Do you guys ever get the feeling that the word custom is used a little too freely with motorcycles?

I was looking throught Craigslist today (just something to do while I was taking a break) and kept seeing ads for "Custom Sportster", "Custom Suzuki", "Custom .......", etc...

Not one of these was a custom. Every one of them were in my opinion "Accessorized". They all had bolt-on this and that. A couple did have some nice paint but the majority were stock paint.

I have an old "biker" friend that stops in from time to time to shoot the shitand talk about the way he used to build bikes. We got started on this topic and he agrees with me. Just to give you an idea of the kind of guy Pappy is, after he saw the Crossbones, he rode over here and we were talking about it. He said "HD sure is taking the fun out of things...we used to have a lot of fun making bikes look like that...it was a lot of work but it was worth it"

I'll be the first to admit that my bike is not a "Custom" or "Customized" Wide Glide. Sure, I've had to do some work and had to rig a few things to get them to work but she is "Accessorized".

Trust me, I'm not trying to step on anyones toes. I just think the terms "Custom" and "Customized" are used too often for bikes that are "Accessorized".

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.

 

Well...OK....what ever than means...!

 

Not trying to split hairs or create an argument here but if you look at the true meaning of the word custom, anything that has been changed in a way that is different from the norm, it has been customized. So, technically, bolting on a set of Kuryakyn footpegs makes a bike custom.

Now, I know there are hardcore guys that feel like a bike isn't truly customized unless you created a part from scratch, rather than buying it off the shelf, and made it fit your bike. Or, unless you tore the entire bike down and rebuilt it as a complete 1-off. And, in the bike world, that may be the accepted meaning. But, in the true sense of the word, it doesn't take all that to be a "custom" bike.

With all that said, it is a bit overused for a lot of bikes. Mine is a custom only by name. Nothing on it is 1-off. But, I do consider my ride a "customized" superglide custom. It certainly isn't a stock bike - you gotta give me that.

 

Think about the word "custom", it's derived from "customer", so if it's "customized" it has been modified in some way to suit the "customer" who bought and owns it. So those non stock items make it a CUSTOM!
If a bike comes from the factory and isn't a special order, then it shouldn't be called aCUSTOM even if HD wants to call it that.IMHO

 

If its had custom parts added its customised ie not stock ... imo a custom build is a different animal as that describes a bike built from custom parts.

 

Marketing, marketing, marketing. We are a consumer-driven capatalist society and our culture is dictated by advertising, television, and thelatest craze.If logic states "custom is anything non-stock" then maybe there should be a better way of describing custom built bikes. Sure, people call them choppers but that word is so burnt to the ground (thanks to media overexposure) that you just say "custom". That mixes it in with all the bikes that people own that have been "customized", and certainly are described so in orderto sell on Craig's list. I've seen ads on Craigs list for "custom" bikes that wound up being Road Kings with concho saddle bags and Mustang seats. I've also seen ads for Deuces that turned out to be badass customized chopped and rebuilt bikes.... it's all marketing. You can't say "I wish people would stop using the word 'custom'" because the people that supposedly throw it around carelessly are just trying to sell something. I'm in the recording business and I own a studio. Logically, any place where art can be created and recorded is a studio. But in business, a studio used to be a professionally designed and built room with very expensive equipment and very skilled engineers and producers, whereas now a "recording studio" on Craigs list is some guy with a couple grand worth of equipment set up in his living room selling "studio time" for peanuts. And consumer level merchandise companies grab onto that (or is it the other way around?) and market to the home studio guys, making tons of cash and perpetuating the cycle. It's all f***ed all the way around. I'm with you Sway, I just had to get that off my chest. And I stay off of Craigs list.

 

lets just call them harleys

 

i dont think there is such thing as a "custom harley". its either a harley or it isnt.
a custom to me is a bike built from scratch or a least started with a bare frame.
if you have to get a VIN insp. and/or a builders title, you have a custom
i'm lazy so i just have a harley that has a diff. paint job, minus some lame crap and added some cool(imho) crap to
let the ranting continue

 

The only term probably abused more than "custom" in bike circles has to be, without a doubt, the term Old School. Or Old Skool if your under 30 and still live with your parents.................

No matter how you spell it, this is a way over used term and not even just in with bikes. Friggin' kids these days think that anything that was in style a mere ten years ago can be revived and they can slap "Old School" on it.

I wanna puke everytime I hear that cliche tossed around...........[:'(]

 

Sure there is. Mine is a Dyna Superglide "CUSTOM"[sm=happybounce.gif]