How times are changing. Harley dealership selling......

[Perazzimx14]

Trying to tempt myself with something to buy I came across the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. Did a quick search for the "local" dealership and Battlefield Harley Davidson in Gettysburg PA is now selling Royal Enfield,  Vespa's and Vanderhall. Honestly they may have been selling them for years as this is not  dealership I frequent.

Who'd of thought seeing and Indian motorcycle and Italian scooter sitting on the same showroom floor as the American iron?

[Dirk_S]

Who'd of thought seeing and Indian motorcycle and Italian scooter sitting on the same showroom floor as the American iron?

...and in a place like Gettysburg, the whole general area being quite American-preferred (I grew up 40 minutes east of there)

[Huzo]

Trying to tempt myself with something to buy I came across the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. Did a quick search for the "local" dealership and Battlefield Harley Davidson in Gettysburg PA is now selling Royal Enfield,  Vespa's and Vanderhall. Honestly they may have been selling them for years as this is not  dealership I frequent.

Who'd of thought seeing and Indian motorcycle and Italian scooter sitting on the same showroom floor as the American iron?

It’s been BS all these years, but now it’s not “uncool” to say it..

[JJ]

Trying to tempt myself with something to buy I came across the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. Did a quick search for the "local" dealership and Battlefield Harley Davidson in Gettysburg PA is now selling Royal Enfield,  Vespa's and Vanderhall. Honestly they may have been selling them for years as this is not  dealership I frequent.

Who'd of thought seeing and Indian motorcycle and Italian scooter sitting on the same showroom floor as the American iron?

I don't know about these days, but years ago, The Motor Company would really "FROWN" on selling other brand of bikes through their dealership other than Harley's.  The way they get around that is to have a separate building / showroom area.

[Kev m]

It wasn't most dealers who kept Harleys alone in showrooms, it was corporate.

Over the years a local Harley dealer in PA had various other franchises under the roof when they could including Honda, Kawasaki, Big Dog Choppers, and Triumph.

I remember JAPanInc. brands in other Harley dealers including v Knoxville TN off the top of my head. I've occasionally heard of Guzzi cohabitating.

[bacongrease]

Who woulda thunk it.  I go by motorcycle row, only HD has bikes out front,but few.  Mostly Razors. The Japanese dealers have none,not even one motorcycle out front.  Jet skis, SXS, lawn tractors, log splitters, etc ....

.

[ohiorider]

I don't know about these days, but years ago, The Motor Company would really "FROWN" on selling other brand of bikes through their dealership other than Harley's.  The way they get around that is to have a separate building / showroom area.

In 2000, I purchased a 2000 W650 from an HD dealer that sold HD in one building, and Kaw, and perhaps another metric brand or two, in another building.  So, from personal experience, I can validate this as far back as 20 years ago.

Bob

[Perazzimx14]

Yes the local Harley (M&S) shop years ago had Harley on one side and Honda on the other side of the showroom floor. Then in the 90's when Harley pushed for mega single line dealership/bandstands they had to have not just separate rooms but separate store fronts as Harley would be the only brand selling at Harley dealerships!

This drove out a lot of the small shops as they could not afford the multi million dollar buildings. Yet another Harley bungle. 

[Lannis]

Corporations can be strange about this.   The top-selling Triumph dealer in our state used to be 20 miles from me.   He was in a big old ex-Pontiac-dealership building, and sold a LOT of Triumphs (the owner was an ex-racer and bike enthusiast).

The half of the building that wasn't Triumphs was lawn and landscaping equipment ... high-dollar commercial stuff, not the cheap tin big-box versions.   Triumph Corporate sent someone down to look over the operation of their top producer in the state, and told him that he could NOT sell landscaping equipment in the same building as the motorcycles.

His building was in the old downtown area ... he couldn't afford to spend millions to build a new building out in the 'burbs where everyone else was moving.    They insisted on a separate building.   He ended up having to drop the franchise and just concentrate on lawn equipment.

Lots of TV shows and movies feature the hero "getting the job done", and then here comes the "headquarters weenie" to tell him how to "do it right".   That happens in real life too.

Lannis

[Vagrant]

Who woulda thunk it.  I go by motorcycle row, only HD has bikes out front,but few.  Mostly Razors. The Japanese dealers have none,not even one motorcycle out front.  Jet skis, SXS, lawn tractors, log splitters, etc ....

.

If a dealership is run by someone who truly understands the numbers he will soon figure out the true coast of moving bikes in and out of the showroom and shop every day. the time and amount of people and likely hood of damage is astounding. 

[Two Checks]

Not only did HD require the big HD only showrooms they mandated the location.
Widman Motorcycle Sales was in south St. Louis since 1945. The building was rather small and no way could it have the boutique HD wanted. Plus they sold Suzukis. Uh-oh. So, the Widmans found a location nearby to build a new shop. HD said no, you must move out of the city. Widman told HD to pound sand. They sold their HD assets to another dealership who already had two HD shops and they opened in an old Chrysler dealership just outside the city.
But, that created problems since the new dealer was less than five miles from another HD shop that had just spent $5mil renovating their shop as per HD.
HD isn't the only ones screwing their dealers.
Remember when Aprillia was opening new Guzzi dealers like mad?
Donelson Cycles, near St. Louis is a multi line dealership that sold Norton, BSA, Triumph and other brands along with Guzzi. They did a pretty good business in their little shop, even after the British bikes went away.
They moved to a larger building nearby. Suddenly they hear a new Guzzi dealership is opening nearby.
They kept wondering why their Guzzi rep hadn't returned their calls or visited in a while. Suddenly they guy appears and starts telling them what he wanted. The dealership told him to pound sand as what Aprillia wanted wasn't worth their time, effort and money just to sell a couple bikes a year.
Btw, the St. Louis area has gone through 3 or 4 Guzzi shops since then.

