Want to support your favorite existential motovlogger? Head to www.whitneydoe... and grab a butt sticker or pin! I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and turns out the fuss was GUD. Thanks @spitescorner for the fun ride!
I absolutely love that you guys are still working together and made totally different videos of the same ride. Please don't sell your super fun bikes for one of these. I'm sad enough that you got rid of the XSR. Can't wait to get the next notification.
A funny thing is with the image, in the 1900’s through the 1930’s people on Harley motorcycles wore black leather because the bikes had engines with total loss oil systems, and they wore that to keep the oil off of themselves. It was purely functional. Now you don’t have to worry about it and you can keep the weather off with other fabrics in other colors, it’s not necessary anymore. But, it became something else after the ww2 anyway.
Whitney you did an amazing job of working with Spite to give a rough explainer of Harley culture in the US. This video is awesome. I would say for all intents and purposes, your R9T is basically a cruiser just with a more natural seating position....
I’m glad your first cruiser experience was great! I owned a HD Softail Slim that was kind of disappointing, I’m thinking I need to give a HD with a bigger engine and “more tech” another shot at some point.
I loved this - it's hard to find content that expands out past bikes and digs into the nuances of culture, so this was a really enjoyable surprise. Totally different to the car world where we can't stop telling everyone about our micro cultures lol. Love your style and can't wait to see you thrive!
Wow, I’ve heard you talk about being from MN (as am I) but I just realized I’ve also been to that coffee shop at 4:23. I heard about it because I got to talking vintage motorcycles with my home inspector back in 2014 and he invited me to a meet up at that shop, lol. It’s a weird feeling when you realize people on the internet are real. 🙃
Where I grew up, most motorcyclists rode Harleys or metric cruisers. I started on a sport bike simply because I didn't want to deal with carburetors and really didn't like the look of cruisers anyway. I've wanted a crotch rocket ever since I first played Road Rash with my buddies back in the day.
I'm an avid motorcyclist of all sorts of bikes. I just bought a lowrider st. I wish there wasn't such a cultural divide between hd riders and everyone else, but you're right about it being different around the country.
Yeah harley is really hard to explain how the weight and size is not really a big deal you kinda just need to experience it to understand. But they are pretty low center of gravity and not really as cumbersome as you would think honestly nothing feels cooler going across the country. But that said if you have come off anything else you will miss having a top end
Weird to hear people who actually ride motorcycles talk about how big Harleys are because the one and only road bike I've ever written was my buddies 04 Road King and that didn't seem huge to me...granted I have ridden two strokes in the woods my entire life and I'm 6'4🤷
@Whitney Does, I have a lowrider st, and a fat bob... the lowrider makes my fat bob feel like a tank! I love the back and forth with you and Spite! Also, can you check out an interview I did on my channel with a guy who built an electric bike? Trying to get views, and critique.
i like Spite, but he's a little too Millennial lol, i worked for Harley from 73 to 2010 and i've been in motorcycle clubs. the culture happened kinda on it's own with the help of FAKE movies, in the late 50's and 60's what us REAL bikers call (Biker rip off films) always showing bikers as lawless hooligans and party animals who passed women around, were their ever clubs like that sure maybe, but even the big 1% clubs are not near as bad as most think, As to your question about what is a 1%er in 1947 there was a large motorcycle rally in Hollister California and in the evenings after the hill climbs and races the parting in town got a little out of hand, Life Magazine took pictures saying the town had Riots, many years later Life Magazine admitted the pictures were staged. Shortly after this the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) put out a press release saying that 99% of all Motorcycle rider we're good law abiding people and that this 1% were just a bunch of thugs........Well in those days if you belonged to a club or a race team you also belonged to the AMA, the AMA sanctioned all races in the USA, Some of these clubs AND RIDERS (i'll come back to this) were so insulted by the AMA they cut their AMA club patches to remove the AMA logo and the AMA charter number, and the 1st outlaw 