[REpozer]

This summer, I was riding my Colman mini bike with Honda clone (China) pull start engine.I was in a new housing development , and came head on with beautiful black Harley "Bagger". I gave him the left handed low wave ( to some this might be the Harley wave). He gave me a double take and would not wave...lol.

[Quest]

The Obligawave. A form of chain letter guilt trip. Back when it was spontaneous, it had meaning.

I’ve come to resent its existence, unfortunately. But we must conform to the norms of the tribe.

I really hate being the old guy in this conversation but when I see some of our more illustrious members whiff on the purpose of  "The Wave", I need to speak up.

The Wave was never meant to be a salutation between peers. It began as a helpful exchange of information.
It describes the situation of the riding conditions of the road I just ran - which is the road you are about to run.
The casual wave means no problems ahead. Above or below the handlebar doesn't matter.
Tapping your helmet, conspicuously means "use your head, something to worry about". That could be a speed trap, a washed out section of road surface, a herd of escaped cows, or even a layer of what cows leave behind ... There are variations of course.

The reason for the wave when there is nothing to report simply confirms that there is nothing to report ... as opposed to I'm oblivious to the whole thing or you don't measure up to my image of myself. 

[axman88]

I really hate being the old guy in this conversation but when I see some of our more illustrious members whiff on the purpose of  "The Wave", I need to speak up.

The Wave was never meant to be a salutation between peers. It began as a helpful exchange of information.
It describes the situation of the riding conditions of the road I just ran - which is the road you are about to run.
The casual wave means no problems ahead. Above or below the handlebar doesn't matter.
Tapping your helmet, conspicuously means "use your head, something to worry about". That could be a speed trap, a washed out section of road surface, a herd of escaped cows, or even a layer of what cows leave behind ... There are variations of course.

The reason for the wave when there is nothing to report simply confirms that there is nothing to report ... as opposed to I'm oblivious to the whole thing or you don't measure up to my image of myself. 

What was, or is, the two fingers down, (looks like ~45 degree downward inclined peace sign), intended to mean?  This has become the prevalent, almost exclusive, moto hand sign in my area.

[zimmemr]

What was, or is, the two fingers down, (looks like ~45 degree downward inclined peace sign), intended to mean?  This has become the prevalent, almost exclusive, moto hand sign in my area.

It means you're one of the cool kids.

[axman88]

i believe the two fingers pointing down translates as "hang loose", which means either "relaxe, take it easy", or "i don't wear briefs"

Hang loose is said to be thumb and pinkie.  There's an awesomely colorful story about its inception:   https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/hawaii-stories/culture/origin-of-the-shaka#:~:text=%E2%80%9CHang%20loose%2C%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%9CRight,your%20thumb%20and%20baby%20finger.

The moto hand sign in my area is index and middle, like the peace sign, or actually closer to the UK equivalent of the middle finger, because it's backhand outwards as you pass by.   https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-not-a-good-idea-to-use-our-famous-peace-sign-in-countries-like-Ireland-New-Zealand-Australia-or-the-UK

I'm not seeing this one on the chart of hand signals for group riding (attached).  Some of these remind me of stuff I saw when I got hired to do some plumbing work at a Sicilean social club.

I think all of these are like the shortcut acronyms that the youngsters like to use in their texting, ... They aren't doing their job if you have to spend twice as much time explaining them as it would have taken to type it all out explicitly the first time.

[gizzo]

I really hate being the old guy in this conversation but when I see some of our more illustrious members whiff on the purpose of  "The Wave", I need to speak up.

The Wave was never meant to be a salutation between peers. It began as a helpful exchange of information.
It describes the situation of the riding conditions of the road I just ran - which is the road you are about to run.
The casual wave means no problems ahead. Above or below the handlebar doesn't matter.
Tapping your helmet, conspicuously means "use your head, something to worry about". That could be a speed trap, a washed out section of road surface, a herd of escaped cows, or even a layer of what cows leave behind ... There are variations of course.

The reason for the wave when there is nothing to report simply confirms that there is nothing to report ... as opposed to I'm oblivious to the whole thing or you don't measure up to my image of myself. 

I mentioned in a previous post who I would or would not wave to. By wave, I meant nod. In Australia we nod our head. Kind of like tipping your hat. It's just a greeting.

The only ones who really wave are BMW GS riders who look like they're flagging a bus and Harley guys to each other who do the "low down" thing. Presumably because it's stipulated in the owners manual or they saw it on sons of anarchy or some other crap.

