Clay Jones for August 13, 2020

In a couple of weeks there are going to be a lot of used Harleys on sale cheap.

Sales to cover medical bills.

Estate sales.

Cheap because there will be so many at the same time, flooding the market.

Several of the bikers interviewed had similar comments, to the effect, “If I get COVID I get it. It was my choice.

But sadly, Grandma and Grandpa back home, and all the other friends and family, and all the “essential workers” providing services on the long road home, did not make that choice.

Your right to swing your fist ends where someone else’s nose begins.

Your “freedom” ends where infecting others begins.

For those who say they can’t be forced to wear something they don’t want to, just try walking down Main Street naked.

It’s true that motorcycle riders have different way of balancing safety and fun than most of us. So I suppose it’s likely that they have a different attitude about Covid-19 too. Unfortunately, when they take those personal chances on the motorcycle, the impact on the rest of us is… mostly… minimal. But when they do it with the pandemic, the impact on society gets noticeably greater.

I wonder if they also deliberately try to endanger the lives of others with their bikes as well.

“We like to live stupidly.”

Fixed that for him.

250,000 (500K normally) riding for days on bikes, camping out all the time. How many showers do you think are available in a town with a year round residency of 7000? Sorry, not my idea of a vacation, even if I were to take one now.

‘Cause nothing shows you’re a big, strong, manly he-man like worshiping a NYC playboy who wears orange make-up and spends an hour a day doing his hair.

I rode for a few years. I got to know bikers from one percenters to Rolex riders*. It is well beyond even the craziest MAGA assessments of Trump’s machismo to imagine any true biker finds him macho simpatico.

(*During the height of the Harley renaissance, yuppies would buy a bike and take it straight to a customizer for thousands of dollars worth of work – sometimes nearly as much as the bike cost to begin with. We called them ‘Rolex riders’.)

Hope the bundled their motorcycle insurance with their life insurance. Probably saved money . . . . but not their life.

Striking a blow for right-thinking people everywhere?

This rally came at an opportune time.. the COVID-19 thing was beginning to wane and needed a boost.

Fine. But risk you OWN life on an empty highway. Don’t come back with something that could kill your grandmother.

The big problem is when these bikers return to their home communities. What might they be bringing with them?

Sturgis, 250,000 people riding bikes. Maybe 50 actual bikers among them!

Not wearing helmet leads to brain damage, which leads to people gathering in large crowds during a bleedin’ GLOBAL PANDEMIC. People that stupid shouldn’t be allowed to ride a tricycle!

Thinnin’ the herd. . .

They have to be very very stupid to risk their life for a slime ball that doesn’t give 2 cents about their lives and has said this behind their backs! Trump said they are amunition and expendable.

I’ve been riding since the mid 70’s… but I’ve never liked crowds and, consequently, have never been to Sturgis. Not saying I wouldn’t go (if it was convenient for me) but there is absolutely no way you could get me to go this year. I won’t participate in much smaller local rides this year, let alone in a crowd like that.

Actually, the only thing I have in common with a lot of riders is that I ride… when others start a conversation I usually just wander away when it’s reasonably polite to do so because the ride is often the only interest we share, though sometimes I get lucky.

And, for those of you with all the negativity about motorcycles and riders…. if you don’t ride, you don’t really have anything of consequence to add the discussion and your hot air is just mucking up the environment. Sure there are some real morons riding motorcycles. They also drive cars and ride bicycles and walk dogs and own homes and vote (sadly). There are also some real fine folk riding motorcycles, just like the rest of the population. It’s just that now you are seeing the worst of the morons in full view. Thanks to their piss poor thinking ability they will reduce their numbers… so it’s win (so long as grandma doesn’t go with ’em).

Harley-Davidson, always a big presence at Sturgis, declined to participate this year. The company sent no staff, no truck, no products, and held no demos. They felt that being at a mass gathering like Sturgis was too dangerous. Too bad all those Harley loyalists did not follow the H-D lead.

Dear Sturgis attendees: Was it worth it?