Honda Davidson dealerships (warning: long rant)

[DarkMeister]

Just a hump-day rant.  What's with all these Honda Davidson dealers? My local one is that way; most others I've seen or blundered into are the same. The first clue is the big sign. Great big Harley sign at the top of the post. 20 feet below that, and much smaller, is the Honda sign. Sort of like our Quebec sign laws which dictate that English must be in smaller print than French.
If that wasn't enough to make me feel like a second-class citizen, showrooms are set up the same way. Walk into one and it's all Harley. Bikes, parts, accessories, everything. Typically, a careful search along a rear or side wall will reveal a doorway to a second room. Smaller, dingier, emptier. The Honda stuff. Couple of beat-up 80's-era Wings, maybe a sad Shadow or two; bunch of off-road gear and a couple of lawn-mowers. Always makes me feel as if I walked through a banquet hall in order to get to the soup kitchen. My wife, who vetoed considering a Harley in the past, came in there with me, looking for a mesh jacket. Every single piece of clothing had HD on it. She got frustrated too and said "Does this mean we have to buy a Harley, just for me to be able to buy a jacket off the rack?" and stormed out.
I can live with this and attribute it to demographics, or corporate policy; whatever. But the parts department sucks too. Out of 5-6 visits, I only walked out with a part in hand once. The rest? No dice. Simple things like vacuum hoses, little wire clamps - no dice. Two weeks to get intake o-rings. Clamps for intake rubber seals? On back-order for two months. My Valk sat through 4-5 weeks of rapidly waning, short, riding season for lack of a few 50-cent parts, only to be rescued by Red-Eye and HDL. GAH!!
Haven't tried their service department yet, but really...in view of the above, what would happen? First, probably have to arrive there via back lanes and park in the rear, out of sight. Maybe tape over the Honda emblems? Secondly, if they lack the simplest of parts like tubing, screws, hose clamps and such, how long would the bike sit in there?
I understand some of the contributing factors. Demographics. Not near a big city. Certain brands requiring more parts due to more issues.  (Supply-demand factors). But it still burns my butt.
 

[MP]

Yeah, but.

Honda only dealerships are almost the same!  Few choices, no parts, no clothing, etc.

I wear and use a LOT of HD stuff.  Good choices, usually good quality.  ONLY place to look if you  need anything on the road.

Sad, but it is reality.

MP

[Jess Tolbirt]

tubing, screws, hose clamps and such,

auto zone or hardware store,,,

[Tx Bohemian]

Yeah, but.

Honda only dealerships are almost the same!  Few choices, no parts, no clothing, etc.

Not so in my part of the country.  The local Honda dealer has probably 20-25 bikes and walls full of clothes, accesories, nostalgia, etc...
And 50 miles up the road there is another dealer which is the same and in a much smaller town.

I wear and use a LOT of HD stuff. Good choices, usually good quality. 

I would hope to think so for the price of this stuff.

I feel for you DarkMeister and IMHO, from your description, sounds like you'd be wise not to patronize the place any more, especially for service!

[Sergeant D]

Guess I'm really fortunate.  I have Harley, Honda, Kawie, Yamaha Dealers all in the area.  I ride with a group of guys that ride everything under the sun and it's not what you ride but "that you ride" which is important.  With that being siad, thank God for the internet and UPS.

[Big IV]

This is more of a boutique rant than a brand rant. If you read Dealer News you will have noticed the trend evolving for quite a while now.

[Cruzen]

I don’t know that we have any Harley/Honda dealers here in the states.  From what I have been told, both companies have set up rules that prohibit having competing brands in the same facility.  I know of one occurrence where the owner of a Honda dealership had to sell that dealership before he was able to acquire his Harley dealership.

I agree with you on the Honda service.  It is very poor.  You can walk into most Harley dealers and walk out with just about any part for you Harley.  I go into my Honda dealer and all he has are parts for the off road bikes.  No matter how basic the item, like a chain or a sprocket, they have to order the item.  And this is the same for the five or six dealers we have in the Phoenix vicinity.

The other issue I have, and this seems to be with all the metric dealers is that they are closed on Sunday and Monday.  At least this is true here in Arizona.  Those of us who ride usually take short or long trips on the weekends.  That is usually when we might have a problem.  That is when we might need something and that is precisely when the dealer is closed.  If you get a flat and need a new tire you cannot count on getting one from a metric dealer.  You have to stay put in some hotel till Tuesday or have your bike trailered back home.  Most likely when the dealer  opens on Tuesday he will tell you it will have to be ordered. 

