Yuppie Bikers: Reborn to Be Wild : Lifestyle: The beloved steel steed of the blue-collar crowd is now coveted by cellular-phone types--and by speculators.
The thunder of motorcycles echoes from factory walls in a downtown industrial district.
Down a dead-end street, men in boots and leather vests suck on beers in a smoky bar or swagger near the pool tables, sticks in hand. Outside, more than 50 Harley-Davidsons cool beneath the street lights.
It looks like an outlaw gathering--until Michael Blatter whips out a cellular phone to call some biker buddies dining across town.
At a sushi bar.
“I’m a yuppie in disguise,” the 30-year-old advertising executive admits.
So are most of the other Tuesday night regulars at Lucky’s, an upscale pool hall in a gentrifying neighborhood. On “Biker Night,” lawyers and commodity traders roll in on gleaming new $15,000 Harley Specials and Fat Boys to rub fenders with the lovingly maintained Electra Glides of grittier blue-collar riders.
Sometimes they strike sparks.
“An average guy can’t afford a new bike because the yuppies are buying them all up and putting the price out of reach,” griped Ed Fern, a burly Chicago Park District worker with a red face and sandy goatee.
They agree on at least one thing: Harley-Davidson rules. The brawny American-made motorcycles with huge, throbbing V-twin motors have turned a corner at the image junction. Hairy, tattooed tough guys--Harley’s core buyers in the ‘60s and ‘70s--ride a road crowded with business titans, fashion designers, politicians, Hollywood actors and--gad!--accountants.
The late publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes made Harleys acceptable. Actor Mickey Rourke made them fashionable. Now Harleys are must-have items for those who must have everything. To paraphrase an unofficial, off-color Harley slogan, if you don’t ride a Harley, you ain’t rich.
Demand for the big bikes, priced at $14,000 to $17,000 new, is so strong that buyers must wait at least a year for delivery, and year-old models fetch $3,000 to $4,000 more than new ones, according to Tim Farrell, a dealer in suburban Berwyn.
It’s a speculator’s dream.
“A lot of people that should be keeping their bikes more than a season are selling them because they’re getting so much money for the bikes,” Farrell said. “We don’t want to sell to speculators. We want people to ride the bikes.”
Harley-Davidson considers such speculation “disgusting,” spokesman Ken Schmidt said. He said the Milwaukee-based company plans to boost production to 100,000 bikes in 1996, up from 93,000 this year, but hopes to always keep supplies limited to maintain Harley’s “mystique.”
Mark Herwitz, a 31-year-old criminal lawyer in cowboy boots and designer vest, said he bought a used Harley for $10,000 last year “because it’s a good stress release and it’s a good investment.” He doesn’t take his “hog” on the expressway and keeps it a secret from his mother because “if she knew I bought a motorcycle, she wouldn’t speak to me.”
Rather than head out on the highway, many rich urban bikers--yes, they call themselves “rubbies”--ride only from bar to bar in the city.
“If a guy says, ‘Let’s ride down to Kentucky for the weekend,’ the yuppie biker will check the mileage on his bike,” said Pete Krakowski, a 26-year-old chemical engineer with blue-collar roots who comfortably straddles the gap between rubbies and “real” bikers. “As long as they keep their mileage down, then their bike’s worth more money.”
Yuppies who like to feel the wind in their hair gel get more respect from the live-to-ride crowd.
“I know a guy who makes $100,000 a year. He’s a yuppie but he ain’t afraid to do what we do,” Fern said.
Which is?
“Whatever!”
Herwitz longed for less diversity. He said he feared his bike would be stolen and whispered that some of Lucky’s patrons “would slit my neck if they had a chance.”
When the road calls, blue-collar riders might grab their sleeping bags and head for Wisconsin. Affluent bikers are pickier. Restaurateur John Tarantino and Chicago Cubs first baseman Mark Grace shipped their Harleys to Las Vegas so they could tour the Southwest on two wheels.
“The riding is so great out there,” Tarantino said wistfully.
Those with deep pockets and exotic tastes spend thousands to customize their steeds. Tom Herndon, who said he earns $400,000 a year peddling oral video equipment to dentists, spent $20,000 to have his Harley rebuilt into a showpiece chopper with an “Easy Rider” U.S. flag motif.
“I’m 47, I’m a grandfather, I’ve got all my kids out of college and now it’s my turn again,” said Herndon, a tall Eric Clapton look-alike.
But those reborn to be wild must make concessions to age. Herndon said his bike’s maiden road trip, to the annual Harley riders’ meet in Sturgis, S.D., in early August, was on a trailer behind his Winnebago.
“I’m too old to ride 1,100 miles in two days,” he said.
