There was a time in the not-so-distant past where motorcycle sellers and potential buyers had to rely upon their keen senses and the goodwill of his fellow man in conducting a transaction. I know this for fact because I am old enough to have been a motorcycle enthusiast in a time before the Internet existed.
Yes, as hard to believe as it is now, there was a period in the history of humanity when looking for a new bike (by new of course I mean used), buyers were forced to purchase the local daily newspaper or a Swap Sheet and to study lines of microscopic print that bled ink easily onto the fingertips.
Without the benefits of image transfers and email addresses at our disposal, a telephone conversation with a yet unseen seller was an inevitable part of the process. Often times dreamers such as myself had to risk becoming entangled in the phone cord (a primitive curly wire required in those days to connect the phone-base to the handset) while pacing nervously in the kitchen.
I bring up all of this ancient history because according to a recent study conducted by Terapeak, in the past year sales for Harley-Davidson merchandise on eBay have topped $30,000,000 for parts and accessories alone! Their findings also concluded that Harley-Davidson has consistently been the top ranked search term on eBay’s Pulse, which lists the top 10 search terms for every category on eBay.
The moral of the story is that Harley riders can and do adapt to changing technologies when it comes to getting their “fix” and I’m dating myself to all of the tech junkies out there who are just now scratching their heads thinking society was really able to function before google?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I wouldn’t worry too much about showing your age there, old man. Yeah, there’s a few kids riding HDs these days, but I think most are old enough to remember Pong, Speed Racer and Leg Warmers.
The barter of all things Harley Davidson has always been popular, but your point puts it in to perspective. E-bay is just one source, out of thousands. The cash flow is incredible.
Thanks for the comment Matt, and sorry for the delay in my response. I’ve been working out a bunch of bugs in my blog interface.
I work full time in the morgage industry and while I’m really pretty young myself (31) I do encounter an endless stream of yuppie wannabes in my daily duties. These are guys who are barely out of college with sudden disposable incomes who saw an episode of American Chopper and decided they needed a hog. Really I was poking fun of them in particular but your flashbacks (Pong & Leg Warmers) are right on. Keep up the great work.
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