Do yourself a favor and buy the bike that best fits your wallet and makes you happy. Don't listen to the dealer when it comes to buying a used vs new bike. Too many guys bought more bike (house, boat, car or whatever) then they could afford and are regretting it now.

Your dealer is right that alot of dealers are likely to go belly up this year unless there is a dramatic turn around in the economy this Spring. The MoCo was down 40% in bike sales in the 4th Q (vs same Q prior yr). They shipped 53% less bikes in the 4th Q and there revenues were down 45%.

That's a recipe for disaster for alot of dealers that are carrying enormous debt from on the rebuilding of their showrooms that took place over the last 5 years. I certainly hope that the economy turns around for their sake or many of us will find ourselves riding alot further for service and to buy a new bike.

http://investor.harley-davidson.com/...leaseID=439413

 

I'd rather have 2 decent dealerships, than 5 dealerships that don't have a clue.

buy what you want. you are not going to be the sale that broke the dealership. that is a long road, and some are close to the finish line.

 

You even wonder how dealers offering bikes above MSRP can find sales people to work for them. They must be either completely desperate to find a job or completely clueless. And I hope for them they're not on commission.

Above MSRP is a complete nonsense. How can they expect to find buyers when they ask more than what the manufacturer itself recommends? And they were asking $4,000 more, which is 20% of MSRP. What a <sad> joke!

 

When the big sales boom was on they did very well,now they have to learn to tighten their belts like the rest of us.