I am also a member of a Sportster forum. I just added a new thread that might also apply here to our bikes in general. I think this "cheap" phase has gone far enough.

As most of you know, while I dislike the "skull mentality," I bought a skull gas cap to make cranking it off easier. (I can get my thumb on the skull's "jaw" and remove it easier if vacuum pressure is a problem.) But I had some spare money over the past week so I also bought a skull derby cover and a few days ago the matching points cover.

My problem was then holding the stock covers in my hand. They are just cheap, stamped aluminum parts.

Of course, MoCo trumpets their "Dark Customs." Putting on stamped parts and using a can of black Rustoleum isn't a 'custom.' It's flat-out a stripped down bike. They refer to the old bikes as "stuff we made in the garage." Well, I'm part of that era, and stripped down bikes were just built that way while we gathered more money for chrome plating. A sprayed down bike was described then as a "rat bike."

While I got coffee the day my points cover was changed out, a woman who had just bought an Iron 883 walked past several full custom Harleys to looks at my 48. I view my 48 as 'stock.' But I think MoCo should have seen her reaction. A little bit of polish and decent pipes was all it took to be a real custom.

Yesterday I went to go see my friend Ginger's new Street Glide. Ginger and I are brother and sister from different mothers, and acquiring the bike has been an up and down road for her. Least of which has been being a real estate saleswoman in this economy and almost missing her last contractual payment to take the bike's delivery.

She pulled back the sheet and I saw a stripped down Electra Glide. To add insult to injury, she had to buy all of the upgrades (and trim accents) and I doubt the final cost(s) make this bike a stripper, at all.

She's never owned a big-twin, and I had encouraged her to keep her Sportster. She and a co-worker trailor their bikes to events, and one of them this summer is going to be Dragon's Tail, the last place a newb should be driving a heavier unfamiliar bike. She admitted that her Sportster will go to Sturgis and the Dragon's Tail just out of need.

So there the big-twin sat. Still expensive, still draining her wallet, still with only a 100 miles on the odometer.

"Hey, kid, walk this way! We have a 'Dark Custom' right here with your name on it, just six bucks per day."

I replaced my derby cover back when i first got my bike... cause I over tightened the original one and cracked it, pretty hard to do with a tiny Allen wrench... So I bought the steel one and new gaskets and boom shakalaka... CUSTOM!!
I actually got very lucky in the purchase of my bike, the dealership had one of its best customers buy this bike and completely chrome it up with every accessory available at the time. Then after he did all that he didn't like it because his friends had radios on their bikes and the first year of the fuel injected touring bagger bikes was coming out so he wanted to sell the roadking at a profit and upgrade, and that pissed off the dealership. My buddy was also a sweetheart customer and the dealer gave me the dudes number and how much they wanted me to pay,(4 thousand less than the dude was asking).
I got to the "Owners" house and man, his garage was carpeted and furnished like a living room. There sat mine to be black and beautiful, every piece of chrome polished and loved. I knew this guy took great care of this bike.
He told me his price, I told him the dealerships price, his mouth dropped and said "no way", I told him to call the dealer... five minutes later he came back and we shook hands. I gave him a brand new $100 bill and insisted he write me a guarantee/bill of sale - he didn't want to, and it took a while for me to convince him to. The next day he called me and tried to cancel but I had the paper work that made that bike mine. Went back and paid him off.
All the time while I"m finalizing this purchase the dude is ranting about the dealership and how much all the chrome cost him and all the problems he had with the dealership to get the bike adjusted proberly and on and on....
I really felt for the guy, but he was going to get a new bike, one of the first, because he helped me out, which helped out my buddy, and the dealership put smiles on everyone's face... eventually... I guess...

Any way I don't consider my bike a custom, it may be customized, but a custom is just that and you cant have a custom on a stock bike. Custom bikes are designed one off and created not manufactured. So skulls or whatever don't a custom make, even if you have black painted parts....

Oh, I agree 100%. The proper word should be 'customized.' My issue here is that bikes like the Blackline have one or two unique parts solely for that model, but the rest of the bike is just bolts from common parts bins.

For example, the big claim to fame on that Blackline is the handlebars.

Your point is well taken. Betty was customized for me, from the performance of the motor, to the suspension and the seat height. Yeah, you could build one just like her--all of the parts are from MoCo's own wish-book. You couldn't buy one off of the showroom floor, however.

Not the same with Spinner or the Cross Bones or the Rocker series. Buy one, or buy the one next to it, no difference at all.

But much like a 1911 Colt, some of us do want just a "motor and a frame" to create our own idea, or comfort requirements. That's how Betty started out. Lots of guys look for a knucklehead with most of the parts in the same basket to build up their own bike. Heck, lots of us here got our start just that way.

In my original premise, I just wanted an EFI Sportster with a 1200cc engine. I have Ryan the master mechanic and access to a dynamometer. I just didn't know I would have to stumble through so many flimsy stamped parts. And you could make a good case for "after four decades Chico should know better." Greed and sloth always befuddle me.

However, Ginger wanted a good bike at a fair price. And frankly, MoCo has a line--and a bit too large a line for my taste--of stripped down bikes and an agenda just looking for all of the Gingers in the world. My point is this. If you have to strip off parts of a product to gain a wider audience, are you overcharging for original product, or short-changing the newbs? Either path reeks to me.

Saw the title on this thread and had to jump in on it...

Custom is a building thing, doesn't mean it has to cost tons a money. I actually respect the folks
that can build killer solid bikes on the cheap. My wifes buell we had a total of 2200 in it with the
purchase of the bike, cut it up, built it her way, and at shows it was center of attention and beating
the snot out of bikes that cost 40k+ and she got 2 magazine shoots out of it as well... so money doesn't
make a custom a winner, the artist does... Sportsters are a great platform for performance and custom
bike builds.