TK4
Well-known member
No you wouldn't.
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What's the dumbest question someone has ever asked you about your motorcycle?
- Thread starter PrivatePilot
- Start date
Mad Mike
Well-known member
Agree. Perhaps this discussion needs a definition of expert. To me an expert is a product person who knows the ins and outs of a product and the profile of its intended user. Has hands on operating experience in the products’ intended use.
I’ve met lots of these expert folks in dealerships (go to any HD shop). Not many were great salesmen.
I was standing in the parking lot of the Bobcaygeon Timmies, talking to a guy about his new Yamaha (it was a few years ago, and his bike was that big V twin thing) and this OTHER guy jumps right into the convo and a starts spouting off specs of the bike. Cool, he seems to know what he's talking about.
He then points at my 900SS Duc and asks " Is that a two stroke?" DOH
About a week later, same parking lot, I was standing beside my bike when this REALLY drunk guy comes at me REAL aggressive like, yelling about how my Suzuki is a POS and it doesn't help that I have it "dressed up" it's still JUNK and I'm not fooling anybody. I thought I was going to have to fight the guy... came THIS CLOSE to head butting him with my helmet on.
The bike was a Honda RC31... looks nothing like a Suzuki, says Honda on the bike a couple of times...
He then points at my 900SS Duc and asks " Is that a two stroke?" DOH
About a week later, same parking lot, I was standing beside my bike when this REALLY drunk guy comes at me REAL aggressive like, yelling about how my Suzuki is a POS and it doesn't help that I have it "dressed up" it's still JUNK and I'm not fooling anybody. I thought I was going to have to fight the guy... came THIS CLOSE to head butting him with my helmet on.
The bike was a Honda RC31... looks nothing like a Suzuki, says Honda on the bike a couple of times...
I was told an "EXPERT" is someone that has learned more and more about less and less, till they know everything about nothing.
Works for me.
Same Timmies.
Some background - I'm about 60 (at the time), short and decrepid.
Couple come up to me and ask me if my bike is good for beginners - their son.
I'm riding a 760lb six-cylinder 1500 Honda Valkerie bagger
More of the same. A few years later I'm riding a 840lb 1800 Honda F6B and got asked multiple times if it's
a good start for beginners.
And on the subject of salesmen who know nothing.
Back when there was a Honda sell-everthing store in Whitby, I stopped by to look at the new 2012 Goldwings.
They had stopped production in the US in 2010 and moved production to Japan. No 2011 models, and they had made some changes.
They had 1 Wing and an ST on a raised platform with DO NOT SIGNS on them. I hollered over to the only salesman (who was sitting down and ignoring me) that I was going to sit on the wing. he came trotting over and told me the bike was too big for me. Right outside the window was the 1500 Valk I'd arrived on.
Turned out he had come directly from a Chrysler dealer selling mostly minivans, didn't ride, and thought that
all bikes are dangerous.
Honda had put him through a 3 or 4 hour course that he believed taught him to sell their 750 v-twins to ALL women, beginners, and short people. DUH!
Back when there was a Honda sell-everthing store in Whitby, I stopped by to look at the new 2012 Goldwings.
They had stopped production in the US in 2010 and moved production to Japan. No 2011 models, and they had made some changes.
They had 1 Wing and an ST on a raised platform with DO NOT SIGNS on them. I hollered over to the only salesman (who was sitting down and ignoring me) that I was going to sit on the wing. he came trotting over and told me the bike was too big for me. Right outside the window was the 1500 Valk I'd arrived on.
Turned out he had come directly from a Chrysler dealer selling mostly minivans, didn't ride, and thought that
all bikes are dangerous.
Honda had put him through a 3 or 4 hour course that he believed taught him to sell their 750 v-twins to ALL women, beginners, and short people. DUH!
I'm sure they exist, but I have never met a salesperson who knew more about the product they were selling to me than I did. And I'm certainly not an expert in everything
Sounds like if I want people to talk to me I have to visit the Bobcaygeon Timmies
Mad Mike
Well-known member
It certainly comes up a lot as a point of interesting situations.
