My gargae is too small

[cagepasser]

Hello gents. I wanted to share with you some bad news and some good news.

First the bad news. My local dealer has given up their Triumph franchise. I only heard the dealers side of the story, so I won't comment on why they gave it up.

The good news. They sold me a brand new, unregistered, no miles, 2005 Daytona 955i at a price I couldn't pass up. I wanted to get a new "Family" photo. But it started to rain just as I finished waxing the 675. Here is a crummy pic of it sitting in my garage.

Every body told me I couldn't fit 7 bikes in there. When there is a will, there is a way!
This is the all black version. Black paint, black frame, black wheels, black swing arm and carbon fiber fairing inserts.

Here is a better pic from Triumph.

 

[avion]

ahhh! very nice. congratz cagepasser.

lemme know if you want me to run her in for you. :>

...

 

[grandpaul]

I've got (5) 30' bays, and it's not enough!

 

[Dilligaf]

Yes your garage is too crowded. I'd like to help, your Tiger can live in my garage.

 

[cagepasser]

5, 30 footers! Holy cow!

I think I can manage. :tongue:

 

[Dilligaf]

Just trying to be helpful :wink:

 

[CarlS]

Congratulations Cagepasser. Good find.

I would be very interested in why your local dealer gave up the Triumph franchise. The dealer in Jacksonville closed his doors in June last year. Power Sports, a large chain out of Arizona, closed its store in Longwood, about four miles from me, four weeks ago. This week they closed their Orlando store. The Melbourne dealership closed a couple a months ago. The dealership at Destination Daytona has reorganized. They are now Triumph, Ducati, and Buell.

 

[Doug]

Triumph seems to be the only manufacturer showing any sort of growth at the moment,yet the dealerships are closing? Were these multi-franchises?

 

[CarlS]

Most dealerships in the US are multi franchises. HD and Honda are the exceptions and some Honda dealerships are multi. Frequently, Triumph dealers are also Ducati and some brand of ATV's as well as a scooter line. The dealership in Daytona Beach is Triumph/Ducati/ Buell. The dealership in Ft Myers is BMW/Triumph/Ducati and the one in Jacksonville is Yamaha/Kawasaki/Triumph. They may have also taken on the Ducati line when the original Jax dealership of Triumph/Ducati closed. Though Triumph sales are still growing, their overall market share is very small - not enough to sustain a dealership.

 

[The Seeker]

The closest Triumph dealership to me also carries BMW, Ducati, Aprillia, Piaggio, & Vespa. But the one I actually buy from is Triumph only....... and virtually in the middle of nowhere.

A third one, which was within 35 miles of me, had it's franchise revoked by Triumph because they weren't sending in people's extended warranty money and were ripping people off with their service department (non-certified Triumph mechanics and horrible workmanship).

 

[CarlS]

Now that looks it would be my kind of dealership.

 

[The Seeker]

[quote author=CarlS link=topic=6500.msg35831#msg35831 date=1248629355]
Now that looks it would be my kind of dealership.
[/quote]

Yep.....they are oldskool. Nothing fancy, no fancy website, no beautiful building, no pretentious salesmen...you deal with the owner. They've been wrenching on nothing but Triumphs since the 60's. When you are there you just feel you are in the company of fellow Triumph enthusiasts (and some great old stories they tell).

 

[cagepasser]

275 miles on the clock as of today. I got home moments before the rain started. Otherwise I may have gone further.

The one story I have been hearing from several dealers in the area, is that Triumph is strong arming the dealers. Expecting them to almost double their sales this year, in a down economy. So as a business, it is better to drop the franchise then to borrow money to purchase bikes they can not sell. The one manager commented, that if Triumph had set realistic goals, that would be one thing but to double sales, is just not a tangable goal. I heard allot more but it is all hearsay and I don't want to spread any more rumors.

Why doesn't Triumph advertise. I have never seen a Triumph commercial during a bike race X-Games show or any motorsports event. They don't even go to the bike shows here in the states anymore. So expecting the dealers to increase sales with out any advertising?????

I'm watching a Yamaha R1 commercial during F1 right now!

 

[CarlS]

Triumph uses most of their advertising budget for the demo truck. They are not in the league with HD, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Honda to have a huge advertising budget. I am seeing more Triumph advertising in motor cycle publications.

The strong arm stuff will not work in this economy. And if the dealerships become too few and too scattered, it will be self defeating for Triumph. Being able to find a dealership fairly easily and reasonably close by is a selling point.

 

[Ksquared]

[quote author=CarlS link=topic=6500.msg35810#msg35810 date=1248570615]
Congratulations Cagepasser. Good find.

I would be very interested in why your local dealer gave up the Triumph franchise. The dealer in Jacksonville closed his doors in June last year. Power Sports, a large chain out of Arizona, closed its store in Longwood, about four miles from me, four weeks ago. This week they closed their Orlando store. The Melbourne dealership closed a couple a months ago. The dealership at Destination Daytona has reorganized. They are now Triumph, Ducati, and Buell.
[/quote]

Carl:

You may be interested to note that I stopped off at Pure Triumph in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday, just in time to find out that the store was closing - PERMANENTLY. I bought my wife a tank top and was their last customer EVER. Ian wasn't in a talkative mood, so I couldn't find out anything about anything, but the gal ringing out my purchase assured me the store was permanently closed, with all merchandise and bikes going back to the distributor. They were taking the fixtures off of the wall. And not just the Triumph shop - but the KTM and Ducati also. And while their web site is still up and running, there's no answer at the phone number. They were the largest Triumph shop in this area - I was stunned to say the least!

Actually, it bothers me quite a bit. I can still buy my planned Thunderbird from the WPB store (Atlantic Motorcycles), but if they go under, what am I going to do for parts and service - warranty or no. It's a concern as there's not another Triumph dealer anywhere near here.

 

[Dilligaf]

Things are tough for all motorcycle manufacturers not just Triumph (and HD). MY local Honda dealer has zero bikes in stock and will soon close if their service department can't make enough to pay the rent. The morons in charge here say they are "fixing" the economy but I see it getting much worse worldwide.

 

[DaveM]

Well for me having a dealer close was a must when purchasing my bike. The fact that Harley's closest dealer to me is around 800 kilometer = 497.096 953 79 mile away besides the price being a bit steep put it out of the game for me. So I got my Triumph only to find out that the only real Triumph dealer that is worth anything is now 1 200 kilometer = 745.645 430 68 mile from me.

It does seem that Honda has dealer all over the place this side :tongue:

 

[CarlS]

Darn! I thought the Ft Lauderdale dealership was doing OK. I have ordered things from their website in the past. I sure hate to hear that. I suspect, as was done in Jacksonville, someone will take up the franchises. I look for someone in the Orlando area to take the franchises.

The manufactures, specifically Triumph and Ducati, are going to have to take a look at the way they are doing business with their franchise holders. I have heard the Triumph has tried using strong arm tactics to force dealers to buy more bikes than the dealer feels he can sell. In today's economy, a prudent business person is not going to borrow money to buy a bunch of bikes he cannot sell. If I were in their shoes, I would close my doors before doing that.

I believe this is one of the reasons why HD has chosen to cut production. The other reason being to maintain the prices and the values.