nplenzick
New member
It's been my experience with BMW and Triumph dealerships that when I was interested in a particular model I could test ride one of their demo's . I haven't had that same experience with Japanese brands, therefore you visited a rally or show where they had their demo fleet and you test rode one there.
I just returned from Daytona where Honda had their usual large red tent with all of their models under it, but no demo rides. It seems that with the economy they needed to cut back on this. I met three people, all of whom were ready to buy a new 09 Goldwing and came to Daytona to demo ride one. These people where really turned off by this and may be lost customers to Honda, especially since I pointed them to the BMW dealer and suggested a test ride on a LT.
First Honda takes motorcycle production back to Japan, then they cancel Honda homecoming and the Hoot. Now no demo rides.
What's ironic to me is not to far away from the Honda tent were two multi million dollar tractor trailers and one million dollar bus dedicated to the Motocross team.
These rigs looked like something you would see at a F1, Indycar, or NASCAR event.
I can understand rigs like this for auto series where you need multiple cars, engines, body panels etc. But for twelve dirt bikes? You gotta be kidding me!
I also might add that a few people watched one mechanic take a MX bike apart to the bare frame ( which took all of about 20 min) there seemed to be little interest in this fleet of expensive rolling advertising billboards.
It seems to me that the bean counters at Honda are counting the wrong beans.
There's a great article in the March issue of Backroads magazine ( here in the NE USA) by the editor/publisher Brian Rathjen. He relates the movie "The Happening" directed by M Night Shyamalan to what is going on right now with the some of the motorcycle manufactures. The movie if you haven't seen it is pretty much about people killing themselves for no real apparent reason. I would suggest to read it if you can.
Also in this article he states BMW will not have their demo fleet at Americade this year, so it seems BMW is not immune to shooting themselves in the foot ether.
I just returned from Daytona where Honda had their usual large red tent with all of their models under it, but no demo rides. It seems that with the economy they needed to cut back on this. I met three people, all of whom were ready to buy a new 09 Goldwing and came to Daytona to demo ride one. These people where really turned off by this and may be lost customers to Honda, especially since I pointed them to the BMW dealer and suggested a test ride on a LT.
First Honda takes motorcycle production back to Japan, then they cancel Honda homecoming and the Hoot. Now no demo rides.
What's ironic to me is not to far away from the Honda tent were two multi million dollar tractor trailers and one million dollar bus dedicated to the Motocross team.
These rigs looked like something you would see at a F1, Indycar, or NASCAR event.
I can understand rigs like this for auto series where you need multiple cars, engines, body panels etc. But for twelve dirt bikes? You gotta be kidding me!
I also might add that a few people watched one mechanic take a MX bike apart to the bare frame ( which took all of about 20 min) there seemed to be little interest in this fleet of expensive rolling advertising billboards.
It seems to me that the bean counters at Honda are counting the wrong beans.
There's a great article in the March issue of Backroads magazine ( here in the NE USA) by the editor/publisher Brian Rathjen. He relates the movie "The Happening" directed by M Night Shyamalan to what is going on right now with the some of the motorcycle manufactures. The movie if you haven't seen it is pretty much about people killing themselves for no real apparent reason. I would suggest to read it if you can.
Also in this article he states BMW will not have their demo fleet at Americade this year, so it seems BMW is not immune to shooting themselves in the foot ether.
What idiots.