3 piece club patches were born, and these people started wearing a diamond shaped patch declaring they were a 1%er. Now i said all riders because back then there were SOLO 1%ers and lone wolf 1%ers but over time the outlaw clubs claimed it as their own and very few solo riders wear the 1% patch. and those 2 things created the outlaw bike reputation, and HARLEY HATED IT !! they tried for years to get ride of that reputaion, it wasn't till the mid 80's that they decided to embrace it when the Evolution Engine came out, in faact in a class i went to in Milwaukee we were shown the 2 main stars of the movie Easyrider a story about 2 drug dealing bikers on a cross country ride, and told this is what your customer wants to be, sell it !! As to the Tariffs Spite is Right, but his timing is off, Harley bought itself back from AMF in 81 and built it's 1st non-AMF bikes in 82, the EVO came out in 84 and the Tariff was in 86 and 87 (as government does they screwed it up) as part of the Tariff to label your bike made in the USA you had to have 85% American made parts......in 86 and 87 the only 2 bikes to qualify for the made in the USA label was the Honda Goldwing, and the Honda Shadow, made in OHIO !! the Harley Tariff was lifted after that and affected bikes built outside the USA over 701cc's thus all the 700cc bikes from japan in that era, and also why they all opened factories in the USA. Well over the 80's and 90's harley changed a lot of minds and suddenly Doctors and Lawyers and CEO's were buying harleys, and dealers went from time mom and pop hole in the wall dealers to palaces of REATAIL and they opened the KCMO plant and flooded the market with bikes in the Twn Cam Era and suddenly they were not selling every bike the waiting list was gone, and sales were falling, in comes a New CEO and kansas city is closed 150 dealerships are closed and dealers are bought up in groups by successful car dealers and now we have $55,000 dollar CVO's LOL
But anyway I am happy to see you trying. And most bikers are really cool there is just this totally weird cult like brand loyalty that makes them stand offish with anyone on anything other than a harley
Tell Spite to Ride a Road King, police depts use them and the early windshield FLH's before AMF invented the fairing (harley's) because the road king is the easiest maneuvering bike on the planet once you get used to the Weight
Here in Southeast Michigan, there is a STRONG and long established US made vehicles fetish. Even today parking a Japanese car at a GM assembly plant is asking for your tires to be slashed. I wonder if that bled over to motorcycles? However I spent a lot of time 2 years ago visiting a friend who spent the whole summer at a campground owned by what used to be one of the most infamous outlaw Detroit area motorcycle groups, rode my Suzuki and Honda there dozens of times and they were always quite friendly with me. So at the risk of sounding like an apologist, I think like any group there are always assholes and those are the ones that get noticed. But playing on what Spite said, these guys are from a group that nobody messed with (and lived) so maybe they feel like they don't have anything to prove and can "afford" to be nice.
If you get the ABATE booklet here in the SE Michigan chapter most other bikes at stops are Harleys. Our group rides a Harley, Honda, Ducati, Sv650 and Vstrom and we have tons of fun and never an issue. If you never rode it looks rowdy but being there is a ton of fun. Cheers!
@@just_one_opinion I live just off of North Territorial just south of Hell, Michigan. Going by my house is about 90% HD, all loud pipes and no helmets. I realize that because of my location the types of bikes I see is skewed. The other bikes are, from what I hear while trying to have a nice peaceful summer afternoon out enjoying my garden, all Ninjas or other sport bikes doing wheelies at 10K RPM for a half mile right by my house. I know that people like group rides. I ride motorcycles (and bicycles) to get AWAY from people so it's the opposite of enjoyment for me but I'm happy people are having fun.
It’s not that laid back, look up the gang war between the Banditos and Hells Anglers…. I believe that the HA guy that was killed was from an area where the HA’s is the dominant club. Also, the Bandito’s is more of a Hispanic club…
I live in the Midwest I’m 58 years old.. I ride Harley’s …and your ideas about the Midwest bikers is laughable.. if not sad.. you said you haven’t been up here and immersed yourself into the culture, yet you are claiming to know how it is.. you don’t
Haven’t been up there? I’m from Minnesota. I’m merely describing my experience- every Harley guy I met up there was gruff and mean. It’s a bummer that that’s how I experienced it 🤷♂️