jcbrandon
Explorer
So what?
So the New York Times says most of the people who buy big adventure bikes don't ride them to Ushuaia and maybe don't even get them dirty. How does that affect you, personally? Do you get your bike dirty? Then the writer wasn't talking about you. If you never leave the pavement, why are you so concerned about what someone else says, writes, or thinks about your bike? Are you really that vain? Dude, grow a set.
I'm thankful for all the people who buy equipment that they don't really need. A set of nice aluminum panniers costs what, $800? And the companies that make them are all small and happy to get any customer they can. So if the only market for those boxes were the genuine guys who really do ride their bikes to remote places for extended times, how big would that market be? Maybe 20 percent the size it is now. Then how much would those boxes cost? $2,000?
You could do the same math for roof racks, or Hi-Lift jacks, or any of the other do-dads that we buy to make our vehicles all sexy and overland-ish. Think what a set of all-terrain tires would cost if the only people allowed to buy them were those who actually drive off the pavement.
If you need other people to validate your buying decisions, what does that say about you? And if you are so concerned about whether somebody you see at Starbucks is the real deal or a poser, you've got too much time on your hands.
So use some of that time to Google Dexter Ford, the author of the article that got your knickers in a wad. You'll find that he's been writing about motorcycles for a very long time. And that he got canned from a magazine because a couple of advertisers didn't like something he wrote.
So the New York Times says most of the people who buy big adventure bikes don't ride them to Ushuaia and maybe don't even get them dirty. How does that affect you, personally? Do you get your bike dirty? Then the writer wasn't talking about you. If you never leave the pavement, why are you so concerned about what someone else says, writes, or thinks about your bike? Are you really that vain? Dude, grow a set.
I'm thankful for all the people who buy equipment that they don't really need. A set of nice aluminum panniers costs what, $800? And the companies that make them are all small and happy to get any customer they can. So if the only market for those boxes were the genuine guys who really do ride their bikes to remote places for extended times, how big would that market be? Maybe 20 percent the size it is now. Then how much would those boxes cost? $2,000?
You could do the same math for roof racks, or Hi-Lift jacks, or any of the other do-dads that we buy to make our vehicles all sexy and overland-ish. Think what a set of all-terrain tires would cost if the only people allowed to buy them were those who actually drive off the pavement.
If you need other people to validate your buying decisions, what does that say about you? And if you are so concerned about whether somebody you see at Starbucks is the real deal or a poser, you've got too much time on your hands.
So use some of that time to Google Dexter Ford, the author of the article that got your knickers in a wad. You'll find that he's been writing about motorcycles for a very long time. And that he got canned from a magazine because a couple of advertisers didn't like something he wrote.
