I took the bike for a long cruise today. First stop was the parts store for a new fuel filter. It turns out the element in mine was just rattling around in the housing. I rode all around the lake. Went to a spot with a few miles of peg scraping switchbacks. Did some decent highway riding. Smoked a Harley going up a hill. Well I think he let me win. Hit a few trails through the woods. Had a general blast on the bike today.
I was cruising through a parking lot to avoid some heavy traffic. I was cruising in front of a grocery store and some guy was practically pointing and laughing at me. I don't know if it was just the bike, or the whole sight of me riding a Rebel. People around here tend to make fun of Rebels, and Rebel riders. I got a laugh out of it though. So its whatever. To me the Rebel is the closet thing I will get to a street legal minibike.
Do any of you guys ever have people pointing and laughing because you ride a Rebel? Ever get weird comments because its just a 250?
I rode the Rebel on quite a few errands today. Eventually I stopped to grab lunch in our local (busy) strip that has grocery store, restaurants, etc. I was sitting inside at the sandwich shop with a clear view of the bike parked out front. Most people payed no attention to it (motorcycles aren’t very popular around here.) But then a pair of guys in their mid-40s or so were walking along the sidewalk and stopped to look it over. They even stepped down into the parking space and did a full inspection, walking completely around it.
I wished I could have heard what they were saying. But they certainly seemed to be admiring it favorably. They definitely were talking about the windscreen, which one guy seemed to really like. At least, that’s how I interpreted their body language.
Last week I was dismounting in another parking lot, and a young woman walked up and told me she really liked my “little Rebel”. She used the name Rebel. I said thanks and asked her how she knew the bike. She replied that she “rides one for work.” Turns out, DC Metropolitan Police are still using some of those Rebels that were the mainstay of their motorcycle fleet a decade or two ago (they mostly use Harleys now.) Her mount was getting pretty old, and she admired how nice shiny new my 2016 looked.
So most of my experiences have been positive. But that may be more due to a lack of or minimum motorcycle culture hereabouts.
Before I could afford high visibility motorcycle gear, I wore an orange vest over inexpensive black gear. I've ridden in a full face helmet from day one. Had a couple on a Harley point at me and laugh when we passed. They couldn't know I thought they were idiots to be wearing non-DOT brain buckets, T-shirts, and blue jeans.
I've had one or two big bike riders shake their heads "NO" when I gave the wave, and one Harley rider returned my wave with his middle finger. But I was on the VN750 when that happened. I never see any of those types riding once temperatures drop below 60 degrees. They truly are fair weather riders.
That is incredible. So far I haven’t experienced that. I get a lot of the two finger waves, which makes me feel welcome to motorcycling. I try to wave back in time but being a new rider I am pretty focussed on what’s ahead and keeping a good grip on the bars. So sometimes I am a bit slow to wave back - - hopefully no one takes offense.
Nobody has made fun of my Rebel so far. I generally get return waves from almost all bikers regardless of what they are riding.
Once, I had a beautiful Kawasaki Nomad all dressed out and passed a group of bikes going the other way. I waved and held my wave for a good while and I did not notice one biker in that big group wave back.. I think for some it is a "brand" thing, and not only a "size" thing.
I've had nothing but love out this way. I was on the road for a couple of hours recently and everybody waved back, except for one rider who was obviously focused on the curve. One group I'm sure were Harley's and they all waved.
I think there's just not many riders out here.
I've only been on one or two rides on mine since I've had carb and paperwork issues from the get go, but I have had a few looks.
In the UK twins & cruisers have been out of style & production for the last 20 years or so, especially in the smaller categories (125 & 250) so mine does have that comfortable vintage sound and look with none of the bulkiness of the average cruiser.
Most people wave here but generally most of the motorcycle "community" in the UK have a strong disdain for cruisers, I'll see that properly once the bikes on the road again this weekend.
I haven't had anybody give me anything negative. But like I've said, I'm built a lot like Shrek so maybe they just leave me alone. But most of the H-D guys around here snob up and don't wave. I'm not big on all the waving anyway. I don't wave 4 fingers at every car I'm passing when I'm in one of my cars, so I don't feel all that compelled to be "more cool" when I'm on 2 wheels than 4. Mostly I just do my own thing and don't care if they wave or not. I did have a big galoot one day as me, "is that a Rebel?" I said yeah, and he said he'd always loved those bikes. I was expecting negative but was pleasantly surprised.
The wave isn't an exclusive motorcycle thing, it's actually common among VW Bug (original, not the Golf disguised as a Beetle that ended production this year) and Jeep (CJ & Wrangler) owners too.
I have kids wave at me. A buddy is a Harley man so I got right up in his face and told him my next bike will be a 600 to 750cc Honda after he gave me some flack for the mouse bike as he called it.
He was awed by how easily it moves into and out of my living room though.
My bike does not look so good, im still trying to make it look good, but i really dont have much money so its gonna be a long way, but still looking like that, people tend to admire the bike and often times i get compliments on it, and im a 5 12 200 pound guys, so the bike looks small on me.
I create my own laughs...I've always treated the Reb as a "toy" due to its smaller nature (not just displacement, but it's physically a smaller overall object compared to many other bikes). At the same time, I have insanely huge amounts of fun with these toys...fun that I simply can't have on bigger bikes. Anyone else wants to laugh I'm laughing with them. Anyone wants to bash, well they'd better put up or shut up because I'm riding and they're typically...not.
In that vein of self-laughter, one of my more recent additions is a child's bicycle horn. It gets more use than the factory horn next to it.
Only been riding 5 weeks (1700 miles), but if anyone has laughed I haven't noticed. Like Shadow Shack, I'm having too much fun to care. And for a lot less money than sport bikes or big cruisers. Have, however, gotten 5 compliments so far.
Also ride a scooter and have zero inferiority complex doing so. It's a blast, practical for urban riding and errands, and costs even less than the Rebel.
Not sure I'll ever understand the snob attitude some bikers have. Maybe they are the ones w inferiority complexes?
I think some love the rebel and some hate the rebel. I passed a HD dealership and saw a guy get in his bike and he chased me to a gas station and just wanted to talk about how he missed his rebel and liked how the bike looked.
When his friends caught up they were making jokes about how if he liked the rebel so much maybe he should retire his Fat Bob and get another one.
So I think it’s a 50/50 chance either they like it or they hate it.
I generally acknowledge other riders, and get the same in return. Sometimes someone (usually on a Hardley) turns their nose up. It doesn't bother me. I'm not trying to impress anyone with my bike. I've gotten into conversations with riders of all sorts of bikes in parking lots or the like. Most of the guys with the big bikes have fond memories of the smaller bike they started out on.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Honda Rebel 250 & 450 Forum
427.1K posts
31.4K members
Since 2004
A forum community dedicated to the Classic Honda Rebel 250 & 450. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, troubleshooting, maintenance, reviews, and more! Also visit our forum for 2017+ Honda Rebel 300, 500 & 1100 at hondarebel3forum.com