The Divorce

[Fatfatboy]

Denver Colorado's oldest Harley Dealer, Rocky Mountain Harley Davidson, is being downsized by the MOCO.

“We are closing, not by our choice,” Marina Yevoli said. “To be politically correct, they (Harley-Davidson) are condensing the market and independent dealers do not fit that mold. They are doing away with family-owned businesses.”

A couple years

ago Bourbeuse Valley Harley Davidson, where I bought my Fatboy, was a family owned business that closed their doors after 50 years of selling HD's. They said they were retiring but they had family members that could of took it over. I wonder if they were downsized as well?

As a family owned business owner this disturbs me. 90% of American employers are family owned or operated.
It's a new way of life in the Harley family.

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/02/24/rocky-mountain-harley-davidson-closing/

[motogrady]

Ya…….bummer.  

I know they have been forcing dealers to
go big and new as far as the buildings go.  

[oldironnow]

Well, damn, then.

Hell, their logo is "A Way Of Life." It really is a way of life.

(Note the list in red letters of the closed dealerships. Difficult to see amongst the ads.)

https://powersportsbusiness.com/top-stories/2020/10/08/hub-city-harley-davidson-closing-oct-31/

It seems more like a thinning of the herd, imo. Like what happened with American auto brands after 2008.

Wasn't the 'big box' HD dealership a product of the '90s sales bulge?

In the mid '80s, Santa Cruz HD was in a shabby corner storefront on a shabby street called Commercial Way next to the drive-in. It had oil-stained bare wood plank floors and a low ceiling that made even a short guy wanna duck when he walked in looking for a louder horn for his Honda.

edited

Then they moved into an old building on the Eastside that looked like it was once an old bank - big windows, ornate tin ceiling and coves. (Turns out, it was a originally a grocery store, perhaps built in the '20s.) Quite a cool place to sell motorcycles.

edited

Still, not like one of the Mega-Stores that got built. What was once Bob Dron:

edited

I know which one I prefer.

Maybe with the custom build your own platforms (like Ducati), and the end of the dealership model (like Tesla), perhaps dealerships will revert to a more human-scale set-up as an ownership initiation point. Especially with a move into an E-Bike world with it's lack of regular maintenance that keeps the dealership alive.

Maybe this is what the tail of the gasoline motorcycle world looks like from the inside out.

[oldironnow]

[oldironnow]

[oldironnow]

[Mad4TheCrest]

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[oldironnow]

Mad4TheCrest wrote

No matter the underlying reason for shutting down independent dealers, the net effect will be to lessen enthusiasm for the brand.  Local shops where you can drop by, kick tires, shoot the S**T, and generally hang out around objects of your passion, are what bring in new riders and keep them charged-up and tuned in.  I really don't think motorcyclists as a whole are all that eager to go dealer-less and fully online for bike purchases. I don't think we want to have a bike vending machine or bikes delivered by drone (although that might be a kick to see - once).  Let's keep buying a bike - no matter how high tech they become, a personal and social event.

You and i want that real feel contact.

But i know a lot of people who want to click and have things brought to them.

And in a business school ideology of satisfying the customer, going to the customer, giving them their 'personal experience' - combined with the relentless drive to cut costs and overhead, I feel a contraction of the old ways is coming.

Which brings me to the Livewire spin off. Upon meditation, that announcement is coming to feel less like a christening of a new brand and more of a silent statement that actually the HD's branch is being spun off to isolate and quantify the past and square up future losses.

Just guessin'.

[hacksaw]

very doubtful