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Automotive brand recognition is HARDCORE in the States. Imports, Euros, and domestic all arguing who is better. Ford/Chevy/Dodge is even worse. Mainly because Chevy and Dodge are broke ass jokes with ugly product and are simply too stupid to give up the fight.

 Redbeard wrote:

 AustonT wrote:

Frazzled wrote:
HD is not a motorcycle. Its the illusion of a lifestyle dream. Its top ten in marketing campaigns ever.

Because the bikes themselves are absolute gak.

fething a thousand times this. Out of all the bike you could own, if you buy a HD it's to impress someone. Or it's stolen and you got a great deal on CL.

I've ridden my Harley from Death Valley to the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and it hasn't let me down once. Illusion of a lifestyle dream? There's nothing illusionary about seeing as much of the country as possible and being part of it. Unless you've traveled on a bike, you just won't get it. You're separated from the world in a car, isolated from what's happening (and, most people seem to prefer that). On a bike, when it's hot out, you're hot, when it rains, you're wet, and there's no illusion there, you're not safe in your climate controlled minivan.

And of course the only way you can live that lifestyle is on a Harley right?

What do you ride AustonT? Because I've ridden with friends on Viragos, Goldwings, Shadows, Vulcans, a BMW guy, and no actual biker I've ever met on the road has felt the need to insult another guy's ride. When you're 3000 miles from home, it's more about finding things in common with the other riders than acting tough and putting down the guy who might just be the one who stops to help you on the side of the road.

I don't recall ever saying that I walked up to the weekend crowd of bankers and doctors decked out in HD t shirts, HD pants, with HD Jackets, and HD dewrags and insulted their choice of machine. I simply stated my opinion here, on a plastic men forum, that when you buy an HD its not the bike its the status you're paying for. If you somehow read that to mean that I go out of my way to ignore the courtesy of the road you are wildly mistaken. I've stopped to help little scooter folk and I've been helped out by any number of riders on my trail of misadventures. If there's any group particularly guilty of looking down their noses at other riders and acting tough while they ride by you on the shoulder, well I guess you know who they are don't you?
I'm currently on a VStar that I've put about 20k on in the past 5 years, before that I had a Dyna, before that was a GSX and an ancient Norton that was trying to kill me. I've already told my wife that if/when I deploy again I'm buying a bobber so the odds are I'll either go without until then or get another cheap metric I can ride into the ground. But I suppose since you made it abundantly clear that all that matters is the open road I could ride a pink bigwheel and you'd have to nod in agreement.

 AustonT wrote:

 Redbeard wrote:

 AustonT wrote:

Frazzled wrote:
HD is not a motorcycle. Its the illusion of a lifestyle dream. Its top ten in marketing campaigns ever.

Because the bikes themselves are absolute gak.

fething a thousand times this. Out of all the bike you could own, if you buy a HD it's to impress someone. Or it's stolen and you got a great deal on CL.

I've ridden my Harley from Death Valley to the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and it hasn't let me down once. Illusion of a lifestyle dream? There's nothing illusionary about seeing as much of the country as possible and being part of it. Unless you've traveled on a bike, you just won't get it. You're separated from the world in a car, isolated from what's happening (and, most people seem to prefer that). On a bike, when it's hot out, you're hot, when it rains, you're wet, and there's no illusion there, you're not safe in your climate controlled minivan.

And of course the only way you can live that lifestyle is on a Harley right?

What do you ride AustonT? Because I've ridden with friends on Viragos, Goldwings, Shadows, Vulcans, a BMW guy, and no actual biker I've ever met on the road has felt the need to insult another guy's ride. When you're 3000 miles from home, it's more about finding things in common with the other riders than acting tough and putting down the guy who might just be the one who stops to help you on the side of the road.

I don't recall ever saying that I walked up to the weekend crowd of bankers and doctors decked out in HD t shirts, HD pants, with HD Jackets, and HD dewrags and insulted their choice of machine. I simply stated my opinion here, on a plastic men forum, that when you buy an HD its not the bike its the status you're paying for. If you somehow read that to mean that I go out of my way to ignore the courtesy of the road you are wildly mistaken. I've stopped to help little scooter folk and I've been helped out by any number of riders on my trail of misadventures. If there's any group particularly guilty of looking down their noses at other riders and acting tough while they ride by you on the shoulder, well I guess you know who they are don't you?
I'm currently on a VStar that I've put about 20k on in the past 5 years, before that I had a Dyna, before that was a GSX and an ancient Norton that was trying to kill me. I've already told my wife that if/when I deploy again I'm buying a bobber so the odds are I'll either go without until then or get another cheap metric I can ride into the ground. But I suppose since you made it abundantly clear that all that matters is the open road I could ride a pink bigwheel and you'd have to nod in agreement.

