I will say one thing for Harley chrome, and paint for that matter. My 99 Softail Custom looks almost show room new. Thats pretty good for an 11 year old bike. I have seen a lot of other brands that do not look near as good at that age. By the same token, the 84 Sportster I sold last year looked almost as good. My Sportster had 50,000 miles on it, and my Softail has 25,000. And outside of washing and chamoising off every so often, I do not do much else. I use to polish the alloy parts on the Sporty about every 3 years or so.

 

Yep, it is pretty resilient stuff. I got a dent in my rear fender tip that didn't hurt the paint, but most body shops told me that the paint would crack, if I tried to pull it out. One place was brave enough to try, but the paint didn't crack and now it's virtually unnoticeable.
I was told after this, that HD paint does flex to a certain degree and will do so even more if you heat it with a hair dryer or the like, first.

 

I agree my paint and chrome after 5 yrs looks showroom, people always ask if my bike is new

 

Harley has the best painters in the world. Every review you see in the magazines praises Harley's fit and finish and quality of materials.

 

My '77 still wears it's original paint. You can part your hair in the shine....I agree the paint on new bikes is also top notch. However, I don't agree that the chrome is. Plenty of it peels from aluminum parts or rusts on steel parts. Sure, if you bike is garaged the chrome will look great for years. However, leave it outside for a while and all bets are off. Chrome ain't nothing like it used to be thanks to the EPA.

 

My '94 still shines like a new penny after 17 years. Nobody believes it's still the original paint. My chrome is fine, though it's acquired a "frosted" patina on the leading edges, from years of travel in the wind-sort of like it's been sandblasted.