Last weekend I ventured off to Bristol as my gf wanted to have a look in some furniture shop, somehow we accidentally ended up at Fowlers Motorcycles. You know what? I was bored as my Doris was. These places are just so samey! Is it time they changed with the times? The gear is well expensive compared to the on-line dealers, I'm sure most people were in there trying stuff on for fit, then off to ebay/on-line to actually purchase! We all know about the dealers that have gone or going this year, but what's the answer? Or are they doomed to go the same way as Our Price Records?
Fowlups is a supermarket, stack it high, flog it off. The staff seem to be just there to process the payments, they're polite enough but there's very little "value added" and little chance of building a customer relationship.
When the savings between retail and online can be so large is it any surprise this happens? The personnal touch where staff remembered you and were genuinely interested in how you were and whether the bike/kit you bought was everything you hoped has 'slipped'... Shame really. It does mean though that anywhere that does go that little bit further i'll always go back to
Jester is right I guess.....yep its probably cheaper online 98% of the time but I tend to use my local dealer who had been going for years. Great little back street place with a reasonable show room (not glitzy or anything flash) and a shop up stairs. They do take the time and effort and I often find myself in there chatting for a while, I even pop in when out on a ride to just say hello. I hope that places like these keep their head above water cos lets be honest part of owning a bike is the crack, you can't get that online.
Taunton has lost its two major shops in the last year - Jessops and Hein Gericke. Now all we have are a couple of ultra-small independents who only stock ultra-cheap tat kit - they are OK for MOT time but not much else :frown: - oh and Riders of Bridgwater just up the road but I wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole. Desperate times.
Buying a motorcycle used to be a major investment, a commitment. Nowadays it's more like consumer electronics where you thrash the buggers til the warranty runs out, then trade it in for the next hot pooper. People don't keep their bike for twenty years, and so don't form a relationship with their dealer. Part of this is down to the manufacturers bringing out a new model every five minutes, making last week's offering obsolete overnight. If a dealer makes £200 profit on a new bike, he's doing well, that's how tight the margins are. Hence nowadays it's all yukka plants and hair gel, commission-only sales drones giving it the big one. Or the other end of the equation where you walk into a grubby little shack and ring the bell, only for a grease-splattered octagenarian to suddenly appear from under a pile of secondhand Deauville bits. I like these ones better, but would you really cough up 20 grand for a Panigale in one of those shops..? What keeps a dealer plodding on is CG125's, Deauvilles and ER6's, not Panigales and RR's. And the sooner manufacturers started pandering to people who would potentially buy bikes like that rather than merely dream about BHP's and ever-increasing seat heights without buying, the better. If it weren't for rich dreamers spunking their savings on R1200GS's, there'd be no dealers at all...
Southern Cross in Kilburn were great for Aprilias (now MV's?), but it was mostly about the workshop underneath the railway arches. I use P&H in Crawley now and whilst the Sales is OK the service department are a bit shit, they never answer the phone or their emails. PS I used to work at Our Price many years ago in Croydon! It was a fun job at the time, but they treated you like shit. Little known fact - Mark Lester, who played Oliver in the film of the same name, was the manager of the shop in Kingston (or Richmond)
I use a good ole school Fred the Shed bike place for tyres. Nice ole boy and usually betters t'internet prices. But these big places, I do wonder how they get by, must be the rob the customer blind policies of places like Rideyerarsesore that keep 'em going! Even the last Ducati dealer I was in struck me as over staffed, they'll get by on servicing new models I guess and some sales.
Dealers might keep going on test rides - wouldn't buy a bike without one. It's always good to try kit on in a shop vs online as all brands have different cuts - I couldn't hope to get into anything Dainese make for example! If it fits me and they have it in stock I'd rather buy from the shop than online - GetGeared in Leatherhead being a good example of a helpful shop. I don't think we're far from the stage though where if you want good kit rather than the cheap stuff in the shops you'll have to go to the shows to try it on
It's just fact that nowadays its so easy to shop around. In my youth, there were small bike shops in most towns and the prices were pretty much the same, the only bargains to be had we're at the BMF show at Peterborough. It's a shame the personal touch has been lost particularly regarding bike sales. We do have a clothing store in Wymondham who is very good and does take the time to make sure your purchase is the right one, and so far Seastar have been pretty good with accessories. Don't have any servicing experience with the Duke yet, but I'm hoping Nog reappears soon and I can get a good report of his work up here.
Always a lottery finding decent service, as often the person who gave that good service one year, is gone from the main stealer the next year. Guys at Woods seemed to do a decent job, but 12 months on, still waiting for a call about the part I ordered (is it in stock). Also, after a full service on the 998 (belts, valve clearances, etc), plus a fair few quids worth of other bits, it has developed a top end leak, and the best loaner they could do me was a decrepit old fazer with seriously loose chain. Ah well, the quest continues... Pete
I'm lucky in East Anglia .. You have to travel to get work done but it's no problem and I've met some great people . As for bike shops What's the shop by you Archer? We have 2 big dealers in Ippo but not Duc friendly! However if you want any thing accessory wise Orwells are nice and helpful.. Ipswich Motorcycle accessories is good for ordering stuff
