Dealers not servicing older bikes?

[mkrouse]

Quite honestly, if my local dealer told me they wouldn't service my BMW anymore I'd sell or trade the bike ASAP. But I would not buy another BMW at that point because BMW chose to not support their customer, therefore I would no longer support them. Sorry BMW, I'm not buying a new bike on YOUR schedule. You cannot expect me to be a "loyal customer" when you are not loyal to your customers. In my mind there is nothing about BMW that is so superior to other motorcycles that I will keep buying new ones on their schedule - there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

That said, a lot of dealerships (cars and motorcycles) don't have "mechanics" anymore - you know, people who can actually troubleshoot and fix vehicles. They have "technicians" - people who can only hook it up to a computer and then replace parts the computer tells them to. If the computer can't tell them what's wrong they are worthless. So, of course they cannot fix a ten year old bike. I probably don't want those types working on my bike anyway.

For me, this could not have been stated more perfectly.

[PGlaves]

I love Max. It's a five hour ride each way for me to get there, but they are head and shoulders better than the dealer we have here in Vermont.

My concern, however, is running into mechanical trouble a couple thousand miles from home during our summer adventures. There are parts of the country where the nearest dealer is 500 miles away...and if they refuse to work on my 2012 GSA I'd be in a tough spot.

That is compouned by the fact that some dealers do not like at all to work on sidecar rigs.

[glenfiddich]

That is compouned by the fact that some dealers do not like at all to work on sidecar rigs.

I can understand that. They take up a lot of space in a small shop. I travel with tools needed to split the rig apart if needed.