The other thing that hits me kind of funny is derived from my association with the auto industry.  I know that most of the cars are sold on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Those are the days that all the tire kicking has been done and the transactions are actually consummated. Why do the metric bike dealers cut themselves off from potential sales on two of those days?  Those are the days the auto dealers put more sales people on the show room floors.  Those are also the days the Harley dealers do most of their business. In fact as we ride around town it is interesting to see how busy the Harley dealers are on a Sunday out here especially during the winter riding season.  Something seems terribly wrong with the metric dealers business plan.

Now one of my riding friends said that the metric dealers do not need to be open on the weekends because our bikes are more reliable than the Harleys and there might be some truth in that but we still face the same issues with road hazards etc and they are not available to provide service for those issues.

[old2soon]

22 miles south and a full svc Honda dlr. 76 miles north and a full svc Honda dlr. Most of the M/C dlrs are closed here on sunday and monday. I do NOT know about the H/D dlr in Springfield Mo(88 miles west) as i've only been in it once midweek. And that H/D dlr looks a little like the Taj Mahal. Well maybe not really but it is impressive. Maybe dats why H/Ds cost so much?? RIDE SAFE.

[ptgb]

I don’t know that we have any Harley/Honda dealers here in the states.  From what I have been told, both companies have set up rules that prohibit having competing brands in the same facility.  I know of one occurrence where the owner of a Honda dealership had to sell that dealership before he was able to acquire his Harley dealership.

I think that might be falling by the wayside. Here is only one example: http://www.cementcityharley.com/. I was there recently to buy some Gerbings... they had everything there. Now Harley was on one side and the rest was on the other, but still one big ol' building.

[designer]

Honda Motorsports Marysville (Ohio) is a split dealership... Honda/Harley. 

Talk about a unholy reunion right next to the assembly plant.....

[Bob E.]

Unless they've changed much in the past year, Steel City Harley/Honda in Washington, PA is the same way.  Harley showroom on first floor...lotsa bikes, bling, clothes, accessories, hot "customer service" girls, etc.  Honda showroom upstairs...stark white walls and tile floor, a few new bikes, ATV's and some used bikes, shabby couple of racks with almost no accessories or clothes...and almost never anyone up there to help out if you need it. 

Their service sucks too.  When I hit a deer in 2006, Progressive sent me there for repairs.  They got me right in for the estimate.  But then, even though the insurance company had paid them within 2 days, they sat on my bike for 3 weeks and hadn't even ordered parts...let alone fixed anything.  I had been told that they will always give preference to HD's, but I figured that with an insurance company paying msrp on all repairs that they would take that money and fix the bike asap.  I found out that I was dead wrong.  So I pulled the bike and had Progressive pay me and I fixed it myself.  I also found out from the insurance company that the dealership was trying to sell off the Honda part of the shop, so they weren't really interested...and Progressive was going to remove them from their preferred dealership status for repairs...although I don't know if that ever happened.

[Big IV]

Bob E. beat me to mentioning Steel City (Harley downstairs Honda upstairs with a bike sized elevator!) but several PA dealers had both brands. I surprised the first time I went in looking for metric brake fluid (for my wife's Volvo) . True story, we did stop at Steel City and buy brake fluid because I could spot it from the interstate and I had no idea where the next closest auto parts dealer was. It worked.

[bigfish_Oh]

Honda Motorsports Marysville (Ohio) is a split dealership... Honda/Harley. 

Talk about a unholy reunion right next to the assembly plant.....

I know they are split, but I know there are no Honda's in Lima Harley. maybe I had blinders on in Marysville.

   What was really sad, when me and my boss went for a ride and stopped in Marysville, the only bike that remotely interested me was a ST1300 and it would have been terrible for 2-up(plus it looks like every other sports tourer), 20 years ago the CBX was fine(and distinctive) for long trips. The boss liked a used Wing.

Now that I see a HD 110 will stay with me, I see one in my future.

[bscrive]

Darkmeister, I have been to the dealership in Kingston that you talk about.  Yep, it is a big store with nothing of interest inside and not many bikes.  The HD clothing is outrageously priced and has HD on everything.  The Honda part was a joke or an afterthought because they built the building too big. 
We have a Honda dealership here in Ottawa, Powersports Canada, that has a lot of bikes new and used.  They also sell Yamaha and Suzuki.  They also have a really good selection of jackets, helmets and such.  But, every time I need parts they have to order them.  I just went there for a front brake switch for my wife's shadow and they didn't have the part in stock.  I think that it is probably the same for every dealership.  It is cheaper to do business that way.

