I agree with Sway who started this thread...
To me 'custom' means MAKE IT YOURSELF. Alot has changed in in this world, and if the majority of people think it means pull the plastic off and bolt it on, well the reality is they're just walkin' through the shopping mall. I seen a lot of flared attitudes on this forum with this subject. It's not worth fighting about, but I think we all know what makes something trully unique.

 

That's just it though - that's what custom means to YOU. But, that's not what custom actually means. Custom and Unique, by true definition, are not necessarily synonymous. There is nothing about the word custom that means it has to be the only one. Unique, however, does mean "the only one" or "like nothing else". I don't think anybody is arguing as much as we are just discussing it. I do agree that some have come to believe, in the bike world, that custom means it is hand built and/or unique. But, that's simply not truly what custom means. So, when someone describes a bike as a "custom", they aren't misleading anyone, they just mean they have modified it from the norm (stock). And I don't agree that the MoCo misuses the term either. Take my bike, the Super Glide Custom, for example. Technically it is a Super Glide Standard that has been modified with extras so, therefore, it has been customized. That doesn't mean there can't be more than one. Now, if they made, for example, a "X-Glide Custom" but had no standard "X-Glide" in the lineup, it would then be a bogus use of the term custom in my opinion.

With all that said, you may not be worthy of as much "street cred" for off the shelf mods vs. truly unique, hand made mods, you still have the right, by definition, to call yours a "custom" bike.

That's not just my opinion or definition, it's Webster's as well.

 

does it really matter? sounds like cabin fever

 

Symantics do matter in attempting to communicate. Many serious ramifications have resulted from themisuse or missunderstanding of words. That's what makes the English language so universal, like Latin, each word has a specific meaning despite the location or culture involved.
Slang, on the otherhand, leaves opennings for misreading that leads to missunderstanding.
And I'm not even snowbound!

 

Nope doesn't matter. Definitely cabin fever "fodder".

 

Could have been-should have been doing more custom work on my bike rather than reading this thread. I agree with what someone already said. Cabin fever.

 

very well put, i couldnt agree with you anymore on this topic. call it Accessorized or modified, not custom. jackyl

 

I prefer "asthetically reconfigured" or "butchered".

 

HA ha.... good one Sway.

Folks can parse the word custom from here to eternity and beyond.

At the bottom below is a screenshot directly from the HD website.

Let us not forget -
the Dyna line came about after the marketing geniuses at the "MoCo"
watched the bikers pull the SportSter front end,
and work it onto the frame of the big machines.

mud.........