I bought my Bonneville, two of these guys said "Those are #$$%^, you shoulda' bought a Harley. Only a Harley person would say something like this by the way. I've noticed that motorcyclist's in the know respect ALL bikes and choices. To my knowledge, there is no one bike that fits everyone. Depends on.. whatever! All BIKES are cool, it's the riders that differ.
3.) Around my area, I see absolutely no Harley (or Harley clone) riders ever wearing helmets or riding gear. Most often, I see them with no helmet, shorts, and sandals - if they're not dreesed up in the "I wish I was a motorcycle gang outlaw" outfits. Someone once told me there were two types of bikers - those that have fallen, or those that haven't fallen just yet. The total lack of safety gear tells me they are either extremely new to the sport, or just ride their jewels once a month around the block.
When I see these same guys with their best girl on the back (no Helmet) or worse yet - their son or daughter, I cringe.
4.) For whatever reason, the sportbike, crotch-rocket, and classic bike riders I see wear safety gear, with minor exceptions. Seems the younger guys shun this stuff, and the older guys wear it. Go figure.

Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a safety tangent, it just bugs me (hey-now I'm getting preachy!).
The pretty gal on the back of that bike won't be as pretty after the "possible" accident.

doogin

Murineer, .."if this is his idea of a good time well it would be hard
not to find something about the guy to really like".

Well said, friend. The best to you.
Steven

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Dance with the lady with the hole in her stocking
790 Bonnie Black

walc

I just returned to riding, at age 58, after 12 years
In the past, I owned Harleys and a 1995 Triumph T'bird.
When deciding which bike to buy, I have to admit that the look of many Harley riders swayed me toward a Triumph, plus I like Triumph's prices much better.