Sorry to lose you Tony, you're one more voice of reason drowned out by the howling of the ignorant.
I avoided this site for some years exactly because it seemed to be dominated by Sawzall artists, but some new guys ask sensible questions, and hands like gggGary, 5twins, 2Many, Skull, scabber, and INXS keep things real, and that keeps me coming back.
Agreed, it takes a craftsman to produce quality; but in my biased, curmudgeonly view, guys don't produce quality when they destroy the handling qualities of a motorcycle. When image trumps function, you wind up with a fashion accessory to pose with, not a quality ride.
It's not just the chop jockeys that gripe me. Every time I see a cafe "racer" or street "tracker" with four figures of fiberglass, paint and graphics on the same machine as crummy OE shocks, bargain basement tires, unbraced forks with no fender, etc., I'm sorry, Phil Little, but the owner doesn't need to reach for that drool rag you used to tout in your ads, because I'll be turning away and using my own barf bag. Same thing when a shiny, authentic restoration job with tires flat as a board and hardened with age turns up at a rally--unsafe at any speed, as a guy who should have known better found out last spring when his shiny machine pitched him off the road at low speed on a moderate corner in Kentucky. All of these types pursue "the look" at the expense of the ride, and I don't have one bit of respect for that.
Sure you don't want to stick around and try to educate the children, Tony? Somebody has to at least try to bring 'em up right.
