Shock admission! I am hip!

[steve hawkins]

Recent threads have made me realise that I must be a 'hipster'......Shocking I know!  All these years I thought I was a normal guy.  But no, it would seem that as I approach the big 50, I am as trendy as a leather couch in a coffee shop.....

I have read all the clues, visited all the 'sites' and I am more than a 70% fit...

1.  I maintain my own 'aircooooled' steel framed, roadster in my garage/workshop.
2.  I sometimes modify my own bike, by myself, with complete disregard to any perceived residual value it might have, had I left it alone.
3.  I am interested in the purity and style of a 70s naked all-rounder, Ultimate performance is secondary.
4.  I do not drink and drive - Even if I stop at a pub, I would drink tea or coffee.  Latte anyone?  Or English Breakfast tea?
5.  I no longer have the need to race everywhere......much(*)
6.  I enjoy the view from my mount, not just the tunnel I am staring into....
7.  I have often been out for more that 2 or 3 hours and not exceeded 45mph and still enjoyed myself thoroughly.
8.  I often wear an open faced helmet - with goggles - when conditions allow.  
9.  I also wear Jeans and a leather jacket, boots and gloves - But to look at me, when off the machine, you would not immediately associate me with being a 'biker'.  Only the boots are black.
10.  I am getting a Wax cotton jacket for my birthday......I have some cargo pants.  A real M65 would be excellent.
11.  I enjoy the 'arty' films.
12,  I like the style of some of the clothes, I am now waiting for the mainstream bike clothing manufacturers to finally wake up and start making them cheaper.
13.  Wild horses could not drag me to Sturgis......
14.  I sometime do not shave on weekends.
15.  I have been professionally employed for more than 30 years.
16.  I have owned a café racer.
17.  I could never ride a bike down the street with with my beer belly sticking out from my leather waistcoat, with a bare breasted tramp on the back, on a bike that would not fit in my garage lengthways....Or widthways....My missus might have something to say about it!

* If you had been following Tony and I across the Wiltshire Downs on Sunday afternoon, you might disagree......How I let him get past me on my old R65, I will never know!

There you have it.  Its out.  I am a hipster!  

I feel relieved to have shared my shame with you all, somehow it lightens the load

Rev Light

[silencio]

I think you are misunderstanding what hipster means - and missing the point being made by those that make fun of them.

You are not a hipster, you are too genuine. You are what some hipsters are currently trying to be - the difference being that next year, the hipsters will be trying to be something else, whereas you will (hopefully) still be yourself.

Now if you happen to own a jacket with rubber fake mud on it, then I respectfully withdraw my comments.

[steve hawkins]

There is plenty of mud around here not to have to fake it.

I am only a 70% fit, as I have no tattoos, weird moustache or beard, not sure that a little grey hair round the temples counts.  Nor do I own a bandana.....

Also, I do not stand on my saddle when riding, or swerve about all over the road.

That being said, I am still of the opinion that they will leave their mark, and it will be a more positive one.  Shed built bikes, simple roadsters and a cleaner cut image will not do any harm to the general public's perception of what a motorcyclist is.  Not everyone wants to be, or wants people to perceive that he/she is, a 'badass' living on the edge of the law.

I am not saying the days of the sports bikes are numbered, but there are plenty of people out there looking for something different, something less committed.  

The Kawazaki W series, the Triumph twins and recent Motoguzzi's, not to mention the latest Enfields.  Whether you call it retro, or classic or 'whatever'....Plenty of old GS's, XS's, SR's and Z's out there to be refreshed as well, for the less wealthy.

Rev Light

[clonmore1]

Steve,

My daughter wants a Royal Enfield trials version in army olive drab backdated to look like a WWII dispatch rider!

I'm thinking a 350/500 picked up for a few hundred quid, getting the trials kit (£1k) local paint boys doing the colour and some quirky accessories (she is a girl after all, must have accessories...) all for around £1500 or so!

[steve hawkins]

If she is a hipster, she would have moved on before you have all your ducks lined up, and the job is done!

You had better like fettling with 'ye olde' Indian Enfield.

Don't try and tune 'em up, they just wear out quicker.

Good luck!

