View Poll Results: Chrome or Black this bike out
Keep the Chrome coming!
42
84.00%
Start the Blackout!
8
16.00%
Voters: 50. You may not vote on this poll
Chrome...again?
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,217
Likes: 90
From: Detroit
I am totally and obviously very biased here but I say CHROME! Chrome is KING in my garage. Chrome is also TIMELESS, it looks good on the old bikes of the day, it look's good on the bikes of today and it will look just as good another 50 years from now of the bikes of those days too.
Five years ago, there were a lot of chrome-blinged bikes on the dealership floor. A couple of years ago, there were a lot of non-chromed and blacked-out bikes. Yesterday at the dealership, they were back to chrome bling. So maybe it was an experiment which failed. Gotta know the difference between enduring styles, and temporary fugitive styles.
Paisley was hugely popular for a year or two, but you haven't seen much of it for about 40 years.
Highest-end Harleys, like CVO's, are usually chromed and blinged-out to the hilt. You can argue a lot about what Harley does in various areas, but it's hard to argue with their marketing acumen.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,492
Likes: 19
From: Illinois
I got my love of Chrome and Harleys around the tender age or 7 or 8 years old. There was an old Hell's Angels club house about 2 or 3 blocks away and I used to sneak over there everyday I could and wipe down motorcycles covered in chrome. Sometimes they flicked me a quarter, sometimes they flicked me across the head for missing a spot! Then I went home and got flicked across the head again for sneaking down there. All I ever wanted was for 1 of them to take me for a ride. I didn't care either way. I just wanted to hang around those guys and clean their bikes and almost all of their bikes consisted of those wild paint jobs of the day, chrome everywhere and those big, long, huge chopper front ends of the day too. That was mid to late 60's and the early 70's and it's still been chrome ever since in my garage. Chrome work is still very popular. I had 4 pieces to be chromed this past winter and the fastest I could get it done was from California and 3 months out. There are a few bikes here that are blacked out that have really grown on me, Diablo for 1, but if it came down to the 2, it would be chrome for me. I will be the 1st to admit when it's time to go clean, wax and detail the bike it's like Uhggg, not again but it's always worth it, to me, when it's done. I guess a lot of it also has to do with how much time are you willing to spend with it out in the garage, wax on, wax off.....wax on, wax off.....
Last edited by tbonetony06; Jul 23, 2013 at 09:53 AM.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,217
Likes: 90
From: Detroit
Neat story, Tony.
Unless someone is going for the rat bike look, chrome is one of the easiest things to maintain, if it's good quality. Wipe it down with a rag, and you're done, except for bugs, or burned-on stuff on your pipes. No need for five-step paint polishes, or endless time bringing polished aluminum back to a luster.
Unless someone is going for the rat bike look, chrome is one of the easiest things to maintain, if it's good quality. Wipe it down with a rag, and you're done, except for bugs, or burned-on stuff on your pipes. No need for five-step paint polishes, or endless time bringing polished aluminum back to a luster.
Road Captain
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 651
Likes: 2
From: Calgary AB
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Tourer
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 499
Likes: 2
From: Wisconsin
Make it your own. That does not have to be big and flashy either. I just got these bars and pipes but before that, the little things made my bike stand out more than others. Pictures do NONE of OUR bikes any good here but for the most part my bike "appeared" pretty much stock. Once you have stopped and looked at it though, the longer you look the more you find. I'm pretty much the opposite from most I guess, I think it's the little things that makes a bike unique and stand out from all the others.
