be almost-friends . Like , he ’ d still kill you if the need arose , but he ’ d remember your name , smile ruefully as you told him what kind of part you needed ( which he never had but would eventually maybe get around to ordering for you ), and then shoot the shit with you for a bit . You ’ d talk bikes and you ’ d talk about customising them . And before you knew it , you ’ d ordered far more stuff than the clutch plates you ’ d originally come in for . Sometimes , you ’ d be asked around the back . You ’ d be offered coffee , or a beer , a joint , or maybe a line of tear-inducing speed . There might be a few other evil-looking blokes out there , who would stare at you with suspicion , but if the beast vouched for you and brought you back there , then all would be cool . Most of the time . There was an active sense of menace to a Harley shop back then . But there was also a genuine camaraderie . None of this confected marketing department bullshit HOG wallows in . You had to be mentally unstable in all the right ways to buy a Shovelhead back then , and only other mentally-unstable people would want anything to do with you . As you might understand , none of these operations were great business models . They all limped along , the owners making just enough to get by , but the owners didn ’ t really want to do anything else – and were fundamentally unemployable in any case . Nowadays , it ’ s very different . And very successful . Once Harley began making reliable bikes and offering them to normal people , things had to change . Big Business took over . And Big Business made a success of the Harley business . Harley did its bit by making bikes that didn ’ t shit themselves every week , and then brilliantly marketing them at people who wanted to look like vaguely outlaws , but not spend any time being beaten by the cops . Which is a lot of people , I guess . And thus did something very unique pass from this world – a bike shop that sold bikes to people who wanted to buy those bikes ( and only those bikes ), and were more than happy to pay whatever price needed to be paid to do so . And no , I ’ m not talking about money .
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