Mile High Harley Davidson Adds Current LEDs to Retail and Industrial Spaces

Harley Davidson is one of the world’s most iconic brands. Since their inception in 1903, the company has managed to transcend brand status and become a symbol of personal freedom in the minds of many Americans. How many other company logos have you seen proudly tattooed on someone’s arm? A great deal of pride is put into everything Harley Davidson does, and each dealership is a key brand ambassador designed to create a truly special customer experience. So when Mile High Harley Davidson of Parker commissioned a brand-new space, it had to be a triple threat: beautiful, energy-efficient and cost-effective. That’s why they turned to Fisher Lighting and Controls and Current.

With Current, Everybody Wins 

The Current products used in Mile High Harley Davidson are the best of both worlds: They give customers the aesthetic experience they want and give the dealership the cost savings they need for their bottom line. With many boasting superb LPW figures of well over 100, lifetime L85 ratings of 60,000 hours and fantastic color rendering with CRIs of 90+ and Current’s LFI award-winning TriGain™ phosphor, the Current LED products in Mile High Harley Davidson leave nothing to be desired.

Current Lumination™ With TriGain: As Good As Sunlight 

Harley Davidson boasts one of the industry’s most sophisticated paint processes—a huge part of why their bikes are so iconic. The detail and depth of color in their paint jobs is exquisite, so the color rendering in the Mile High Harley Davidson bike showroom had to be phenomenal. Enter the Current Lumination LDS Series LED Luminaires, outfitted with reveal TriGain. “The lighting in our showroom I really, really like due to the fact that we almost reproduce the light inside that we have outside, which helps with color rendition of the motorcycles,” said Paul Wilkinson, General Manager of Mile High Harley Davidson. “With all the different types of paint, all the different colors, all the different depths in the color of the paint, these lights really make that pop so the customer can know what that bike’s going to look like when they’re out on the road with it. That’s important when they pull up to their favorite watering hole so everybody else can see what nice color they’ve got.”

At 90+ CRI, efficacy ranging from 104-117 LPW and rated life of L85 at 60,000 hours, Lumination offers an unmatched combination of performance, energy savings and maintenance reduction. “The life of the lamps is a big plus for someone like me running a business because you have to get up and change them if they go out,” Wilkinson continued. “We don’t have to do that very often and don’t really like to do that in the middle of the day around a bunch of motorcycles or customers. So from a user standpoint, it’s very user-friendly.” Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it, too? With Current’s Lumination, you don’t have to choose.

Lumination Downlights & Track Lighting: Retail’s Best Friend 

Mile High Harley Davidson isn’t just about bikes. The iconic brand’s merchandise is a massive seller and the retail area had to look amazing as well. Say hello to Current Lumination downlights and track lights. With 90+ CRI, the TS Series LED track lights, DI Series LED downlights are just what the doctor ordered to make the Mile High Harley Davidson retail area pop. “Harley Davidson has a very specific color palette in their products. Black and orange are the big, preferred colors and there’s a lot of orange merchandise,” said Rick Epstein, Principal of RE Architecture and lead architect on the project. “We were particularly interested in how this light would showcase some of the product—especially the oranges. We really appreciated the color rendering that the Current product really showed on the merchandise to really make it pop.”

Add tremendous LED efficacy and L85 ratings of 50,000+ hours, and you have yourself another winning combination. But with the DI Series downlights Powered by Infusion LED technology, the benefits keep on coming with plug-and-play upgrade capability. All it takes to upgrade the LED module is a simple twist of the hand to ensure the lowest total cost of ownership for many years to come. But it also comes in handy if there’s an unexpected construction snafu, as Joe Henshaw, the Co-Owner of the project’s electrical contractor J&R Electric learned: “On the job site, we had a little mishap. The painters came by and stuffed some paper up in the ceiling while the lights were on and the heat build-up caused the diodes to melt and discolor a little bit. We had to come back and replace the diodes. Because Current’s diodes were so simple (due to the Infusion) Plug-and-Play, it was really easy to come back and swap those diodes out without having to redo drywall or fix the ceiling. The repair was quick and simple so it made something that happened the job site painless and seamless and simple.”

Albeo™ LED Luminaires: Much More Than Serviceable 

Mile High Harley Davidson does more than just sell bikes and merchandise: It’s also a service center for their vehicles. And when you’re working with valuable pieces of machinery that have tons of small parts, you need great lighting. That’s where the Current Albeo ALV LED Luminaire came in. “In the service area, the lighting is very, very good,” according to Wilkinson. “It’s important for the guys to be able to see what they’re doing. You can think of little tiny half-inch o-rings or small screws—it’s easy to drop something like that and not know it, so you’ve got to have pretty bright lighting that’s not offensive to your eyes.” And with incredible efficacy clocking in at 146 LPW, the accountants are happy, too. Of course, the great features don’t stop there: With Projected L70 at over 1000,000 hours, lighting maintenance in the servicing area is a thing of the past.

Current Aware Occupancy Sensors: Tying It All Together 

Ever interested in energy efficiency and saving money, Mile High Harley Davidson also utilizes Current Aware Occupancy Sensors. With self-adaptive technology that continually adjusts to changing conditions by regulating sensitivity and time delay in real-time, these sensors take energy savings to their fullest potential. Is a room adequately lit by sunlight? Electric lights will automatically be dimmed. Has no one entered the area in quite some time? Lights can be turned off or dimmed automatically. With sensors like the Current Aware, Mile High Harley Davidson can adjust their system to whatever they desire—and save a ton of money while doing it.

Mile High Harley Davidson and Current: Riding Off Into The (Well-Lit) Sunset 

Everything came together perfectly for Mile High Harley Davidson and Current. The lighting makes the beautiful space pop while saving them a ton of money—and everyone involved couldn’t be happier. “If I was building a new building,” said Wilkinson, “I wouldn’t hesitate to use all this product all over again…for the color of the light, the life of the lamps is so long and it’s…trouble-free. We don’t have to do much with it other than flip the switch and enjoy the fact that we have good lighting in the building.”

With an unparalleled combination of performance, cost savings and versatility across its lines, it’s unsurprising that Current performed equally well in a showroom, retail and service setting. For these two iconic brands, it truly was a match made in (hog) heaven.

Special thanks to Fisher Lighting & Controls, RE Architecture, Front Range Electrical Engineering, J&R Electric, and Fransen Pittman for working on this project. 

Learn more about Current's intelligent solutions for retail, office and industrial facilities.