This is me

Characters from across the decades are highlighted in the latest H-D Museum exhibition.

Words by David Kreidler, Exhibits Curator, Harley-Davidson Museum^®

With around 500 motorcycles and thousands of other artifacts and photographs housed in the building where I work, you might imagine it would be easy as a curator to plan and execute an exhibit about motorcycles. Surely, you’d think, a person could just pick their favorites and—voila!—done.

However, it’s never that simple, and that’s because you’re unique. You have your own interests, hobbies and bike. Maybe you’ve added accessories to match your vision for what your bike should look and sound like. Maybe you’ve left it stock because you’re more focused on the ride. Maybe it’s a little of both.

Even your gear is unique to you. Do you wear a cut or a leather jacket? Does it just have a back patch? Do you get a new H.O.G.^® patch every year? Maybe you’re like Jim Wagen…

When Jim joined the Harley Owners Group^® in 1984, he sewed the 1984 H.O.G. patch just below his back patch. Then 1985 went under the 1984 patch and so on. For years, he placed one below the other until he ran out of room in 1988.

Now, Jim could have simply found another spot on the vest—maybe off to the side, perhaps on the front—but he didn’t do that. He just kept going, and the patches for 1989 through to 2000 formed a tail that hung down to his knees.

Or maybe you’re like Gail Anderson. Gail wasn’t interested in what everyone else was wearing—or riding. She had her own sense of style. She already had a custom 1986 Softail^® motorcycle built and pinstriped with the name she’d given it—“The Harley Fox”—and wanted her gear to match. Like most vests, hers is leather. Unlike most vests, her custom piece sports a collar made from a whole fox fur—paws, tail, and all.

Maybe you’re like Arlen Strehlow. Arlen had a typical H.O.G. vest with patches on the front and back in all the usual places. His bike wasn’t custom, but he made it his own in little ways. All in all, a standard rider—if you ignore the helmet, which had two Texas Longhorn horns attached to the sides. More people knew him as “The Guy with the Horns” than by his actual name.  

The Harley-Davidson Museum tells stories about motorcycles, but those stories are nothing without the people who ride them. Everything in the Harley-Davidson collection has something to say about someone. One exhibit—in fact, the whole museum—can’t display them all at once.

We do try, however, to celebrate the depth of passion riders have for Harley-Davidson and how they make the brand and the bikes their own. “This is Me: Bikes, Gear, and the Stories They Tell” opened at the Harley-Davidson Museum in May 2025. It tells the stories of riders whose personalities are reflected in everything from the motorcycles they chose to the gear they wear. 

Plan a visit and experience the stories we tell—H.O.G. members get in for free! If you can’t find an echo of yourself here somewhere, maybe we’ll need to make a little room on our shelves. 

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