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[Twolanerider]

Most of the bobbles and d00d-dads that start on our bikes as "CVO" options very quickly find their way to public availability.  The front spot and t/s light brackets on the SEEG's (for example) and lots of other parts.

Though some have had some minor issue with this fact I'd never minded.  They're just bits after all.  And if someone likes our bits well enough to want some of them for themselves that's fine.  The happier they are the more beers they're likely to buy.  So it's all good.

The paint that sets our bikes apart, however, has always seemed to be "different."  Some of the pieces one could buy.  But most of the big parts one couldn't.  They were protected or restricted such that someone couldn't just walk up to the parts counter and truly order the stuff to build a CVO bike clone of their own.  In fact the schemes themselves had seemed somewhat restricted.  Enough so that even the various "paint sets" that Harley offered didn't copy our themes at all closely.

I personally always appreciated that.  If we're asked to pay a premium for a bike that's at least marginally unique part of that equation should be the manufacturer's responsibility to protect that uniqueness.  At least a little bit. 

The walls may be beginning to come down though.  They are at least becoming shorter and easier to see over.  Harley has just released it's latest paint sets.  A couple are very obvious spins on our schemes.  Homage at best; sniffing our shorts to put people on the same scent at worst.  But whatever it is the walls that border the uniqueness Harley asks us to pay for have gotten just a little bit lower.

Truth be told I don't even know if this is a bad thing.  I do know, for reasons I can't completely articulate, that my gut feeling is that I wish our "look" was allowed to remain a bit more sui generis.  But hey, they're still cool bikes.  So what the hell.

Here's the ones that Harley "borrowed from us."  First pic is to my eye actually a very cool new rendition of the entire SEEG and SEUC look.  It's an option that could have been offered as one of the CVO paint schemes if they'd had a mind to.  Like this one a lot actually.

[Twolanerider]

...and this little bike came out of the head of someone that you just know had spent too much time looking at an 04 black and blue SEEG.

[110tHunDer]

...and this little bike came out of the head of someone that you just know had spent too much time looking at an 04 black and blue SEEG.

Or SED.

I had the same exact thoughts as you when I saw that Electra Glide set in the P&A supplement that just got delivered in the mail the other day.  It's like, WTF, can't they be any more original than that? 

[Twolanerider]

Or SED.

I had the same exact thoughts as you when I saw that Electra Glide set in the P&A supplement that just got delivered in the mail the other day.  It's like, WTF, can't they be any more original than that? 

Me too Brian.  Exactly the same thought.  They've already burned through so many iterations of the same general theme on so many of the paint sets they offer.  Guess they figured they finally had to shift gears.  Trouble is they shifted our way.  Too bad they couldn't have hit on a truly fresh idea.

[110tHunDer]

 
Oh well, like they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

[djkak]

I was watching one of the TV Auto Auctions awhile back and they were rolling a Hemi Cuda Convertible onto the block. I learned that previously, an immaculate Hemi Cuda sold at auction for somewhere near three million dollars. The current machine had the original 383 replaced with a 426 Hemi crate motor; the story was that the machine was identical to the original Heni Cuda, except for the numbers. The car didn’t make its $175,000 reserve.

I don’t know 2Lane, I’m thinking that a Street Glide with a 110, the Sun Chaser paint and several thousand in other accouterments, still would come up short; and if you think CVO’s are expensive…well they are, but…

djkak   

[Twolanerider]

I was watching one of the TV Auto Auctions awhile back and they were rolling a Hemi Cuda Convertible onto the block. I learned that previously, an immaculate Hemi Cuda sold at auction for somewhere near three million dollars. The current machine had the original 383 replaced with a 426 Hemi crate motor; the story was that the machine was identical to the original Heni Cuda, except for the numbers. The car didn’t make its $175,000 reserve.

I don’t know 2Lane, I’m thinking that a Street Glide with a 110, the Sun Chaser paint and several thousand in other accouterments, still would come up short; and if you think CVO’s are expensive…well they are, but…

djkak   

Understand what you're saying DJ.  And it's not wrong.  Old Willie Shakes had it right when talked about that rose by any other name.  But it wasn't the bikes value I was thinking of protecting.  Not at all.  Not even a consideration.  It was the bikes feel.

[djkak]

Again 2Lane, I don’t know. I think that the value at some level is a reflection of the ownership experience or “feel” of the machine. At the level that the Hemi Cuda is today, it’s all about investment value; but backup 30 years and consider how this machine compared to all of the other modified E-Bodied Plymouths.

It seems to me that it has always taken a pretty remarkable high dollar copy to compete with the ownership experience of an original; somehow we are hard wired this way.

djkak

[JW]

Perhaps this signals a radical change in paint schemes for the 2008 CVO line??

[Twolanerider]

Perhaps this signals a radical change in paint schemes for the 2008 CVO line??

That would be giving the MOCO credit for new and innovative thought.  Possible.  The other consideration, however, is that they were just lazy enough to think it was ok covering an old and popular song with a slightly new beat.

[cuthbertss]

my thoughts..

the painters were behind schedule and drunk...
used photo shop to morf the colors on a few stock photos.........  and it stuck?

[JW]

my thoughts..

the painters were behind schedule and drunk...
used photo shop to morf the colors on a few stock photos.........  and it stuck?

Ha--but it works.

[Boatman]

Received the supplemental wish book in the mail last night also and I too thought the same thing on the paintsets, especially the blue/black FB..