[cloudbase]

Harley-Davidson delisted from the S&P 500.

https://jalopnik.com/harley-davidson-is-no-longer-in-the-big-leagues-1844057314

[Howard R]

Years ago one of my friends had a Harley (he has since recovered) and wanted me to ride out to a dealership with him, a place at the Gaithersburg airport called Battley Cycles.  They had HD plus BMW, Ducati, Triumph, Yamaha, and Bimota.  Very interesting place, no idea if they are still there or what they might be selling now, obviously no Bimota any more.

[kingoffleece]

I've mentioned this before, but when I was associated with the #3 Triumph dealer in the country the straw that broke the back was corporate saying, after the owner had spent WELL into 6 figures on their logo crap and signage, that the bathroom paint color was incorrect and must be corrected RIGHT NOW.

That did not go over too well............... ...............

[bad Chad]

The local HD dealer 4 miles from my house, Chuck's HD, is going out of business next week.  Been there for 48 years, and at one time was a powerhouse mid west dealer.  Their claim as to why they are closing the doors is that HD is pulling the franchise.

[s1120]

This goes on in the auto world also. My past life was parts for VW/Mazda dealer. depending on what corp had a bug up its butt, we would have to make all kinda of changes. At one time they had us split the shop down the center, and have two service desks..  As a small dealer it was a real pain to work with it. I do miss the job... but not the corp heads!!

[rocker59]

Harley-Davidson delisted from the S&P 500.

https://jalopnik.com/harley-davidson-is-no-longer-in-the-big-leagues-1844057314

"Harley will now be listed in the S&P Midcap 400, alongside companies like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Papa John’s, and Gamestop. Harley’s current value is a little under $4 billion, and one requirement to get into the S&P 500 in the first place is to be worth more than double that.

This is all mostly a shot at Harley’s pride, as being among the S&P 500 doesn’t confer companies with any special privileges, it’s more just that a committee of people thinks your company is big enough to be there, which Harley, these days, simply isn’t."

[cappisj1]

Chucks was closed by Harley Davidson Corporate. Corporate is using the word retirement, not the owner. Whinny is not happy at all about the decision. She said Harley closed a couple others the same way. Chucks is/was the last Motorcycle dealership of any kind in Bloomington, a town of 130,000 people.

[Two Checks]

Wanna bet some of these closed dealers are reached by new franchisees who will be required to pay megabucks for the franchise?

[twowheeladdict]

You need to get out more often.  I've seen many Harley dealerships selling other brands.  They are usually separated in different areas, unlike the dealers who sell Japanese and European brands intermingled by genre. 

Out in the country many Harley dealers sell SxS, ATVs, etc in a separate but connected building in the same parking lot.

Indian requires dealers to have a separate entrance and a wall between Indian and the other makes. 

[Shorty]

Times change. In the 80s, the local Tulsa HD dealer (one of the oldest in the USA) took in all brands in trade. In the booming 90s, they only took HDs in trade, and would actually cuss you if you asked if they had any used foriegn bikes for trade.   Now I notice the same dealership offering a wide variety of brands pre owned again. I have a hard time feeling sorry for them. 

[Perazzimx14]

You need to get out more often.  I've seen many Harley dealerships selling other brands.  They are usually separated in different areas, unlike the dealers who sell Japanese and European brands intermingled by genre. 

Out in the country many Harley dealers sell SxS, ATVs, etc in a separate but connected building in the same parking lot.

Indian requires dealers to have a separate entrance and a wall between Indian and the other makes.

If getting out means going to more Harley shops I'll stay in. Once every 2 or 3 years is good enough for me.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Years ago one of my friends had a Harley (he has since recovered) and wanted me to ride out to a dealership with him, a place at the Gaithersburg airport called Battley Cycles.  They had HD plus BMW, Ducati, Triumph, Yamaha, and Bimota.  Very interesting place, no idea if they are still there or what they might be selling now, obviously no Bimota any more.

https://powersportsbusiness.com/news/2018/01/31/dealer-sells-business-after-30-years-of-ownership/

[twowheeladdict]

If getting out means going to more Harley shops I'll stay in. Once every 2 or 3 years is good enough for me.

How about riding by and seeing the signs.  Travel a little.

[Perazzimx14]

How about riding by and seeing the signs.  Travel a little.

I'll stick to riding in areas with few signs and even fewer people. Riding around looking for dealership signs is not my thing.

[Roebling3]

The light at the end of the tunnel has gone dark - - again! I doubt there will be any new funding (clothing anyone?), to re-boot their image.
I would love to hear what they have chosen for noise maker (a safety enhancement), on their electric bike. Potato, potato? R3~

[twowheeladdict]

I'll stick to riding in areas with few signs and even fewer people. Riding around looking for dealership signs is not my thing.

Your loss. 

[Two Checks]

I think one of HDs problems is the glut of used ones on the market.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I'll stick to riding in areas with few signs and even fewer people. Riding around looking for dealership signs is not my thing.

 

[twowheeladdict]

I think one of HDs problems is the glut of used ones on the market.

Compounded by the fact that the look of the bikes changes very little even though the ride quality, reliability, and performance has improved markedly over the last 30 years.