Re: Another dealership gone.

[DosEquis00]

When they first opened their doors you had the impression they were going to built a large customer base. Not sure what happened over time but it is a shame to see another dealership bite the dust.

[scraperman1]

That is a surprise. I remember a few years back that the BMW dealership in Devon closed which was a shock. You wouldn't think dealerships would close being opened in such affluent areas, but stuff happens I guess. Thanks for the heads up,

[Meemuh]

There's gotta be some sort of business model that would make a motorsports dealer successful...I just don't know what it is - unless somebody just runs it as a hobby out of his barn.

[Doug Just Doug]

I believe Mike Schwartz has sold or is selling off all his dealerships except maybe a HD shop in CT.  I've heard some of those decisions are more personal as opposed to business decisions. I'm sorry to see the Chadds Ford shop close; it was 15 minutes from my office so I used to be able run up there during lunch. Now I'm back to having only Powersports East as a nearby non-HD dealer. Competition is good.

[DosEquis00]

+1

They had a surprisingly good gear selection, though they turned over brands pretty frequently.

Mike "lost" most of the dealerships in the divorce as I understand it. Meaning, an agreement was made and he's selling them off for the cash and to get out of the split ownership. I'm no fan of Mike's Famous anything, based on how I was treated when I had checkbook in hand trying to buy my first Harley. While I'm bummed to the see the dealership go away - and less than thrilled to see Cycle Max likely opening up there - I think Mike's Famous needed the lesson.

I read Cycle Max purchased the rights but would not reopen the store. Not sure if that is accurate but it makes sense for them to cut the number of competitors in the area.

[Rincewind]

I'll never spend a dime with Cycle Max again, personally, so... yippee.

I thought you were a fan of the Bilt stuff.  

[Cablebandit]

I thought you were a fan of the Bilt stuff.  

I thought that was Cycle Gear's house brand.

[Rincewind]

I thought that was Cycle Gear's house brand.

I thought I was thinking straight.  

[Cablebandit]

It's Friday.  Go ahead and take the rest of the day off.  

[nnjhawk02]

CycleMax is the dealer from which I purchased my lemony-golden piece of shit 2005 concours that:

• shipped from the factory with no gear lube and blew the final drive in the first 600 miles (it had BMW aspirations)
• tossed a valve adjuster right off the top of the engine before the 6000-mile adjustment
• dropped several body pieces on the side of the road, including a mirror in the middle of a corner
• split the gas tank, thus soaking me fuel while riding to lunch one day

CycleMax's crack team of management and mechanics - or is that team on crack? - decided that *I* must have drained the final drive, and that I must have incorrectly adjusted the valves and stripped the adjuster, and that I must have somehow magically gotten inside the gas tank with a grinder and worn through the metal from the inside. Oh, and loosening parts so they'd fall off was apparently my hobby. They didn't do shit to help me, they fought me every step of the way, and yes, they actually blamed me for these problems. In addition, they put all this to Kawasaki, and only after threats of legal involvement did they reluctantly finally do something about it. Kawasaki did the bare minimum, the dealer did the absolute barest minimum, and they had the bike in the shop fully 50% of the time I owned it.

Fuck that place, and for a long time, I was all about fuck Kawasaki, too.  

WOW  

The Kawi tech that built ur bike must have been on a 3 day Meth bender when that Connie was built, I've never heard of so many things gng wrong on a Jap moto, maybe an older HD.  

[Spanky]

Maybe they were familiar with your mechanical abilities