Rev Light

[Lucky_Lou]

Interesting item 14..... I never do when I am camping, oh and whats up with Sturgis ?
Lou

[Dustybin]

Nice to hear that you think yourself as 'Hip', there is a first time for every thing I guess. (Its only taken 48 years)
However can you put away those flared pants and the kipper tie as, those  items are for the fancy dress folk only! And you are bring down the tone of the street.

PS if you are thinking of coming out of the closet like this again you need to put the post in the Announcements section, and by the way if you do I am going to move house.

[Luca]

Hey now, don't be too hard on yourself.  Just cuz you're not a "biker" doesn't make you a hipster.

From my observations most hipsters would need to be trailered up to Sturgis, horse drawn or not.  They romp around on little mopeds in these parts and couldn't get above 45mph if they tried.





P.S. How did the hipster burn his lips?










He sipped his coffee before it was cool  

[Barry]

Interesting item 14..... I never do when I am camping,

Lou,

Talking of camping there was an American Civil war camp in Tatton park over the weekend.  I walked past the camp at 08.30 yesterday morning and wondered if you were there. Didn't look like everyone was up yet but there was at least one campfire on the go. I said good morning to someone frying bacon. I haven't the faintest idea what all this hipster talk is about and don't much care but I thought that's the life on a sunny morning.  Maybe I should of made enquires for "Lucky Lou's breakfast emporium"

[Lucky_Lou]

Barry, I believe that would have been the ACW group who are very good, our group do Tatton on the 4th July weekend for the Classic American car show, I wont be there it will be the first one I have missed as it is a great weekend, I am headed south for Deadwood .. as I promised some old friends I would see them there..
Lou
 http://www.deadwood.org.uk/

[Tony Smith]

Steve,

My daughter wants a Royal Enfield trials version in army olive drab backdated to look like a WWII dispatch rider!

I'm thinking a 350/500 picked up for a few hundred quid, getting the trials kit (£1k) local paint boys doing the colour and some quirky accessories (she is a girl after all, must have accessories...) all for around £1500 or so!

She will grow to hate you for it, they were after all little more than a "photocopy" of a WWII era bike.

Instead buy her a new RE!

I had the pleasure of riding a new RE fro several hundred kilometers on the weekend just past. I am in love and I want one. for much the same (silly) price as you now are expected to pay for a 20 year old (minimum) Yamaha SR500 you get better suspension, a better frame, a fuel injected engine and best of all, several bucket loads of old English Motorcycle charm and street cred.

Fast it is not, but going up and down hills it was stunningly easy to put a number of weekend warriors on sports bikers to the sword. Best of all my longest single run of just over 200km in one sitting was painless and left me in a hurry to get back on the bike.

I went to Brisbane on the weekend and my sister had kindly borrowed the RE from a friend for me, we had two entertaining days riding which included multiple trips up and down the Blackall ranges to visit our parents.

The RE is just on $9,000 Australian pesos registered and on the road, I am sorely tempted.

[Julio A.]

Hey Steve, unless you have the latest iPhone with an instagram app, and taking pictures everywhere and posting them on twitter and facebook with monochrome and sepia filters, and you spend more time in Starbucks than on your bike, you are not a hipster yet.

I got an invitation from a newly opened RE dealer, offering me a test ride on the new models. They're cheap and an awesome bang for the buck. But the quality isn't as good as our R65's. The mufflers rust and the coating they used on the frame isn't too good. The test units were already havng rust spots on the frame and welding jonts. The engine is rock solid though.

[steve hawkins]

Julio,

You nailed it.  My mobile is over 10 years old (retro?) and although I has a camera, it is not even 3G......2G actually.  Which is embarrassing for someone who has worked of 3G and occasionally 4G for the past 13 years!

And what the hell is instagram?  Is it like that twittier thing?

Although I have to admit, I do visit a coffee shop on occasion - probably twice a month.

Although, I do not have a 'possey' of 'vacant pretty young things' to pose in the background of any 'selfies' I take whilst lounging around my motorbike, outside the coffee shop...

Damn, I am just a normal middle aged bloke with a hobby.....Does not quite sound the same.....

Ho hum,

Rev Light.

[clonmore1]

Steve,

YOU nailed it, just a normal bloke, nothing wrong with that at all, if anything it's of more value as you are who you want to be not a facsimile of what the marketing suits want you to be, another person to 'harvest for cash'...