Eicma 2012 – The old school style is renewed with Hard Candy Custom™ by Harley Davidson

Harley-Davidson gives new life to old school style thanks to Hard Candy Custom™, a customization program inspired by the stylistic movement that spans generations, cultures and cities from Brooklyn to Yokohama. Hard Candy Custom has its roots in the "chopper" era of the late Sixties and embraces a trend that is emerging again from garages all over the world: sparkling metal flake paint jobs made with metal splinters, sparkling chrome, stylish details even in the accessories and in clothing. A trend so current and at the same time so nostalgic.

The wide Hard Candy Custom offer includes 16 new paint jobs characterized by a large metal flake finish, three of which are offered in a solid color version only on four Harley-Davidson models in the 2013 range. From today it is therefore possible to choose a metal flake paint job as a standard colour, the first step towards customizing your Harley, an expression of that bold and brilliant style typical of 60s California. The Hard Candy Big Red Flake color debuted in 2012 on the Sportster® Seventy-Two™ model, and for 2013 Hard Candy Lucky Green Flake and Hard Candy Coloma Gold are added. This special treatment, previously reserved exclusively for one-off custom show examples, is now available for the following models: Seventy-Two, Street Bob®, Softail® Deluxe and Forty-Eight™.

The three Hard Candy Custom colours, green, red and gold, were created by applying geometrically shaped colored metal slivers onto a black base coat, each having dimensions seven times larger than those used in standard series painting. The splinters are then covered with multiple layers of transparent coating, which, thanks to subsequent manual sandblasting, create a finish with extraordinary depth. Each paint job is then completed with the graphics of each specific model and embellished with the special Hard Candy Custom logo.

The offer becomes even richer and more colorful thanks to the twelve two-tone paint variants of the Hard Candy Custom Flake Core series, available in the original accessories catalog for a good number of Sportster®, Dyna®, Softail® and Touring models. A further special paint job which is always part of the Hard Candy Custom series is reserved for the 2013 CVO™ Breakout™ model. This is the “Hard Candy Gold Dust & Liquid Sun” version with Pagan Gold graphics.

Start with the color, but continue your customization with all the Harley-Davidson® Genuine Motor Accessories® proposals. Recently, new Hard Candy Custom themed accessories have been introduced, such as the single-seater saddle with Silver Charcoal metal flake effect, the "Old Style" Harley-Davidson single-seater saddle in white or black leather with contrasting diamond-cut stitching, the bag rear side and finally the bag to be applied to the frame. Dozens of original accessories, from handlebars to Sissy Bars, can be mounted to complete the transformation of your motorbike.

Harley-Davidson MotorClothes presents among the proposals of the Black Label Collection a T-shirt for men and women with Hard Candy Custom logo, as well as new helmets with decorations and finishes inspired by this style. Harley-Davidson Motor Company produces large-displacement Custom, Cruiser and Touring motorcycles and a complete line of Harley-Davidson parts, accessories, clothing and merchandising items.

For more information, visit the Harley-Davidson website at www.harley-davidson.com.