I go one near me that small..Called Monty's cycle shop in West bridgewater, Mass. Been around for 50 + years and still in the same family. Good deals on new bikes but it is small. I've seen bigger McDonalds!!

 

Cutting back on the number dealers is the way many manufacturers operate to help their bottom line. Back about 20 years ago I operated a Ford tractor dealership that had been in our family since late 40s. FTO decided farmers could drive 75 miles for parts & service so they wanted no dealerships closer than 125 miles from the next. HD appears to have same ideas...

 

They need to do that to keep the value of the product high. The last thing I want to see is my over 25k investment for a harley be devalued.

I believe HD will be sold eventually , (again). My question is , to who?
I hope the HD company can work a strategy and survive the storm. I just think they will go the way of everyone else, someone dangles a big bag of loot in front of them and ....adious,syienara, seeya..

 

So they can force them to close (as opposed to TELLING them to close).
Legal maneuver, is my guess.

 

isn't it amazing when we walk into most harley dealerships, the decor, design of the showrooms, etc..... and we're the ones paying for it every time we buy a harley or parts, clothes, and accessories there. it seems like harley almost forced the dealers to upgrade their stores and that had to be very pricey. i'm sure glad i won't need another harley. my 08 will probably out live the usable years my body will provide.

 

"Seems like"??????

It was no secret. Harley DID force them to upgrade. Some had to even find higher traffic locations.

Some of you might remember Harry Molnar? He was well known around some of the older racing circles. (You can Google him).
Anyway, he refused to comply when HD forced him to upgrade his Dealership in Hammond Indiana. After all their efforts exhausted and he still refused to comply, they yanked his franchise. Yup! They took it away.
Turned into a regular ol' motorcycle shop without the HD name.
Dude was old school, everybody loved him, he sold plenty of bikes and did great service. But he loved that ancient old building with the old yellowed tile.


Some guy with experience selliing boats, ended up with the franchise. Real logical! (not).

 

Best of luck... The whole "we have more dealers in 3 counties than most states have combined" is exactly what they are trying to get rid of. Saturation... exactly what they DON'T want. Keep an eye on things over the next year and report back the same thing next year. I hope the best for you on that. Going to miss my local store. Lots of friends out of work now.

 

There was a small mom-pop dealer in Chicago Heights, "Lubacks" they fought with the company for years...Ultimately they lost the new bike franchise. They continued to sell parts and accessories for years. They stocked parts back to the 1940s and would overnight anything you needed. The owner (Mrs.) was a little crazy but loved bikers. Their parts service was the best in the region for a long time..they were on HWY 30 just east of Western Ave. I relocated away from the area in the 90s and miss stopping in there to BS with her.

 

When I was ready to buy my 09 Road Glide I told my closest local dealer that I was going to visit 6 other dealers that day and would buy from the one with the best price. I told him that because I wanted to get the lowest price from him. That is exactly what happened and my local guy got my business. This is an example of how competition is good for the consumer.

When one dealer is the only game in town what options do you have? What does that do to the quality of the customer services and shop time? This smells like a mini monopoly and that never works out well for the consumer.

Part of why I got a HD bike is because of the network of dealers that could take care of me on the road. Part of the fun of riding is visiting other dealers and getting a T-shirt. I wonder if HD will be sending out an update to remove all the old locations from that HD Zumo?

 

No problemo. The dealer I go to is one of the oldest in So. Cal. They always have the parts I need and get more than their share of the new bikes. If they do close down well.....just have to go for a ride (dammit, I hate it when that happens. lol).