Real shame that !! but i say, bring on the Independant's
reason!
we need your Business
We want your business
you make paydays possible

seems some company's have forgot that !!

20 odd yrs in the bike trade myself and yes it's the worst year i've known!!

there'll be more to follow, most dealers are on bad years and with bike prices dropping your S/H stock is in for a write down at year end. I've bought 3 "new" bikes this year and minimum I've got off list price has been 20%, ok 04 mdels but when a dealer has a SH bike at same price you ain't going to buy that so dealers made nothing of biker he sold me still has second hand one in stock and probably has to sell it at a loss, not many businesses can afford that for long.

Sad news
This is a trend that is continuing throughout the motorcycle trade, Large corporate businesses closing the doors to be replaced by traditional small family run motorcycle enthusiasts.
Ok so we only sell Small capacity bikes, but last year we had some very large motorcycle chains as competition, they are gone now and we are booming. I think it is also beneficial to the customer, Much more personal and a better service to boot.
Im With mav on this one Independants all the way
Glyn

That's good news Glyn. Long may it continue :)

I've been fed up with these big dealers ripping you off with un-personal service to pay for their big shiney superstores etc.

Long live the small/family shops :D

To be honest I think the whole world is slowly going full circle. We'll all be riding on horse and carts up the leafy M1 in 20 years :lol:

A wise dealer once told me that he made 1/3 of his income in the showroom, 1/3 of his income in the workshop and 1/3 of his income from spares and clothing. He also said that in bad times (like now) he existed off the workshop because most folk who held onto their bikes still wanted them servicing properly. He said stick to those key principles and you can't go wrong .....

Spot on Henners

Yep, Motorbikes aint trendy anymore, think back a few years and they were every where, music videos, Hollywood films (blade, Matrix etc)

Ducati was voted one of Britains coolest brands.

Then they opened the Chelsea Ducati shop and that was very un-cool, last thing we needed was a load of floppy haired hooray henry`s poncing about on 999`s.

I`m glad they have closed, like the previous post`s in this thread said, It will leave the way for small business`s that care about the customer and have a passion about bikes.

Not Big high street Store`s who care more about money then the customer, when ever I went in DLS or DLC, I always felt like I was`nt welcome or valued as a customer.

Over priced with bad customer service sums them up best.

Incidently, Harley DavidsonMaidenhead had there best month of the year last month, selling 21 bikes.
And their customer service is EXCELLENT, they cant help you enough, you are encouraged to test ride there bikes and they are just very very freindly guys, same goes for WARRS in Chelsea ( the expensive Kings road bit, not that cheap Gunter grove bit :lol: )



[Edited on 29-9-2005 by Bubbles]

:o:o:o:o:o do you meen Henners ;):lol::lol::lol::lol:

In July i bought a set of Ducati Performance hi level Titanium exhausts of DLS.They were brand new never been unwrapped but judging by the box in stock for some time.Complete with free flow air filter and replacement top etc
Price......£345 inc vat and carriage,less than half price.I guess thats why they were so cheap then!

Funny,ive only ever dealt with 4 ducati dealer outfits for spare parts etc. in my 5 years of owning them. 3 have gone.Am i a jinx!.Best hope not Daytona in Ruslip.

It\'s OK Van ....
 

.... none taken :lol: