High Country Motorsports in Cheyenne, Wy will stop selling Spyders. They said that they will continue to sell the rest of the BRP products. I asked if they will still have the Spyder tech. The answer was yes, but I wonder for how long.
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High Country Motorsports in Cheyenne, Wy will stop selling Spyders. They said that they will continue to sell the rest of the BRP products. I asked if they will still have the Spyder tech. The answer was yes, but I wonder for how long.
If they have a trained tech he likely works on the other products as well as Spyders. So if he keeps up on his training you should be good. The question will be if they will be allowed to do warranty work still.
RinconRyder - No reason given, but I think it was low sales.
SpyderAnn01 - That is a good question but I do not know if they will do warranty work on Spyders
That leaves 3 dealers in colorado as the closest places for sales. :banghead:
They're getting to be few and far between...:banghead: makes it tough on the ones who need to go to a dealer for whatever reason...
Another way BRP is screwing their customer base. Rather than increasing their dealer/service network, they are slowly but surely decreasing it. If you want to buy a SkiDoo or SeaDoo, or have one serviced, you're in luck, as there are dealers all over the place. If you want to buy a Spyder or have it serviced, you're going to have a long drive.
My local BRP (non Spyder) dealer told me that they have to buy a separate franchise for each line of products and so the Spyder sales have to pay for that fee. Hard to do without some volume. They are unable to buy Spyder parts without the franchise.
Yes, this is true. I believe for each BRP product line you have to pay a fee and be bondable for $1 million. In order to have access the parts system, the floor plan financing, the warranty, repair documents, etc, you have to "buy into" that product line. Having access to one product line doesn't give you access to others. Also, BRP requires you meet a certain level of showcase...meaning you have to have a certain amount of square footage for displays, etc. All the merchandising and display materials (racks, signage, etc) are purchased from BRP. You also are required to have departments, sales, parts, service, etc., a phone system that is set up with departments....things like that. It's not a cheap endevour to take on a BRP product line.
I understand BRP requires these things to try and ensure a certain level of "customer experience" acrossed dealerships but it makes it difficult for some dealers to compete. Personally, I'd rather know I'm working with a good dealer that treats meet right and does great service work. I could care less about fancy displays, and customer departments, etc. These requirements have killed a lot of Ski-Doo dealers in our area. Used to be in an hour drive I could be at 4-5 Ski-Doo dealers. Now I can get to one. When he goes belly up it will be a 2 hour drive. Less dealers also means less competition......good for dealers and BRP...bad for me.
It is not just Spyder dealerships. Colorado Power Sports that sold about every make and model (except the spyder) closed down and they had been in business for a million years. I have heard that the reason is that Motorcycles in general are a luxury item and the young people today just cant afford extras, they can hardly pay for the basics. That's why casinos are seeing a steep decline in business as well.
Same situation in Yuma, AZ with Liberty Motorsports. Stopped selling Spyders first of the year. They will continue to sell and service other BRP products but not Spyders. Guess I go back to Phoenix (Ridenow in Glendale)...150 mi. away.
BRP's inattention to their dealer network will be the undoing of their spyder line of products. One can see the effects taking place as we speak. nojoke
The "Mom and Pop" way of doing business is gone forever. Most M/C companies are requiring millions of $ in renovations and construction in order for their dealers to all look a certain way. You saw it with Harley, now BMW too. In the past couple of years I've seen local Honda shops that were in business 40+ years also close and not another one open up.
The youth in their 20s and 30s are carrying huge college loan debt. Many of them don't want a house in the 'burbs, would rather live in a city and mass transit it or Uber it for travel. They aren't buying a lot of cars, so even less motorcycles. Maybe a scooter here and there if they want to treat themselves.
In government jobs, the starting salary has been lowered quite a bit every few years, and raises are fewer and far between. The private sector is even worse for income growth unless you're on Wall Street. Most of these kids will have it financially worse than our generation.
This doesnt surprise me at all. These things are extremely overpriced. In this economy spending 18-30+k seems crazy for a toy that quite frankly has no chance of becoming mainstream enough to be justified imo. I myself only bought one due to health reasons and didnt want to give up riding altogether. HD got away with it for years because everyone just had to have one and it was more widely accepted. But even they are feeling the heat of people reeling in their spending on a toy. They've added some pretty bottom of the barrel bikes to their lineup. The motorsports industry is changing, some manufacturers are scrambling to create a cheaper, more entry level product to entice new buyers. And it still hasnt saved a lot of franchise dealers. BRP has the cheap Sea-Doo entry level Spark, so they are trying to adapt, but in the three wheeled world im not sure theres room to spare safety-wise in order to produce a cheaper Spyder. And im not even sure it would matter tbh. These things are still not as widely accepted in the motorsport world as would be needed in order to keep sales flowing and profits rising. The low sales volume keeps the prices high in order to cover all the costs involved. Price drives sales in most cases but sales drive prices too so its like a dog chasing its tail.
Interesting discussion. I hate to say it--my opinions (which are many) seem to be all covered in the above. :bowdown::bowdown:
A lot of Harley Dealers either went out of business or were sold a few years ago because of the same demands and others that Harley imposed on them.
Queen - Another One Bites the Dust (Official Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE
This don't surprise me one bit to be honest. Even though I really love my spyder and its a blast to drive I wont be buying another one. I will keep this one till the wheels come off then move on to something else. As much as I love it the price to do anything to it is just dumb founding. I can honestly say I believe the quality is sub par for what you are getting for the cost. I was a the dealership getting new tires put on my sons ninja, I just took the tires in myself so was walking around the shop while I waited. Another fella showed up and wanted to get a new rear tire put on his spyder, Ride Now Sports in tri cities was going to charge him over 500 dollars. He was like WTF. I could tell he was angry. I think people are simply getting wise to them and have decided to spend their hard earned money elsewhere.
Jim
[QUOTE=seaweed;1301895]High Country Motorsports in Cheyenne, Wy will stop selling Spyders. They said that they will continue to sell the rest of the BRP products. I asked if they will still have the Spyder tech. The answer was yes, but I wonder for how long.[/QUOTE
Did somebody at BRP lose a bet and get put in charge of the Can Am Spyder. This bike is a blast to ride. It's not well built, it's not reliable and getting it serviced is obviously a hit or miss proposition. I hope the Spyder survives but I wouldn't put my money on it.
Here is one on the positive side:yes: Live near grand rapids michigan and have at least 6 good dealers within 60 mi:bowdown:
I looked on the BRP web site to locate dealers in the Grand Rapids area and they only show 4. :banghead:
If all goes well I will be headed to Michigan next summer and will be going east to west on Hwy 57 so this is good info for me.
Which one do you prefer for maintenance?
It's not my intent to throw salt in the wound, but we got really lucky and had a new Can-Am/Spyder dealership open down the road in Roseville Ca.! Roseville Powersports opened a couple of months ago replacing a dealership that had closed about 18 months ago. So I guess that's a push....but we'll certainly take good luck it when we can get it! :thumbup: