Hey, Kids, What time is it?
Well, let's see.
"A life membership in the brotherhood of righteousness is part of the
authentic Harley-Davidson experience. A life sentence among the damned is reserved for the
atrociteurs."
Interesting. Having owned two Harleys, and now something else, I wonder, do I have two lifetime memberships? can I get a friend in free, like with college-ID movie discounts? Or does my new bike (and its attendant damnation) cancel one of my life memberships? Over the Memorial Day weekend, whilst riding three states away to find good twisties, I cleaned out my wallet one evening and discovered that my H.O.G. dealership discount is not dependant on bike ownership, but merely on dues-payment. So I can ride my BMW up to the Harley dealership, and still get 10% off parts, accesories, and best of all, genuine MotorClothes (tm).
Kick A$$!
And speaking of atrociteurs....I am beginning to feel offended by This Man o' The Highway, this Will o' The Wisp, this vague turner of veiled, diplomatic phrase, this beater around the bush who never, somehow, manages to say what it is that he means. Offended? you ask. And The Head says, "Yes, offended."
He never mentions the atrociteurs from the Western hemishpere. I work hard, slaving away behind the bars of a Kraut-hammer, what sounds like a two-stage air compressor (sorry, Kompressor) all so that I can destroy the spirit of true American Motorcycling. And what is the thanks that I get? I get ignored.
My fellow atroociteauieoumouseers, Rise up!
Think of your favorite bikes. Who makes 'em?
Excepting Harley, the vast majority of all bike production in the modern world is done by the Japanese (Big 4), the Germans (I found BMW have internal memos that refer to themselves as 'Die Waffen Moto'), and the Italians (Aprilia, Duc, the Goose).
What this means is that the Axis powers make the bikes that go fastest, last longest, and have most of the sex appeal.
The Yankee makes are content to look good without actually fighting the war (well, except in Roger Corman movies where they use chains to beat people because they've run out of squibs.) In other words, Harley is isolationist. They give no thought to their allies. Do you really think that Hinkley fire was an accident? Do you?! Bah.
I will fight with my honorable brothers no more, forever. They can have moto-hegemony over the East. To Biaggio goes Africa and the Italian peninsula (so long as he understands we will continue to sweep Paris-Dakar, by fiat), and BMW, they get Western Europe. We choose not to invade the land of Ural, knowing from history that the sidehack R32s will retreat into the interior, spewing burning oil behind them. Uncreative whores. But I digress.
Soon, soon, this Highwayman, this wouldbe Roosevelt rolling about on his crippled moto-chair will know, and the knowing will be the end of him, that atrociteurs can come from more places than one, small far-away island. Soon, he will perish in the face of his own Great Depression. Already we see the softness in the used-Hog market.
And there will be no ewoks to save him this time.
The Aerodynamic Head has spoken. So let it be written; so let it be done.