[Quest]

I mentioned in a previous post who I would or would not wave to. By wave, I meant nod. In Australia we nod our head. Kind of like tipping your hat. It's just a greeting.

The only ones who really wave are BMW GS riders who look like they're flagging a bus and Harley guys to each other who do the "low down" thing. Presumably because it's stipulated in the owners manual or they saw it on sons of anarchy or some other crap.

I get it.

[MowgliB5]

With rare exceptions, most Harley are not really a motorcycle they are some sort of decorative addon for pickup trucks or occasionally function as a garden ornament

  We’ll put!!!

[zimmemr]

With rare exceptions, most Harley are not really a motorcycle they are some sort of decorative addon for pickup trucks or occasionally function as a garden ornament

You mean like this one?
For those not familiar with them it's an HD XR750, which has won more AMA National Dirt Track Championships than all of the other makes combined. 

[axman88]

With rare exceptions, most Harley are not really a motorcycle they are some sort of decorative addon for pickup trucks or occasionally function as a garden ornament

I hear that sort of comment here in the USA also, but I wonder, How are the Harley odometers accumulating all those miles?

I notice that even in Australia, 2nd hand Harleys seem to have ridden more miles, ( or kilometers) than a lot of other makes.  You can do the comparison yourself:

Let's look at 5 year old bikes in Australia, and compare Royal Enfield with Harley Davidson.

I see 19 RE's available on this motorcycle sales site, of model year '18-19:
https://www.bikesales.com.au/bikes/?q=(And.Type.Road._.Year.range(2018..2019)._.Make.Royal+Enfield.)
None have more than 20,000km on the odometer. 
2 have between 15k and 20k km ( ~3500 km/yr = 2200 miles/yr)  [10%]
3 have between 10k and 15k km  ( ~2500 km/yr = 1560 miles/yr)  [16%]
8 have between 5k and 10k km    ( ~1500 km/yr =  940 miles/yr)   [42%]
6 have LESS than 5000 km on the odo.   ( ~950 km/yr =  600 miles/yr)   [32%]

An amazing 74% of the REs were ridden less than 1000 miles per year, on average!

There's 94 2018-19 Harley Davidsons being offered up on the same site.
 https://www.bikesales.com.au/bikes/?q=(And.Make.Harley-Davidson._.State.Queensland._.Year.range(2018..2019).)
2 have more than 50,000km on the odometer.  ( ~10k km/yr = 6250 miles/yr)  [2%]
10 have between 30k and 50k km  ( ~8000 km/yr = 5000 miles/yr)  [11%]
11 have between 20k and 30k km  ( ~5000 km/yr = 3125 miles/yr)  [12%]
11 have between 15k and 20k km ( ~3500 km/yr = 2200 miles/yr)  [12%]
21 have between 10k and 15k km  ( ~2500 km/yr = 1560 miles/yr)  [22%]
22 have between 5k and 10k km    ( ~1500 km/yr =  940 miles/yr)   [23%]
17 have LESS than 5000 km on the odo.   ( ~950 km/yr =  600 miles/yr)   [18%]

We can see from this simple analysis, that even though there are certainly some expensive garden ornaments and garage queens with HD branding on them, the REs were almost twice as likely to be spending their time waiting for their riders.

I find it quite rare to find examples of truly low mileage HDs in the USA, and, tribalism and stereotypes notwithstanding, I would be surprised to find it otherwise elsewhere.  For all their claimed faults and shortcomings, their owners do seem to ride them, on average, more than the metric cruisers and their other domestic competitors.

[AzCal Retred]

In the Olden Days in Tucson about the only bikes on the road in inclement weather (read wet or cold) were HD's. I have to give them that. Of course the riders included way more "Greasebikers" than I see today.

[Some Dude]

I nod to everyone except Harleys and food deliveries.
Have nodded (and received a nod) from Police bikers before. I give them more respect than car cops as they are bikiers and ride in shitty weather.

Hand signals. We use there. 

[him a layin]

I nod to everyone except]

welcome to the insanity

[Racer57]

Two fingers pointing down means "Keep both wheels down" which is the same as "have a safe trip".

[deadbat]

I nod to everyone regardless of what bike they ride, even L plates get a nod from me and most of the time I get a nod back (including GS's and HD's). To me it is a basic bike courtesy, just like stopping to help biker in need.