An Interesting Story On The Future Of Bike Shops

Hey Gang - I had heard some rumblings about Honda looking to consolidate their motorsports lines under their Honda car dealer roofs and this news story seems to confirm the rumours.

The owner of this well established Toronto shop that is closing has some very interesting comments on the direction of the new bike industry in Canada.

www.wheels.ca/article/30255

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

Well there's no way in H@#& that I'd buy a new motorcycle from a car dealer. Seems like the past couple 4 wheel vehicles I've bought I've known more about the car than the salesman. The reason I bought what I did was cause I knew the service manager since he was 12. And don't forget the knowledgable parts guy too. The one that knows what part from a different model will fit your bike better than the original part. Are the parts guys at the car dealer gonna know all that too?

Bill

one of the Honda dealerships (car) also has a bike dealership , its all on the same property but seperate buildings, he is also looking to put in a boat dealership on the property next to him,

Interesting...when I lived on Guam (US Territory) in 1988-1992, there were four on-island bike dealerships...HD, Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki (no Kawasaki) . The HD dealership was privately owned but the others were owned by the parent companies (e.g. by Honda of Japan, Yamaha of Japan, and Suzuki of Japan). The Suzuki and Honda dealerships sold autos, bikes, and outboard motors. Yamaha sold bikes and outboards. The precedent is there to consolidate their affairs in North America and elsewhere:)

I don't even have a a remote idea on where these dealerships were/are located in Canada (I'm geologically challenged, so sue me ), or on how it will impact the overall bike/parts/accessory sales for those regions. But if you look in a side-bar of that article, there is an oh-so slight glimmer of hope:

Cycle World West manager Alan Blinoff told the Star that there are several buyers interested in the stores, and that the store expects to reopen its doors with new owners soon.

Regardless of Mr. Blinoffs comment and the eventual outcome, the co-mingling of cars and bikes under one roof (or at the least on the same premises) will probably be limited to Honda and Suzuki, since Kawi doesn't (yet?:huh:) import their line of cars/trucks to the USA or Canada.

To be honest, it's a great financial move by Honda in doing this. Catering to the "slot car" crowd and the "biker squids" in one location is a sure fire money maker! :pinch:

Post edited by: RetroRiceRocketRider, at: 2007/07/28 00:43

Thanks for that, Colin. I remember when McBrides closed and thought that it was a disaster....and I'd never even been in their store.
No doubt about it, the biz she is a'changin'.
Blackfoot Motorsports here in Calgary who have been a Honda dealer since ~1972 has been cancelled by Honda and there's a rumour going around town that Bow Cycle has been cancelled by Honda, also...and they've been Honda dealers since ~1965 or so.
Ever since old man Honda died in 1993 and the accountants took over, Honda, IMO, has been on a downhill slide.
Now they have a "new age" business plan probably dreamt up by a bunch Harvard MBA's who wouldn't know a Fireblade or a Foreman if one fell on them. I sincerely hope they step on their dicks with golf spikes over this whole thing.
It CAN happen....just look no further than GM where accountants took a company that had ~45% of the North American market at one point....and now has ~20% of that same market some 30 years later. They're trying to put "car" guys back in charge....but they've got all these accountant types deeply entrenched in middle management still screwing things up.
All, of course, IMO.....

RetroRiceRocketRider wrote:

I don't even have a a remote idea on where these dealerships were/are located in Canada (I'm geologically challenged, so sue me ), or on how it will impact the overall bike/parts/accessory sales for those regions. But if you look in a side-bar of that article, there is an oh-so slight glimmer of hope:

Cycle World West manager Alan Blinoff told the Star that there are several buyers interested in the stores, and that the store expects to reopen its doors with new owners soon.

Regardless of Mr. Blinoffs comment and the eventual outcome, the co-mingling of cars and bikes under one roof (or at the least on the same premises) will probably be limited to Honda and Suzuki, since Kawi doesn't (yet?:huh:) import their line of cars/trucks to the USA or Canada.

To be honest, it's a great financial move by Honda in doing this. Catering to the "slot car" crowd and the "biker squids" in one location is a sure fire money maker! :pinch:<br><br>Post edited by: RetroRiceRocketRider, at: 2007/07/28 00:43

These two dealerships served a market with a population base of around 4.5 to 5 million people, so they both were substantial players in a desireable demographic for the manufacturer's Canadian market.

