Adventurer
Member
Don't disagree with you. The dealers around here (two are friends of mine) sell multiple bike streams. Mine sells BRP, Honda and Harley. All of them are refusing to take service customers that didn't buy their product from them (very common practice around here by the RV and watercraft dealers; this is a high tourism area). All of them have sold all of their new products and just sell used/trade-ins until the factories send them new product. They all are faced with almost empty showrooms and over loaded service departments. I had a simple part I wanted put on my Spyder so I left it in their parking lot for almost a week until someone canceled their appointment and they pulled mine in. Conversely two local shops have recently closed their doors sighting the in ability to get parts from manufacturers as their cause (and maybe a little more than a little mismanagement).
I have been riding bikes since 1962 and I have never seen anything like what we're going thru right now. Around here it seems like all the small businesses are near the edge. My gut, and the experiences I have actually live thru, tells me the economy will have the bottom drop out of it by this time next year. If this happens, the dealers who play games with their customers will go the way of the dinosaurs.
You may be right, but I certainly hope you are wrong!