On Ebay a few weeks ago someone in FL was selling a really nice Drifter. On the Auction was posted a question someone said in his Vulcan auction, you have as Indain shown for his pictures. Below is the posted question and answer. Thought it was funny to read. ;D
Here a pic of the bike that someone was selling
Questions and answers about this item
Q: In your Vulcan auction, you have an Indian shown in the pics... You may want to change or update the auction.
A: No, this is not the wrong picture or description. Thank you.
Yes saw that and it is funny how people try and tell you what you have or own.....
Just smile and say "thank you"....I used to own a 1980 H-D TourGlide...They have some distinctive features that ONLY showed up on the 1980...all those ""Harley Guys" would always ask what year my "RoadGlide" was....
Guess I'm resurrecting an old thread here, but as I was sitting at a traffic light yesterday on my Drifter, this trucker yells out to me, "Hey do you like that Indian better than a Harley?" Well I could barely hear the guy – I ride with ear plugs and in winter a three-quarter helmet – so in all the noise of traffic didn't feel like explaining stuff I just shrugged my shoulders and said "Sure!" ;D
Depending on who's asking, I may or may not correct them. I don't like misleading folks, but I get tired of explaining it to them.
When on my Triumph, the most common thing I hear,( mostly from the youngins), is, "Who makes Triumphs?" And I say "Triumph", and then they say " yeah, but who makes them?".
Apparently what they're really asking is where are they made. I know my 2009 Bonneville was made in Thailand (the serial numbers are the key), which was a little disheartening but the guys on the forum say don't worry about it. I think in order to be built in Britain the Bonnie's had to be prior to 2007.
I put my drifter in a bike show and listed it as what it is and half way through the show when the judges were walking around one of the women yelled over to me I changed your class to Indian American made. Why did you enter it wrong? I then had to explain to one of the judges what my bike was... Needless to say I won't be entering in that bike show again!
Quote from: drifter2001 on April 24, 2016, 10:16:51 AM
I put my drifter in a bike show and listed it as what it is and half way through the show when the judges were walking around one of the women yelled over to me I changed your class to Indian American made. Why did you enter it wrong? I then had to explain to one of the judges what my bike was... Needless to say I won't be entering in that bike show again!
The real question is did you Win/Place with those judges? Lol
Quote from: drifter2001 on April 24, 2016, 10:16:51 AM
I put my drifter in a bike show and listed it as what it is and half way through the show when the judges were walking around one of the women yelled over to me I changed your class to Indian American made. Why did you enter it wrong? I then had to explain to one of the judges what my bike was... Needless to say I won't be entering in that bike show again!
I had the same problem at a show. In the end, I won first place in the metric cruiser class, but they seemed mad at me about the whole thing. Never went back......
But but but... it IS an Indian, right!?!!!
"what year is the Indian"?
"it's a 2003. But it's a Kawasaki Drifter, a Indian tribute bike made by Kawasaki from 99 through '06."
"Oh, I didn't even know they made any Indians then"..... :o
>:( and I thought I had bought an Indian.......damn........
Well here's a different reply – "it's actually better than an Indian, no lie, sorry" ;D
i get the "Oh, it's an Indian" thing all the time. I just point to my tank which clearly says "Drifter by Kawasaki". Then I get the usual puzzled look and an "Oh". Here in Harley country people don't care what you ride as long as it is a Harley. That's all they know. The problem is there is equal distain for anything non HD in this part of the world. There is very little curiosity or appreciation for a bike as rare as a Drifter. Ride 70 miles in any direction and it is a different story. No matter. Having someone think my '99'er is a new $30,000 Indian is Ok my me.
For their uniqueness and flowing body lines inspired by the classic Indians, I don't see why anyone would spend 20G + on a new Harley or Indian............
QuoteFor their uniqueness and flowing body lines inspired by the classic Indians, I don't see why anyone would spend 20G + on a new Harley or Indian............
because they can..........point in case
1980 stationed in Germany, and found out I could not import my Moto Guzzi Ambassador with sidecar to Canada due to safety issues. But I could go to the local US Army base and buy a Harley at half of what they were paying at the time in Canada. So I did..........and wow was I getting hammered by all the guys at work should have bought Metric, Harley sucks heard it all......
FAST FORWARD some 30 years...............................
I now ride a very unique bike a Kawasaki Drifter 800, a 99 to boot, only had 900 shipped to Canada, none to the US. So a decently rare bike. Now remember all them guys who some thirty years ago called me on owning a metric, what are they all riding.........
Their kids are grown they are gone from home, the parents now had disposable income, and so they are buying their first or second bike and it has to be a Harley, they also have all the clothing in orange and black, all the stickers on their cars, and trucks, they poop orange and black, and they all have the same sounding bikes the same colour, Black of course........
ok enough of my rant.......
Quote from: CDNRatMan on April 30, 2016, 16:00:33 PM
because they can..........point in case
1980 stationed in Germany, and found out I could not import my Moto Guzzi Ambassador with sidecar to Canada due to safety issues. But I could go to the local US Army base and buy a Harley at half of what they were paying at the time in Canada. So I did..........and wow was I getting hammered by all the guys at work should have bought Metric, Harley sucks heard it all......
