Sales Are Up. Way Up.

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

they wholesale out the sport bikes and metric cruisers that probably sit on their showroom, to you.

.

You won't find those at H-D. Ever.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

You won't find those at H-D. Ever.

[Buell has exited the chat]

What ever happened to the V-Rod? I always thought that was a pretty neat concept.


Edit: Just checked the local HD dealer near me...yup. The only non HD vehicle in stock is a Can-Am Spider. That's it.

Edit II: Are Victory motorcycles defunct? I had considered them and HD back in the day, but ended up with a metric cruiser instead. HD's were selling for over MSRP, which I couldn't do, and Victorys were still pretty new, which made me nervous as a new rider.

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Dumping the V-Rod was foolish IMHO. It never really connected with the heavy cruiser market which is Harley's bread and butter. What's strange is now they've jumped into the ADV market -another non-H-D market- with the Pan American and reviews on that scooter are generally very good.

Victory is done. Polaris has shifted focus to Indian which is a more direct competitor to H-D.

[RedLS1GTO]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

I couldn't accurately answer this one with a gun to my head but I'll have a go regardless.

You know what I've found about H-D owners? They're loyal bastards. You get to chatting with a guy and he'll almost always tell you about the great deal he got at "****nuts Harley-Davidson over on 10th street. They get all my business" Full disclosure; I've got a bit of this mentality myself. I've been doing business with a dealer for 15+ years that's 40 miles from my home when I have one 9 miles away.

How about advertising? When I walk into a H-D dealership I expect to see one thing; H-D. There won't be a Ducati here and a Kawasaki over there. In other words, they don't have to spend any money advertising a heavy cruiser - but maybe you do? (or are) Does the market know you have these bikes?


Another thing about the current H-D owner/buyer; They don't know shit about motorcycles. Harley is as much about ****in' fashion these days as it is about riding. Need proof? Look at the Road King with 6,700 miles on it. Someone purchased that scooter, probably had a couple close calls on the road and decided this motorcycling thing ain't for them. How does this tie into your inability to move those bikes? Perhaps they don't trust anyone *other* than a H-D dealership because they think there is some magic pixie dust required to Harley ownership when it comes to these heavy cruisers.


All this is married to cost. Take the '17 Road King you have for sale. The current market for that bike is probably $17k -$18k or thereabouts. That's a lot of scratch for what's essentially a toy and if you don't realize there isn't anything special about a Road King you're gonna want to purchase that from a 'trusted' dealer. The jump from $10k to $17k is a big one on a toy.

These are just some things that immediately come to mind right or wrong. Maybe when your customers comes in to kick tires ask them how they heard about your place. If you can get a sense as to who your reaching and how, perhaps you can make some adjustments to expand that reach.

What the **** do I know. I weld pipe.

Thanks for the reply.

You pretty much said what we have been thinking for years. There really is just a H-D mentality. Guys want to walk in, but $500 worth of gear, have a beer, and feel like part of the club. There's no way for me to match that... which is why I usually avoid most of them all together. I don't even actively seek them out for that reason. The only time I actually stock them is if they pretty much fall into my lap.

Even with service, guys believe that pixie dust theory. I am an engineer by degree, have been a mechanic (albeit not professionally) since I learned to walk. I an diagnose, fix, and build 1 of these things from the ground up in my sleep.... for about half the price of Harley service. But, my door doesn't say H-D on it.

Advertising is a thing for sure. I'm the small new guy still with a small budget for advertising. Rolling them out front and some targeted fb ads have been the approach so far. Looking into radio, tv, etc.

[RedLS1GTO]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

Do you roll a sampling of your inventory outside every day, so passing motorists can see the iron? Maybe do that with the late model heavy HD cruisers. Alternately, you could talk to the HD manager about a reciprocal agreement, you wholesale out the late model dressers that don't sell for you, they wholesale out the sport bikes and metric cruisers that probably sit on their showroom, to you.


Just a thought. If I paid more than I normally would for a bike, but knew I could still turn a decent profit, I'd do that, especially if I knew I'd have a steady source of those bikes coming to me.

I do roll the big bikes out regularly. That is what has driven the limited successes to date.

Prior to the COVID shit and zero inventory anywhere, we do work with various HD dealers with wholesale deals. A shitload of my inventory is HD trade-ins that we then pick up. The local guys will not do it (because competition). We end up going south and getting a bunch at a time. Usually if we turn a big dresser it is at an auction. The HD dealers usually offer less than we get by just dropping it off and letting people fight.

Originally Posted by Giraffe

You won't find those at H-D. Ever.

Oddly enough, most H-D dealers have a "back room" with all kinds of crap hiding. The salesholes are usually working to sell it covertly since their contracts don't allow it to be displayed. Lots of fb and craigslist listings are actually HD dealers selling non HD bikes.

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

[Buell has exited the chat]

What ever happened to the V-Rod? I always thought that was a pretty neat concept.

HD owners hated them because... not HD. Non-HD owners hated them because... well... HD.

I do sell quite a few actually. Have an immaculate 2004 in stock as we speak.

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by RedLS1GTO

There really is just a H-D mentality. Guys want to walk in, but $500 worth of gear, have a beer, and feel like part of the club.

Fact.

Last summer I stopped in to a dealer I rarely frequent and there was some blowhard holding court at the parts counter, loud talking about ‘Kickstands up at 2:00.’

There he was, all 5’-2”, 300# of solid flab, waving his bingo wings around in a sleeveless t-shirt telling all the boys what time they were gonna ‘roll out.’

I almost left my scooter there, walked home and bought another cage.

Cage.

[Jobaka]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

bingo wings