[DarkMeister]

Thanks. I'll have to check out Powersports the next time I'm up in 'wa. It's funny, the ktown dealer - saw the exact same thing when I had my 'urgent service' done on the summer roadtrip. Toys for Big Boys - HD/Honda dealership in Moncton, NB. Taj Mahal of HD, as someone put it. Was yakking with an employee there and he was going on about the virtues of the 2012 Wing. "Hm!" said I. "I'll go look at it in the showroom, kick some tires while I'm waiting!" Oh no, says he. We don't have one on the floor. Most dealers don't have one.
Yup - new way of doing business. This must be the next step since the old "just-in-time" inventory approach. This one is "NO inventory". I can order stuff as easily as they can - and save myself a bundle in the process. It's only when I need something NOW that it bites.

[FloridaValkRyder]

We all like and own Honda motorcycles.  We also know the power of a strong product brand.  Harley-Davidson of Orlando has a huge sign, and a store at the airport, too.  Why?  Tourists want a Harley of Orlando T shirt.  Most of those shirts go to non-riders.  They must sell millions.

They could choose to take home a Central Florida Powersports Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Sea-Doo shirt, but typically don't.  It is not the same.

+1 ..   It is called marketing..God Bless America!!

[Willow]

I don’t know that we have any Harley/Honda dealers here in the states.  From what I have been told, both companies have set up rules that prohibit having competing brands in the same facility.  I know of one occurrence where the owner of a Honda dealership had to sell that dealership before he was able to acquire his Harley dealership.

I think that might be falling by the wayside. Here is only one example: http://www.cementcityharley.com/. I was there recently to buy some Gerbings... they had everything there. Now Harley was on one side and the rest was on the other, but still one big ol' building.

Been gone for a long, long time if it ever was an issue.  There's a Harley/Honda dealer in Salina, Kansas that's been there forever.  The experience at the Salina dealer is almost identical to the one described by our Canadian brother.

[Cruzen]

I don’t know that we have any Harley/Honda dealers here in the states.  From what I have been told, both companies have set up rules that prohibit having competing brands in the same facility.  I know of one occurrence where the owner of a Honda dealership had to sell that dealership before he was able to acquire his Harley dealership.

When I posted that original message I forgot about all the old dealerships which were "grandfathered" in before the rules went into effect sometime in the late 1990's.  Sorry bout that.  

[RudyF6]

I think that might be falling by the wayside. Here is only one example: http://www.cementcityharley.com/. I was there recently to buy some Gerbings... they had everything there. Now Harley was on one side and the rest was on the other, but still one big ol' building.

I go there once in a while - on a busy day, my bike (Valk or '81 CBX) gets more attention than the sea of HD's in the lot. They do have a good mix of bikes most of the time (read: not ALL HD), but step into the p&a area and you can buy literally nothing without a Harley logo.

[Ramjet]

Been gone for a long, long time if it ever was an issue.  There's a Harley/Honda dealer in Salina, Kansas that's been there forever.  The experience at the Salina dealer is almost identical to the one described by our Canadian brother.

Bought my used CB450 there in late 70's when Honda was more popular than Harley.

[Jack]

We don't have harley/Honda shops here but we do have Honda/Yamaha or Honda/Suzuki shops.  You walk in and the Hondas are few and priced a thousand more than the other brand.  It has got to where the only honda you see is a VTX or Wingding.

[czuch]

The Harley dealer is also a Vespa dealer here in Tucson.
I'll bet the 1%'ers are lovin that.

[PAVALKER]

The Harley dealer is also a Vespa dealer here in Tucson.
I'll bet the 1%'ers are lovin that.

Oh I bet they are selling the heck outta those Vespas.... something the gals might enjoy for starters, or something the couple could share (if she gets the riding her own itch and he wants to scratch it on the cheap rather than have her do his HD in).   Think about it..... probably a good idea....

And I agree with the Steel City HD/Honda.....    my other local Honda dealers also dabble in other brands (Kaw and Suzuki etc).  Only one stand alone Honda dealership locally that I know of.

[BIG--T]

One thing about harley, there is no shortage of parts! Also there are a lot of used parts for HD in local papers most all at good prices compared to metrics.