FAST FORWARD some 30 years...............................
I now ride a very unique bike a Kawasaki Drifter 800, a 99 to boot, only had 900 shipped to Canada, none to the US. So a decently rare bike. Now remember all them guys who some thirty years ago called me on owning a metric, what are they all riding.........
Their kids are grown they are gone from home, the parents now had disposable income, and so they are buying their first or second bike and it has to be a Harley, they also have all the clothing in orange and black, all the stickers on their cars, and trucks, they poop orange and black, and they all have the same sounding bikes the same colour, Black of course........
ok enough of my rant.......
Now, that's hilarious ;D
Hey, what's wrong with black bikes?
(https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi83.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj319%2Fpcarrell%2FDrifter%2F7-24-143.jpg&hash=e06a2e0e25f541e64baa699e20ed6b7c310806f5) (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/pcarrell/media/Drifter/7-24-143.jpg.html)
Once more you missed the point of the observation.........
No I didn't! It's on top of my head!
Quote from: pcarrell on May 01, 2016, 09:18:51 AM
Hey, what's wrong with black bikes?
(https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi83.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj319%2Fpcarrell%2FDrifter%2F7-24-143.jpg&hash=e06a2e0e25f541e64baa699e20ed6b7c310806f5) (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/pcarrell/media/Drifter/7-24-143.jpg.html)
That's a beauty ride! Black and chrome, damn!
Thank you!
Quote from: tj on May 01, 2016, 19:00:50 PM
That's a beauty ride! Black and chrome, damn!
Beautiful bike!
Thanks!
Quote from: pcarrell on April 25, 2016, 08:27:06 AM
I had the same problem at a show. In the end, I won first place in the metric cruiser class, but they seemed mad at me about the whole thing. Never went back......
I had a different problem in one of the shows I entered. They didn't know what category to place my bike, so they put it in the full custom category. No way can I compete with $80,000 bikes.
That's crazy DC!
Quote from: DC on May 03, 2016, 17:43:49 PM
I had a different problem in one of the shows I entered. They didn't know what category to place my bike, so they put it in the full custom category. No way can I compete with $80,000 bikes.
Well, you guys may have a Kawasaki... BUT... I have an "Indian-ish"....
Bahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Brainstorm!
When we decide to sell our precious Drifter, or pass on custody of our classic bike, we could get a War Bonnet tank decal that reads:
Indian
Tribute
That way we can be honest and still appeal to the brand conscious buyer ;)
Hmmm, I can't get rid of the extra line between "Indian" and "Tribute"...
Use your imagination 8)
When people ask me if my bike is an Indian I just point to my tank emblems......Question Answered!
Quote from: jmbo on May 10, 2016, 13:37:58 PM
When people ask me if my bike is an Indian I just point to my tank emblems......Question Answered!
That is a great looking decal and Drifter. Did you have the decal made by a print and sign shop? Did you have it clear coated? Also you need to add pics of your bike in your gallery, wanted to see more pics of your bike :( Real nice......
First nice evening when I was also not working. Really enjoyed riding country roads with my Drifter. Cruising windy country roads with a lot of topography is so much fun. And easy and comfortable. The bike just fits me. At one point I went through a small town that was posted at 30. I was doing 40. The sheriff pulled up right behind me. I saw him coming and got it down to 30 but it waa obvious he was hoping I'd mess up. At a blinking stop light he was close enough I almost could have kicked him. I made sure I came to a complete stop. I went left he went right. The people at the bar on the corner gave me a big thumbs up with giant smiles!
Man, I dig my Drifter.
You gotta love that--the cop wanted to make sure you weren't 19. That's one benefit to not wearing a full-face helmet--they can see you're "mature" without stopping ya ;D I'm a jar-head vet so I have US flags on both my bikes--pretty sure that's helped before when I was clocked around 15 over the limit 8)
Quote from: Tfrank59 on May 24, 2016, 20:40:06 PM
You gotta love that--the cop wanted to make sure you weren't 19. That's one benefit to not wearing a full-face helmet--they can see you're "mature" without stopping ya ;D I'm a jar-head vet so I have US flags on both my bikes--pretty sure that's helped before when I was clocked around 15 over the limit 8)
Semper fi.... I was in, but don't have flags or anything.
My guess---The sheriff probably also wanted to hear how loud the pipes were so wanted to get real close. And yes when I turned my head "to look both ways" and he saw I was "older", he then decided to keep going elsewhere. HA!!!!
Ehy wait a minute!
You didn't think that maybe the Sherif was just curious about that nice and cool bike... 8)
Quote from: mittico68 on May 25, 2016, 10:36:44 AM
Ehy wait a minute!
You didn't think that maybe the Sherif was just curious about that nice and cool bike... 8)
Yes, there is always that possibility... highly unlikely but we'll give it a 1.5% chance that that was it... ;)