06/04/2026
I just came across a video from this guy that I felt compelled to respond to. This was just going to be a comment on a post, but I just couldn't cut this rant down to 1250 characters. Anyone else getting tired of watching people who have never put in the miles, never turned the wrenches, never froze their ass off on an early morning ride, and never spent a Saturday night with their pals drinking beer while trying to get a Panhead back together suddenly decide they're the authority on Harley-Davidson Motor Company and the motorcycle culture.
I've seen a few guys over the last several years climb up on the internet soapbox and start screaming about Harley-Davidson and DEI. The latest is this guy, Robby Starbuck
Now, to be fair, I'm not a fan of a lot of the extreme DEI nonsense that came out of corporate America over the last decade. Most riders aren't. Actually, I kind of hated all that. But I also understand something that Robby conveniently leaves out of his video.
In his latest attack on Harley-Davidson, he spends a lot of time talking about the Harley CEO Artie Starrs and his new Chief Brand Officer Marcus Fischer, and about the policies that existed at companies they worked for years ago. What he doesn't spend much time discussing is what they're doing at Harley-Davidson now. He doesn't talk about the motorcycles. He doesn't talk about the dealers. He doesn't talk about the riders. He doesn't talk about the investments being made into events, racing, performance, or getting people excited about riding again.
Instead, he digs through corporate history looking for ammunition.
Here's the part that really gets me. During the period Robby is talking about, virtually every major corporation in America was implementing similar policies. Whether you agreed with them or not, that was the reality of the business environment at the time. Public companies have a legal responsibility to protect shareholder interests. CEOs and executives answer to boards, investors, institutional shareholders, and market pressures. That's not a defense of every decision those companies made. It's simply reality.
Robby acts as if Artie Starrs and Marcus Fischer personally invented corporate DEI initiatives. That's bulls**t.
They were executives operating within the same corporate climate as thousands of other executives across America. If Robby wants to boycott every company whose leadership participated in those policies, he's going to need a very long list.
What pi**es me off most is that Harley-Davidson isn't some political prop that showed up five minutes ago. This company and the culture surrounding it were built by generations of riders who bled, sweated, sacrificed, and dedicated huge chunks of their lives to keeping motorcycling alive. While politicians came and went, while activists chased the issue of the week, and while social media influencers were still trying to figure out how to get famous, Harley riders were out there living this thing every single day. They were building choppers in backyard garages, racing at local tracks, supporting dealerships, buying parts from independent shops, subscribing to motorcycle magazines, organizing runs for fallen brothers, and keeping a uniquely American culture alive through sheer stubborn determination.
And that's where I have a problem with this guy, Robby Starbuck.
Starbuck may have a somewhat large political following, but he didn't help build motorcycle culture. He didn't spend decades supporting independent shops, motorcycle events, custom builders, dealers, magazines, or the thousands of riders who kept Harley-Davidson alive through good times and bad. He wasn't part of the blood, sweat, and passion that carried this culture through economic crashes, industry downturns, and corporate mistakes.
Where the hell was he when motorcycle magazines were helping shape generations of riders? Where was he when builders were sleeping in their shops, trying to finish a last-minute build? Where was he when dealerships were struggling through recessions? Where was he when motorcycle events were fighting to survive? Where was he when riders were raising money for veterans, supporting charities, and teaching their kids and grandkids about motorcycles?
The answer is simple.
He wasn't there.
And that's what rubs so many people the wrong fu***ng way.
Some guy who wasn't part of the culture suddenly shows up and wants to lecture riders about Harley-Davidson. Then we're expected to believe he speaks for the community.
Sorry, but he doesn't.
Harley-Davidson doesn't belong to Robby Starbuck. It doesn't belong to politicians. It doesn't belong to activists. It doesn't belong to influencers chasing clicks and engagement.
It belongs to us, the riders.
For more than a century, Harley-Davidson has brought together people who disagree on damn near everything except motorcycles. Conservatives ride Harleys. Liberals ride Harleys. Veterans ride Harleys. Construction workers ride Harleys. Artists ride Harleys. CEOs ride Harleys. Outlaws ride Harleys.
The motorcycle never gave a s**t about your politics.
The road never gave a s**t about your politics.
And if you ask me, real enthusiasts don't either.
What matters is whether you ride, whether you contribute to the culture, and whether you're helping keep this thing alive for the next generation.
Harley-Davidson's greatest strength has never been political conformity. Its greatest strength has always been freedom. As the late Peter Fonda once said: “We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. We wanna be free to ride. We wanna be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man. And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time”.
The minute somebody starts demanding ideological purity from every rider, every executive, and every company, they've completely missed the point.
Harley-Davidson has survived world wars, economic crashes, foreign competition, government regulations, and more management screwups than I can count. It survived because the culture was always bigger than the controversy.
It'll survive Robby Starbuck, too.
Because when the internet outlaws move on to the next target, the riders will still be riding. The Builders will still be building. The Harleys will still be parked outside bars across America. And the dealerships will still be selling motorcycles.
That's the difference.
For Robby Starbuck, Harley-Davidson is a political story.
For the rest of us, it's a way of life.
