Black is the new Chrome

Check out this completely blacked out Harley Davidson Fat Boy...


It was only a few years ago that "Chrome was King". Folks couldn't seem to get enough chrome on their cruisers. But these days, it seems like the opposite is true. Black is cool.

I'm hearing and seeing that more and more in the world of cruisers. My friends are opting for blacked out bikes.

If you consider that so much of what cruiser riders wear is black, it perhaps is not hard to understand. Black leather, black t-shirts, black jackets, etc. Black is a natural companion to the "Dark Side" of everything. It's also a color of modesty; it doesn't want to attract attention.

When I see a clean shiny bike I often wonder if that bikes spends more time sitting than running. But a dull dirty bike always gives me the sense that it runs all the time, and has paid its dues on the road.

Maybe bikes are like women. You have that wife of yours, the one you love for who she is, the one you want to look pretty for others. Then you have that other woman, the one you ride all the time. Is that what a blacked-out bike is supposed to represent? The bike you actually ride?

I dunno.

But you can't deny that chrome seems to be on its way out.

BTW, click here to view more photos of that Fat Boy on eBay.