On a Saturday you can watch a non-stop stream of old folks rolling their classic cars up and down 36. Lots of bikes, all breeds -- not just a HD Timmies.
My best memory was about 8 years ago, a Meetup group ride with about 20 novices on SS bikes excited to make their first pass on the 507. Mostly 'Ride the Six' wannabees, a few dirties in the group. One dirty Hooligan decided to do a block the 4 way intersection at 36&8 so the group could parade thru. The first car he stopped was an OPP --cherries - the dirty hooligan runs.
Sounds more like if I want a coffee while in Bobcaygeon - don't go to Tims.
That's good life advice regardless of where you are.
AFJ
Well-known member
Long, long ago, I was asked what the "AJS" logo on the bike I was riding at the time stood for. I couldn't resist replying "All Junk and Scrap".
(Actually it was a pretty good bike - either in road or trail riding form.) I didn't get any further question on why that name.
AFJ
(added later) - AJS actually stood for the oldest of Joe Stevens 4 sons, Albert John Stevens, when the Stevens firm decided to build complete motorcycles under a new name in 1909. Around 1931 they closed up the AJS business, paid off all creditors and sold the AJS name to the Matchless motorcycle firm (Associated Motorcycles aka AMC). The Stevens family continued for a few years in the 1930s to make the "Stevens" motorcycle.
AFJ
(Actually it was a pretty good bike - either in road or trail riding form.) I didn't get any further question on why that name.
AFJ
(added later) - AJS actually stood for the oldest of Joe Stevens 4 sons, Albert John Stevens, when the Stevens firm decided to build complete motorcycles under a new name in 1909. Around 1931 they closed up the AJS business, paid off all creditors and sold the AJS name to the Matchless motorcycle firm (Associated Motorcycles aka AMC). The Stevens family continued for a few years in the 1930s to make the "Stevens" motorcycle.
AFJ
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Not every school is the same. Georgian you have to be full M with experience and take their instructor course throughout the entire winter. Come spring you shadow some courses and show your proficient at the courses material and riding before getting hired to teach. Even then, newer instructors are always paired with seasoned ones.
Either way. It's pretty foolish to ask if someone rides a motorcycle when they're there teaching you the ins and out and even demoing how to ride. Can't say I've ever heard of a male instructor being asked the same.
I thought all Bobcaygeon had were hookers and hockey players................ Never realized they had a Timmies as well.
So, pulse and a crayon? Crayon optional if you ate it beforehand?
The only correct answer is "No, a Hayabusa is ideal however!"
Same. When I decide I want to buy something, I become fixated on it. I spend days Googling everything there is to know about it, everything you could possibly want to know about it, and everything that has ever gone wrong with it at any point since it left the factory in the hands of other owners.
I actually had a salesman in Quebec get his panties in a twist when I was buying my current bike because I brought up a common problem with them and was inquring if it may have been previously addressed (just look at the recall service history, dumbass), and the guy got totally defensive and told me I didn't know what I was talking about. Needless to say I didn't buy from them.
But the king of poorly informed salespeople have to be anyone at a dealership selling an electric car. Hands down lol.
To be fair, if you want actual coffee, you don't go to any Tims.
Anyhow, I'd forgot another "dumb question" situation from a few years back - I was out riding on one rather brisk but sunny and otherwise decent Saturday afternoon in January, had stopped to refill the tank before heading home, and some guy at the next gas pump said "I didn't know you could ride a motorcycle in January!". Because apparently they become unrideable when it's not 25 degrees and sunny.
Actually, if you listen to some riders online you'd actually believe that I guess. Some seem to think that motorcycle tires turn into something with negative traction and your bike will instantly collapse into a pile of rust if a molecule of salt touches them.
TK4
Well-known member
Wasn't your sister a right winger ???
I'm convinced that a lot of riders dissolve in the raindrops on the little symbol in the weather forecast, regardless of whether it is actually raining.
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