I would suggest not taking any trips on a pink bigwheel in the Mojave desert. Just Frazzled adding value to the Dakka OT forum.

I, however, cannot recommend strongly enough the usage of a pink big wheel and would like to encourage you to post pictures, please.

Big Wheels rollin, gotta keep on movin, movin on.

We need a Big Wheels Dakka gang.

I'll take a pink one of these, please.

 kronk wrote:
I'll take a pink one of these, please.

With lots of flags on the back.

 AustonT wrote:

 Howard A Treesong wrote:

I don't know about outside the UK, but Aston Martin must be among the best regarded car manufactures. I've not met anyone who dislikes them, disinterested in cars perhaps but they seem highly regarded. I've never come across someone who hated them, which can't be said for other high performance car companies like Ferrari.

Am I the only one that noticed that the new Fusion looks like it was designed by AM?

Lol, I had actually thought about starting a thread on the Fusion/ AM wannabe issue, as i think it's horrible.

For brand loyalties, I know plenty of farmer/rancher types who will buy ONLY john deere equipment. I've never heard bad things about them, and most guys i know only buy new tractors or the like because they need to expand capacity, not because any JD tractor broke. It says alot to me about the compa

Another galvanizing issue here in the states, is what Truck people prefer...I have seen some VERY heated exchanges about tne virtues or lack thereof, of Ford, Chevy or Dodge trucks (and heaven forbid you mention one of them 'evul import pieces of junk' in one of these arguments)

It's possible that I will forever associate Audis and BMWs with inconsiderate drivers, which is a shame because they're generally quite good looking motors.

It's a little known fact that BMWs don't actually have drivers. They have owners. BMWs don't actually drive anywhere. You just get inside, and everything revolves around you.

 Mr. Burning wrote:

 kronk wrote:
I'll take a pink one of these, please.

With lots of flags on the back.

If Christ had a bike, he'd have THAT bike.




Trike, whatever.

 RossDas wrote:
It's possible that I will forever associate Audis and BMWs with inconsiderate drivers, which is a shame because they're generally quite good looking motors.

Yep, ples the CEO of Audi saying their cars suddenly accelerating into walls weren't the fault of Ausi, but because Americans were sucky drivers. Then it turned out it was a mechnical glitch in Audi.


Well at least he was right about American drivers.

I utterly loathe Apple and their mediocre products, and especially their business practices (trying to patent "a handheld device used for communication"? Really?). Also, I actually tried a Mac and it was the most confusing device ever. The power button was on the back, there is no taskbar on the bottom, the mouse is weird, it has Safari as the default browser, virtually nothing is compatible with it...I'm sticking with PCs.

I absolutely love apple and their wonderful products, and find macs to be without a doubt the most intuitive and user-friendly devices I've ever encountered. The mouse pad is incredibly useful and mutifunctional, the dock is a massive improvement on the windows taskbar, and I was very easily able to navigate the internet and download a better browser than Safari. Also, locating the power button has never proved a significant challenge for me, and I have never run into a program that I wanted that couldn't run on a mac.

Musical Instruments... particularly electric guitars.

But, I've NEVER been in a heated discussion in this area.

I prefer Epiphone guitars, because, I swear to Buddha they sound like real Gibsons... w/o the insane Gibson prices.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:

 kronk wrote:
Edit: Forgot about apple. Man, that's about as polar as you get. I've yet to meet a person that isn't head over heels in love with Apple, or would rather have a root canal than be caught with an iOS product on their person.

I'm sure there are plenty, they just don't raise the subject. I have an iphone but it's just a phone with internet and games to me. It's impressive technology and I like it a lot and it's very useful, but I don't understand why people would queue up overnight to get the latest one or flock to listen to the likes of Steve Jobs as though it were the sermon on the mount.

I don't know about outside the UK, but Aston Martin must be among the best regarded car manufactures. I've not met ayone who dislikes them, disinterested in cars perhaps but they seem highly regarded. I've never come across someone who hated them, which can't be said for other high performance car companies like Ferrari.

