An earlier post here with some cool flash got me thinking. You just don't see many new Harley tats anymore, although more Harleys than ever are on the road, and tattoos are everywhere. I got "Harley Wings" on my arm in '82 after I bought my '81 FXS. Very few had tats, fewer had Harleys. Just an observation.

 

your observation is accurate & my guess would be that there is so many better tattoo's available that it's like it's just not in style right now. I wouldn't pop Harley in my skin unless they wanna pay me for advertising. thats just the kind of hair pin that I am!
Hatch.

 

I guess they don't feel like dedicating their skin to a corporation.

 

the only new hd tats I've seen lately are from the insta biker crowd. I wanted one back when I was 16 and my family made me think about it for 6 months to see if I still did or not. guess what? I didn't

no corporate logo for me, thanks.

 

I think back in the day flash was much more prevalent. Now a days, everyone wants custom art that is unique to them and not a stock flash piece that can become a dime a dozen. It was cool to have a HD tat before they went corporate.

 

Because these days, Harley is VERY agressive about protecting their trademarks.

If you tattoo a Harley logo on your skin, you may be thinking, "what are they goona do, it's in my skin, bitch!"


But they may be sending Tig and Clay over..."knife or fire?"




Either that, or people have become less dedicated to Harley since the dealerships started to look like stores in an up-scale mall, full of people whose Harleys have bumperstickers that say, "My Other Bike is a Minivan."

 

All my tats have special meaning to me... don't see why I should ever have a HD tat ! But that's just my belief.

 

Getting more work done on both half sleeves today... I would never get an HD tat.

To each their own.

 

Up until recently tattoos generally looked cartoonish and like ****. Now we have guys tattooing who could be working as professional artists, doing work that is mind blowing, the ink looks cools as **** rather than some paint by numbers hatchet job you would get in the 70s. Combine that with societies growing acceptance of things that are different and you have the tattoo explosion.

Less HD tattoos? I don't know... I would bet they still doing quite a bit of HD tattoos.

 

HD tat always seemed a bit predictable.