For many years I lusted after BMW motorcycles. And I still belong to the big BMW club and read the mag every month. Nowadays there are few products BMW sell that have the visceral appeal of the old air cooled twins and early K-bikes.

In 1999 the dealer I took my BMW to closed and I was left "stranded" in Portland with the closest palatable dealer at least 100 miles away.

Now before you call me a wimp let me say that I spent several years traveling to a BMW dealer in NH that was at least 45 miles from home and it was a pain. I suppose 100 miles would be doable but certainly not convenient.

Anyway I had spent nearly two decades bad mouthing Harley and it dawned on me that while I was now in a town with no acceptable BMW shops I was simultaneously in a town with at least three Harley dealers (counting the dealer in Vancouver, WA). Seemed to me that it was time to find out what the Harley thing was all about.

It turned out to be about a Dyna Sport Touring (FXDXT) for me. Bought one in 2000 and rode it for about two years. Decided for a number of reasons that I needed a sportier bike after all. Spent a year in a relationship with a blue Suzuki SV650S. But then the lure of the big bike took over again and I was soon back on a Harley. This time a Road Glide.

Now a Road Glide is a bit of a pig as bikes go. It's about 700+ pounds of steel, aluminum, and plastic. And it feels every bit that heavy when stopped. Underway its not half bad and as long as you don't forget that it has little ground clearance (which I have done) and don't crash into anyone (which I have also done) its a pretty darn nice bike to ride around on.

All the while I was becoming involved with American made motorcycles more and more companies were becoming involved with Indian and Chinese made software engineers. The frustration of seeing so many local people un- or under-employed while the places I worked loaded up on H1 visa folks from elsewhere was starting to get to me. I began to see my motorcycle in geopolitical terms. This was new to me. I had never thought much about the Germans or the Japanese who made my previous bikes.

I spent the 1980s watching restructuring throw millions of blue collar Americans out of work. I saw the migration of more manufacturing during the 1990s as China picked up the job of making everything we buy here. It finally dawned on me that if I didn't care who made my bike then why should anyone else care who made their computer or the software that runs on it? Didn't I have to ride and drive American? Not because I thought the people making my truck or bike would buy what I make, but simply because I thought that sending all computing jobs overseas was wrong. So how could it be right to send all the domestic manufacturing jobs elsewhere? Good for the goose, good for the gander or something. The world may be flat (again) but do I want to live in a community bereft of any concern for the welfare of its own members?

I think it fundamentally matters what happens to individuals. This has nothing to do with my Harley per se. I like knowing that there are towns in the US like Milwaukee and York, PA, and Kansas City where people make a living, support their families, and enjoy life because I ride a Harley. Would those folks find something else to do if Harley folded. Some would. How would I be better off? How can what hurts someone else be good for me? I don't pretend to know the answer, but the question bugs me.