Plenty of suppliers of services tend to be hated. I've only seen the spectrum of tolerance to hate for companies like AOL, I've never met anyone who actually likes them.

The only time I've eaten in a McDonalds was a school trip aged 5, I can only remember the disappointment.

I walked into a sign pole in downtown Seattle one day staring at a Aston Martin Vantage... I absolutely love them and if I ever somehow become rich, a DB9 will be the first pony in my stable :-)

Gun brand loyalty is huge too, I have actually heard people at ranges saying things like: " If its a revolver and it doesnt have S&W on it then its garbage." Followed by much heated arguments about how Glocks are better etc. Etc.. Sometimes to the point I think the gaks gonna hit the fan here at the range over some different gun opinions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 AustonT wrote:

 Howard A Treesong wrote:

I don't know about outside the UK, but Aston Martin must be among the best regarded car manufactures. I've not met anyone who dislikes them, disinterested in cars perhaps but they seem highly regarded. I've never come across someone who hated them, which can't be said for other high performance car companies like Ferrari.

Am I the only one that noticed that the new Fusion looks like it was designed by AM?

Lol, I had actually thought about starting a thread on the Fusion/ AM wannabe issue, as i think it's horrible.

For brand loyalties, I know plenty of farmer/rancher types who will buy ONLY john deere equipment. I've never heard bad things about them, and most guys i know only buy new tractors or the like because they need to expand capacity, not because any JD tractor broke. It says alot to me about the compa

Another galvanizing issue here in the states, is what Truck people prefer...I have seen some VERY heated exchanges about tne virtues or lack thereof, of Ford, Chevy or Dodge trucks (and heaven forbid you mention one of them 'evul import pieces of junk' in one of these arguments)

Doesn't the new Fusion look like a Aston because Ford bought Aston? I could Google that but its a pain to do stuff like that on this tab..

Ford Owns a 15% stake in AM, and I think has for quite some time

Oxfam, known for having old people customers and skrimpers, in my shift I see more second hand traders and hipsters than grannies.
I would say it's a mixed back people like the help it provides to disadvantaged people but hate some of the gak it tries to fob off.

IronWarLeg wrote:



I walked into a sign pole in downtown Seattle one day staring at a Aston Martin Vantage...

I walked into a pole once while staring at headlights but they weren't on a car...

 whembly wrote:
Musical Instruments... particularly electric guitars.

But, I've NEVER been in a heated discussion in this area.

I prefer Epiphone guitars, because, I swear to Buddha they sound like real Gibsons... w/o the insane Gibson prices.

I dont play guitar, but have a good musical ear, and the only difference that i can hear from an epiphone to gibson, is in the player and the amplification kit..

The bigger one i see is gibson vs. Fender vs. Whatever else guitar center carries, but usually those 2 have some 'loyal' fans.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 whembly wrote:
Musical Instruments... particularly electric guitars.

But, I've NEVER been in a heated discussion in this area.

I prefer Epiphone guitars, because, I swear to Buddha they sound like real Gibsons... w/o the insane Gibson prices.

I dont play guitar, but have a good musical ear, and the only difference that i can hear from an epiphone to gibson, is in the player and the amplification kit..

The bigger one i see is gibson vs. Fender vs. Whatever else guitar center carries, but usually those 2 have some 'loyal' fans.

I can hear the difference between some guitars. The cheap ones all sound alike, but the difference between a Gibson Les Paul and say a Guild X-175 is staggering. Same same with virtually any Midline acoustic and a Martin.
I'm sure there's a line of diminishing returns, but not being a picker myself I don't know where it is.

 kronk wrote:

IronWarLeg wrote:



I walked into a sign pole in downtown Seattle one day staring at a Aston Martin Vantage...

I walked into a pole once while staring at headlights but they weren't on a car...

Yeah, I have come close to that a couple times, but this Aston was just sitting there, at idle, looking all pretty and it was like a tractor beam, just couldn't take my eyes off it. Next thing I know I walk into a parking sign.

IronWarLeg wrote:

 kronk wrote:

IronWarLeg wrote:



I walked into a sign pole in downtown Seattle one day staring at a Aston Martin Vantage...

I walked into a pole once while staring at headlights but they weren't on a car...

Yeah, I have come close to that a couple times, but this Aston was just sitting there, at idle, looking all pretty and it was like a tractor beam, just couldn't take my eyes off it. Next thing I know I walk into a parking sign.

