Check out the commercial video for Harley-Davidson on #stereotypicalharley 😀

H-D is a short form for Harley-Davidson and the international media from Asia Emerging Market were fortunate enough to be invited for a Dark Custom event and Friday event was definitely a full day for us but of course, with a flavour of fun.

Of course, one of the best part was meeting new faces of the media from different countries. Brunei Harley-Davidson falls in the Asia Emerging Market and this includes Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Guam (I hope I didn’t forget any country). Also present for the Dark Custom event are the AEM dealers of Harley-Davidson and representing Brunei was Pg Musa, the General Manager of Harley-Davidson Brunei (Sri Sentosa Sdn Bhd).

It was a great mixture of people from the media as they are now focusing their attention more to social media as Harley-Davidson’s target market have shifted to the “Young Adult” market. Hence, the emergence of Dark Custom accessories for Harley-Davidson have made a huge difference in their market positioning for H-D bikes.

I finally get to learn more about Harley-Davidson but not extensively. I truly admire the vision of Harley-Davidson and where they are now.. We always have a specific perception about H-D owners but from the commercials that they have been playing shows the different kind of professions that H-D owners, ranging from a police officer to an entrepreneur and even some geeky kid. Well, even after the short workshop that we all did, I was dreaming to even ride one myself but the only problem is that it’s not that easy to master the art of riding. But once you mastered it, it’s all good..

A great welcoming reception from Harley-Davidson of Korea

Welcoming the dealers of Asia Emerging Markets of Harley-Davidson

The lady is from Taiwan H-D dealer and pretty too

The countries that were invited for the Dark Custom event

Cultural performances of Korea

Cultural performances of Korea

Marc Mcallister, VP and Managing Director of Asia Pacific Harley-Davidson blowing his candles to commemorate his birthday

The cake is pretty good too 😀

On the second day of my Seoul trip, all of us headed for the Harley-Davidson of Korea headquarters in Seoul and wow… I was super impressed with the showroom and it feels like an one-stop centre especially for those working in the Harley-Davidson of Korea environment. They have a canteen even, a gym at another building and what caught my eye is a room play area for kids. This really shows how much Harley-Davidson of Korea take care of their staff and employees. Their corporate culture is very solid and they are easy to bond with too especially our designated trainers 😀

We were first briefed at the showroom where it showcased two of H-D bikes and accessories for the bikes. We also learnt that there are more than 6,000 accessories available for H-D bikes as mentioned by Johnny who handles Parts and Accessories for Harley-Davidson of Korea.

Then we proceeded to the workshop area of Harley-Davidson which is quite impressive. They don’t call them mechanics but they positioned them as “technicians”. Coolies. Apparently, the lady explained to us that there are 5 different levels/tiers in the Harley-Davidson of Korea Technician Registry (maintenance area). First being the “staff”, then the “technician” followed by “advanced technician” then you will be promoted as “expert” level but the money shot is being the “master” and it’s not that easy to achieve that level apparently. One of the “master” from Korea took him at least 7 years to reach that status and he is a smart one too.

The other interesting concept that Harley-Davidson of Korea Technician Registry does is that all the personnel under this department will buy their own tools and such as they will give them ownership and responsibility and they are given a special discounts as well and the warranty for their tools is a life-time one. This approach kinda prevent tools at the workshop to disappear and the technicians do take care of their tools by even naming and locking their tools to prevent them from missing.

Soon after the briefing, we were greeted by the arrival of the AEM dealers who arrived on a bus being lead by Harley-Davidson riders and all of us enjoyed the welcoming cultural performance by the Koreans who came out from the Harley-Davidson container *interesting* After that, Harley-Davidson surprised a birthday celebrant who is no other than Marc Mcallister, the Vice-President and Managing Director of Asia Pacific Region of Harley-Davidson.

It’s never to go up the ranks at the Harley-Davidson of Korea Technician Registry. One of the earliest masters took 7 years to gain that status.

I’m beginning to love Harley now

Loving the 48

Our trainers for the day

The Jumpstart section but I didn’t get time to try this

Our personal trainer Csec Lee and he has been in Harley-Davidson of Korea for 3 years now and he’s such a sporting guy too.

No, I didn’t bring my car all the way to Korea 😀

What a beauty!!

Now here comes the challenging part of me – riding a Harley *lol* We were given different stations to go through and learning how to ride a Harley. Our trainer was awesome and I managed to complete three stations but the hardest part of the riding lessons was riding up the slope and I slightly burned my inner calf because the steel pipes were pretty hot and my pants didn’t have proper material to withstand the heat.

The workshop concluded with a mini-competition of having the Dark Custom look and all the media were given a one hour task to wear any apparels and merchandise from the store and showcase to the audience and the one with the most votes get to keep all the merchandise and apparels he or she wore. Awesome!! Sadly, I missed out but a few of new buddies voted for me *awwww*

Overall, a great experience and thank you so much for the hospitality, Harley-Davidson of Korea and thank you to Sri Sentosa for making this trip possible.

A big thank you to Iskandar Shahril, Timothy Soh and Biresh Vrajlal for assisting us during our stay in Korea. You made it a worthwhile experience and to my new friends, let’s keep in touch 😀

The Dark Custom dress up competition but I didn’t win. Otherwise, I get to keep all the merchandise and clothes I wore.

This guy is the Brand Ambassador for H-D in Vietnam

She’s one hot lady and her name is Michelle from Malaysia. I didn’t recognise that she’s a host for Football Overload on Astro Supersport #fail

We had to do 5 poses with the Harley and get voted on

Voted for you but too bad, you didn’t win :p

The lady on the left from Guam won the competition

Our consolation – $170 worth of H-D merchandise and apparel.. Wooohooo