america has a relatively limited number of motorcycle 'purists.' finding people who ride motorcycles to work and on a daily basis is almost unheard of.. i'm one of about two or three people i know who actually commute on them. motorcycles are typically used here for status symbols, just to say you have one, or to pile all your shit ontop of in the garage. its the reason Harley does so well, along with the custom chopper scene.. choppers are virtually unusable motorcycles. a friends dad has had his for 2 years and frankly its hard to remember the last time it wasnt in the shop. i think the motor has needed a full rebuild twice. the bike is gorgeous, dont get me wrong.. i'd love to have the extra $40,000 laying around to waste on one, but its hardly called a motorcycle at that point.
as for the chromed out bling bullshit, its what makes up a great portion of the other people who do ride. bikes are a huge portion of the black culture here, and strangely the first thing they all wanna do is chrome it out, cover it in rediculous lights, colors, chrome, or other things that glimmer and sparkle.. apparently black men are like fish.
really as a whole in america, if you wanna find a purist, track down a BMW motorcycle rider.. those guys are hardcore as hell. i've got a customer at work who picks up randomly and rides to Georgia from here in Texas for the weekend "just cuz i've never been there and i wanna see whats there." its about a 20 hour trip one way. he shows up, spends the afternoon and turns around to ride home. he has about 210,000 miles on a K1200 that he custom welded a 13 gallon fuel tank for, that fits under the stock tank cover.