How awkward

 AustonT wrote:
Ford Owns a 15% stake in AM, and I think has for quite some time

Its partially that, but the big euro Ford redesign over the last few years stems from the Ford Euro division being very succesful through the 2000s and the US product being so lackluster. They produced a concept car in the mid 2000s called the Verve (if I remember correctly) that started the movement. The US is just now getting the Fiesta and a Ford Focus design that resembles what Europe had 7 years ago. The Taurus looks a lot like the old Verve concept, and the Fusion was just updated to resemble both. Rumor has it that the Mustang is going to step away from the retro 60s look and catch up with the Euro styling the new Ford line shares.

The Euro redesign has been tried in the past with the Merkur line (XRT4 = Sierra), Contour/Mondeo, and the Focus, among others. Its really starting to pay off now.

 d3m01iti0n wrote:

 AustonT wrote:
Ford Owns a 15% stake in AM, and I think has for quite some time

Its partially that, but the big euro Ford redesign over the last few years stems from the Ford Euro division being very succesful through the 2000s and the US product being so lackluster. They produced a concept car in the mid 2000s called the Verve (if I remember correctly) that started the movement. The US is just now getting the Fiesta and a Ford Focus design that resembles what Europe had 7 years ago. The Taurus looks a lot like the old Verve concept, and the Fusion was just updated to resemble both. Rumor has it that the Mustang is going to step away from the retro 60s look and catch up with the Euro styling the new Ford line shares.

The Euro redesign has been tried in the past with the Merkur line (XRT4 = Sierra), Contour/Mondeo, and the Focus, among others. Its really starting to pay off now.

If Ford brought some of the Euro options to the US, such as the diesel Mondeo (or a similar model... basically if they brought a diesel CAR into their line), I would possibly consider it... but not over my Jetta

SO what about the companies everyone claims to hate but we all still buy from?

Besides GW of course...

Like Wal Mart and McDonalds?

I think for most folks they'd give them a 10/10 for negative, a 1/10 for positive but they still spend money there.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
SO what about the companies everyone claims to hate but we all still buy from?

Besides GW of course...

Like Wal Mart and McDonalds?

I think for most folks they'd give them a 10/10 for negative, a 1/10 for positive but they still spend money there.

Honestly, if I hate a company I don't buy from them. There are loopholes though, for me at least. Do I like GW? Not really. So what's a 40k/fantasy player to do? Simple, buy used.

Never understood the hate for walmart. Terrible pay? No benefits? Bad working conditions? Yeah, I know, so sad, but it's still a job. You can always quit.

Mcdonalds hate is silly. Aside from just not liking their food, people tend to hate it because they sale cheap unhealthy food that people eat too much of in get fat. In a way, people don't hate mcdonalds, they hate people who eat at mcdonalds, but somehow all the blame goes to mcdonalds. I've never heard anyone ever complain about a cheap greasy mom and pop diners. It just seems like they pick mcdonalds because it's the largest chain, which is silly.

I'm not sure of your rating system, KK. Are you saying 10/10 for absolute hate and 1/10 for absolute love?

McD"s would get a 5/10 from me. Not the best burgers, but they're usually conveniently located and quick. When I forget to bring my lunch to work, I can swing by and get a quarter-pounder or a big mac. Or even a salad... Yeah. Not saying I do, but I could.

Wal-Mart: also a 5/10. The annoying part is that purposely lay them out as a maze, like super markets, putting the most popular stuff in the back so that you have to walk by all the displays and down several aisles. It's just salesmanship, but since I also have to walk around moms with 10 screaming kids and old people that don't know shopping cart etiquette, sigh... At Louisiana Tech, which is in a dry county, I could get beer at the Super Wal-Mart for some reason and no where else. So there's that!

World Kitchen (company I work for) produces Corelle, Corningware, and Pyrex. These are many decade old brands that have survived respectively from the 1970's, 1960's, and 1910's.

Many people who enter my store love the brands. Some don't like the glass shattering and Pyrex has been known to explode under the wrong conditions (or with a defective crack in it), but by and large I am stunned by the amount of tourists who come to America and shovel hundreds of dollars on my product because they cannot get it in their home country and love the aesthetic tastes of it.

many videogame companies have a problem with being hated, valve is one. epic is another due to shoddy programming.