Eric Shelzig and Trisha Herzfeld pose with their rented Harley-Davidson Softail Classic. It's supposed to be a moment of steady cool, but I could hardly restrain the huge grin inside my helmet as I blasted through the streets of Fairfax at the start of my first Harley road trip. Sure, the Harley's unmuffled roar is excessive and technically unnecessary, but so was putting cards in the spokes of your bicycle when you were a kid. There is a very real schism in the motorcycling community between people who ride Harleys and those who don't.
Motorcyclists usually wave when they pass each other on the road.
But if you're on a European or, worse, a Japanese bike, Harley riders generally won't wave back, in what amounts to the ultimate biker snub. Harley enthusiasts, steeped in the tradition, history and mystique of the Milwaukee-based motor company, view all others as pretenders, clones and unworthy challengers. Riders of foreign machines often decry what they view as misplaced arrogance on the part of Harley riders, whose machines they frankly see as substandard and overpriced. But now I have a chance to see what all the noise is about. Harley-Davidson is pushing to introduce more people to its products with an expanded rental program.