I am hopeful that someone steps up to the plate and takes over Cycle World. If their is still a viable business someone will pull out their chequebook but they will want a committment from the manufacturers and we will have to see if this is in thier plans.

In our city of 165,000 the biggest dealer is a friend of mine. He has spent the past 25 years working with Honda, Harley and Polaris. To put the size of his dealership into some form of perspective, in 1992 he was the world's largest Polaris dealer selling somewhere around 900 units if my memory serves me correctly. He is now building a mega Harley shop that will cost him several million clams.

Honda and Polaris have both decided to look for another shop to handle their lines and the rumour is that Honda has been trying to get one of their Honda car dealerships to take on the line, so the news story is correct according to indicators in our market.

This should be an interesting scenario to watch unfold.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

:huh: Is this just in Canada or are they talking about Norh America? I just hate going to car dealerships.. A bunch of vultures that hardley know anything about the cars they're selling and then try to pressure you into a purchase. Some of the motorcycle dealerships are starting to be like that. Most of these sales guys don't know anything! That's another topic.....

I had understood that there already were combined dealerships in some US cities. Maybe someone can confirm this.....or not ??
If there ARE already combined dealerships in the US then there is no doubt in my mind that that's the way Honda will go in ALL major markets around the world.
The other manufacturers that already have other products besides bikes will probably follow Honda's lead if this "business model" turns out to be successful for Honda.
Suzuki and BMW are naturals to follow Honda's lead because of the automotive lines they are already selling.
You might have a problem with Yamaha, though. Imagine some electronic keyboard whiz sales type trying to sell some punter an R1.....or an MT-01.:huh: :S :blink:
Of course we all know HD were the originators of this kind of "business model" in the first place. Let's listen in to a typical conversation in an HD dealership as the salesman is closing the deal:
Salesman: "Thanks for buying that $20K Dyna POS, Mr. No-Neck Mouth Breather. Now of course you WILL need to buy an aditional $10K worth of Screamin' Chicken bolt-on parts to make it run even tolerably well....and just incidentally fatten my commission cheque somewhat. You might also consider our HD branded line of clothing and touring accessories such as dew-rags, arm-chaps, saddlebags, light bars, coffee mugs, etc etc etc."
No-Neck Mouth-Breather: "I'll take one of everything. Where do I sign ?? BTW, do I get air miles with these purchases ?? How about leasing ??"
This may seem a little cynical to some of you but unfortunately the above scenario is played out daily at many HD dealerships in North America. HD are the acknowledged masters at "upselling", at least in the motorcycle biz.

Post edited by: H2RICK, at: 2007/07/29 01:47

Very interesting, especially the part about insurance being blamed for the downturn in sales. So, has motorcycling peaked again, just like it did a quarter century ago? If so, somewhere some do-gooder may actually be smiling.

I thought another interesting point in the article was the comment about the lack of entry level bikes by the Big Four. Oh, they make them, they just don't import them to north America. As I see it, the Big Four are in a tough spot. With the new emissions regulations in place for next year, they've committed all of their large bikes to meet those standards. But, if the popularity of Chinese scooters is any indication, the market may have already passed them by.

"May you live in interesting times."

Our local BMW dealer has cars and bikes in one building, seperated by a glass wall. It has seperate parts warehouses and service bays, I never thought much of it until I saw this post.

Damn bean counters. :S

And while Kawasaki may not have a car line, they do have a heavy equipment (earthmover) line and are big in the hydraulics industry.

I'm truly stunned to hear that Cycle World has closed. Their parts guys were great and it is the only place I would go to for new Kawi parts. For odd bits these guys were not above having a root around in the bins in the back to see what they could come up with. This is a real loss.

I got an inkling of this last December at the Toronto Bike Show when Honda had lawnmowers and generators on their stand and someone said that this was the way there were going. Looks like the future for Honda, at least in the larger centres is the "Honda Store" where the full product line is on offer. In some ways it probably makes sense for them by reducing the number of outlets they supply and by having less contracts to manage (bean counters in action). On the other hand I wont be visiting one of these mega stores where the breadth of line offered is inversely proportional to the level of expertise available from sales and service.