Customisation for Harley Davidson

Motorcycle Live is the UK’s largest bike show, which ran for two weeks in Birmingham’s NEC (28 Nov – 6 Dec). The event was filled with plenty of live action and interactive features, alongside 30 manufacturers showcasing more than 50 new models for 2016.

A few months ago we were approached by Harley Davidson to be a part of their stall at the show. With just over 30 bikes on display, Harley Davidson wanted to increase footfall to their stand by featuring something slightly different to the other stands. Therefore they employed the services of our graffiti artists to customise a number of different bike parts over the 9 day show.

Work started long before the show with our designers working on different bikes, theming each one. The first bike was themed around a recent campaign that Harley had produced titled ‘The Discover More Tour’, which involved a bike tour around Europe. Therefore our designers took inspiration from all the countries the tour visited such as associated cultures and landmarks. They then arranged these features in the style of vintage travel trunks, adorned with stamps of travel. Our artists choosing purposeful colours and muted tones added to this theme and our graffiti artist produced this design on both a helmet and tank at the show.

The second customised bike featured our graffiti artist’s interpretation of everything ‘Harley Davidson’. Therefore the graffiti artist featured images such as handle bars, bike riders, skulls, mugs of coffee, eight balls, helmets and chains. All these features were drawn in the artists cartoon graphic style, juxtaposing the usual biker’s stereotype.

However it was the last bike that was the main attraction. Harley Davidson opened their social media flood gates to their fans by conducting a competition for someone to design their dream tank. A week before the show a winner was picked and her design was recreated onto the tank by our graffiti artist. The winning design was creating by a tattoo artist and featured a black bird. The tank now is displayed at her tattoo shop in Oxford.

In you have an event approaching and would like to add a little something extra please contact one of our Project Managers who will be able to talk through all the options!