Although it has been a couple of months since the new colour options for the 2022 motorcycles from Harley-Davidson were leaked, it is only in the last couple of days that I have seen photos of bikes in these colour options and now the H-D websites are showing them too…it is a little underwhelming!
The depiction in photos is never quite as authentic as with the naked eye. Under the spot lights in the dealerships or the beaming sun outside on the forecourt, however some of these colours do not grab my attention like others have done in the past and appear slightly mismatched for the model too.
Of course beauty is always in the eye of the beholder and being a card carrying agent of any colour will do as long as it is black, then I am hardly positioned to give an objective option, albeit I will try my hardest and I have had non black bikes in the past so I am not totally closed off to the idea.
The Fat Boy get some nice options which do appear to match the style of the bike and the riding context too. Vivid Black of course, then Reef Blue, Mineral Green Denim and the Midnight Crimson/Vivid Black combo go hand in hand with the chrome looks too. Whilst the colours might not be to my liking especially the mineral green denim, I can see the appeal if one were to jump onto this kind of bike.
However, the Street Bob gets the Vivid Black with orange decals and the Gauntlet Gray Metallic which look really nice. The Redline Red I think will be a top seller as it just looks amazing in the photos and the real life shots I have seen too but the Fastback Blue just doesn’t give me that urge to want to jump onto it.
It reminds me of an old MX5 (Miata in the US) with white wheel rims. It was a lame duck colour combo then and my mind hasn’t changed since.
Whilst many of the models have gone with the Mineral Green Metallic option as with the Breakout, again it just doesn’t lend itself to the style of the bike. The Vivid Black and Gauntlet Gray Metallic are far superior options for this bike and it was also crying out for a more colourful option too. Perhaps a brilliant orange or the Redline Red that the Street Bob got.
I could go through the whole line up as it stands today and within each model colour option there does appear to be a clear weakest link and one has to wonder which colours would do best and where. Whilst black is the favoured colour in sales figures, sometimes there is a viable antidote to the black sea of assimilation. However Harley-Davidson have just tried to throw colours from any old paint pot into the mix to see which ones stick best…and it just hasn’t worked across the range.
When you’re looking for a colour to exude the personality of the machine…if there is such a thing… then it has to match what the rider perceives what that bike can be.
If you have an adventure bike, then having a Fastback Blue/White Sand Pearl combo does not say Adventure…it says cake with frosting on it
It becomes a carnival pony pulling the float carrying the young tweenie queen or birthday banners and pastel coloured balloons! What is definitely does not say is go for a cross country tour, go ride some dirt trails or go seek forgotten treasure in a Mayan temple the jungle had long since swallowed up…It just doesn’t.
I could yet be proven off the mark but whilst there will be colour triumphs this year which will be reflected in the sales figures in the varying sales markets, there will no doubt be flops which will not be repeated again. Not that the company will ever tell you how bad a particular colour has performed of course, but I think you’d have a pretty good guess at which ones were.