Touring Sport Motorcycles Greenville SC - NGC

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

I was very surprised to see Touring Sport shut their doors for good. Website says they sold their dealership to Cherokee Cycles in Greer.

They carried BMW, Ducati, Triumph, and Zero motorcycles.  No Guzzi, but I have always found the folks there friendly and semi-knowledgeable about our brand when I attended their bike nights or rode in on my Guzzi's to sit on the Speed Twin or test ride a Zero. Small shop but I liked it a lot.

No point to this thread, just sad to see them go and curious if anyone had any inside info? Was this retirement, poor sales, inability to get bikes due to the current climate, or something else?

My Speed Twin dreams are pretty much sunk now that I've seen the new V100 and placed a deposit...  But I still liked the idea of a Trumpet dealer 1 hr from my house for some reason.

[bobrebos]

I was very surprised to see Touring Sport shut their doors for good. Website says they sold their dealership to Cherokee Cycles in Greer.

They carried BMW, Ducati, Triumph, and Zero motorcycles.  No Guzzi, but I have always found the folks there friendly and semi-knowledgeable about our brand when I attended their bike nights or rode in on my Guzzi's to sit on the Speed Twin or test ride a Zero. Small shop but I liked it a lot.

No point to this thread, just sad to see them go and curious if anyone had any inside info? Was this retirement, poor sales, inability to get bikes due to the current climate, or something else?

My Speed Twin dreams are pretty much sunk now that I've seen the new V100 and placed a deposit...  But I still liked the idea of a Trumpet dealer 1 hr from my house for some reason.

Im old and slow to the game.  I just saw the V100 on line for the first time.  Looks nice, water cooled?  Hmmmmm  Nice bike!   

[cliffrod]

Bummed to hear but not surprised.  Fast Frank Shockley had been a driving force behind TS forever, but he's not the younger man he used to be....  He invited us down for a walk through just before everything clammed up last year.  He was basically retired then, but we hadn't been through the place in years & he thought we would like to see it.  Btw, the 1987 F1B I've often mentioned here was Fast Frank's 1990 Pro Twin National Championship bike.

Their location was ok decades ago but is really tight now with no room to grow.   Old age & retirement always wins if the next ones aren't willing to do the same thing, regardless of the reasons or rewards.

[sdcr]

Another factor may also be the growing shortage of new motorcycles for sale. Speaking with the owner of a multi line, BMW, Ducati, Honda, Suzuki etc dealership, he shared that his inventory was shrinking quickly. Lots of buyers, but slow factory restocking. That was many months ago, and I think this situation is worsening.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Another factor may also be the growing shortage of new motorcycles for sale. Speaking with the owner of a multi line, BMW, Ducati, Honda, Suzuki etc dealership, he shared that his inventory was shrinking quickly. Lots of buyers, but slow factory restocking. That was many months ago, and I think this situation is worsening.

My local MR Motorcycle looks like they had a going out of business sale, the place is empty-- It's a mulit-line dealership where you could barely walk around in the past.. and it took 3 people to move enough bikes to roll one out to see/sit on. Last time I was in, about a month ago, they had THREE new bikes in the entire showroom, ZERO used bikes, and not a single ATV or sidebyside.

Just down the road at the BMW/KTM dealership, they are fully stocked. I think this has affected the eastern brands more than the euro brands.

I do wonder if these supply chain issues are somewhat offset by dealers finally being able to clear their entire floor of all models, including used stock and anything that sat for ages for want of a buyer.