More Thinning

[Fatfatboy]

Heritage Harley Davidson in Chicago area is closing its doors June 30th. I know this doesn’t effect any of us potential buyers but it does show that there is a thinning down of the saturation of dealerships.

A quick snapshot of the Chicago area currently shows at least 10 HD dealers in the Windy City market.



I think this is another ploy from the mothership to keep competition down between dealers.
A few years ago the dealer closest to me closed its doors because the owner was retiring and HD would not allow them to sell it as another HD dealership.  

Just another sign that the fad is fading away.

[hacksaw]

well lets see, Ct has lost several dealers. i cant recall them all.
several of the ones left are affiliated with quite a few other dealerships.
in different states.
mom and pop dealers are long gone. i doubt i will ever buy another new harley.
they no longer sell anything that i could like enuff to  justify the cost of buying.
their prices on used bikes is actually sick.
its a shame really. but i actually dont care all that much.

[Fatfatboy]

Yup, mom n is are a thing of the past. Not just in biker it seams.

Are Harley dealerships around here are a owned by folks that own several shops.
The last mom n pop near me was Bourbouse Valley that I mentioned that Harley decided should be no more.

Docs Harley which is the other one closest to me was close to a mom n pop because they only owned two shops. The one in St. Louis and one in Florida somewhere. The wife ran the St. Louis store and the husband ran the Florida shop
They sold it recently to a multi owned company. The guy that was the guy I’d deal with left. He couldn’t stand the way the new owners ran the place with the corporate rule.
He got out of motorcycle sales all together.
He became a carpenter.

I can’t say that Harley doesn’t have anything that I would like to own but the price of a new bike has gone way higher than I would pay for. Used is the only way I go now.
There is a lot of used bikes with no miles for sale.

[hacksaw]

well christ was a carpenter. so thats fine.

their prices even for used suck. used 883 for 12k? 2022 mind u, but still.
6k for evo solid mounts? thats sick.
i have always been willing to work with dealers knowing the prices are trade in low and sell high. but with a few perks here and there i could deal with it to have a good relation ship with the dealer. no longer worth it.

harley is selling retro dressers for more money than
the  pristine originals go for , bikes that the new machines are based on.
and we thought years ago that AMF was bad. lol.