Taboo Harley in Alexandria Louisiana closed its doors

[Down South]

Just read about it a couple hrs ago.
Taboo Harley in Alexandria Louisiana closed its doors today.
They were my closest dealership and were somewhat mod friendly.
I hated to hear about it.

 

[Phu Cat]

A certain political party has taken to feminizing so many of our little boys I'm wondering where we're gonna get enough men to fight the next war also.

 

[ISP-FL]

Four Rivers Harley-Davidson in Paducah put out a notice to customers awhile back about their "slow" year they just experienced. They assured everyone that they weren't going anywhere and would get through it. It almost sounded like if things don't turn around for them in another year or so they will be gone.

Out of my 14 grandkids, 11 are boys. Even though the ages range from 25 to 7, I'm pretty sure they are growing up with Grandpa's values (for the most part). Of course 4 of them entered college this year and that is always a dangerous time being around liberal professors. Three already made it through and held onto their core beliefs though.

 

[HDUSA1]

Sign of the tough economic times.

I tried to make a deal on a new Trike with my local dealer in Urbana Illinois. We know the owner and she was really nice when we buy accessories & apparel there.

The salesman didn’t want to give us anything for our bike and wanted full sticker for theirs. I tried negotiating and it was a take it or leave it, so I walked out. Plus all they had were the UGLY 2024 colors and didn’t seem interested in finding a trike for us.

I told her later that we were just too far apart and was thinking about converting our bike. She told us if we did, we would have to ride at the tail end of the group rides as conversion kits will make you wreck.

I went in to Service shortly after I did the conversion to have the BCM reflashed to a trike and got nothing but cold shoulder from everyone there.

Kind of hard to want to go back to them now for any future business.

 

[Old Road Dog]

Sign of the tough economic times.

I tried to make a deal on a new Trike with my local dealer in Urbana Illinois. We know the owner and she was really nice when we buy accessories & apparel there.

The salesman didn’t want to give us anything for our bike and wanted full sticker for theirs. I tried negotiating and it was a take it or leave it, so I walked out. Plus all they had were the UGLY 2024 colors and didn’t seem interested in finding a trike for us.

I told her later that we were just too far apart and was thinking about converting our bike. She told us if we did, we would have to ride at the tail end of the group rides as conversion kits will make you wreck.

I went in to Service shortly after I did the conversion to have the BCM reflashed to a trike and got nothing but cold shoulder from everyone there.

Kind of hard to want to go back to them now for any future business.

Gee imagine that. You come into my ice shop with my competitors ice cream across the street and want me to sell you some sprinkles, sit at my tables,use my napkins...yeah go somewhere else.

 

[HDUSA1]

See, that’s the problem. Attitude (the HD way) coupled with the tight economy will end in their demise if they can’t connect with their increasingly changing customer base. If they don’t offer a better product at a fair price without the ‘tude, people will move on and spend their hard earned dollar on more important things.

People also forget that paying for those “sprinkles” (Service, Accessories, & Apparel) is what keeps most dealers doors open. There are other competitors to buy sprinkles from and I don’t need the orange and black ones to show off with as I’m color blind anyway.

 

[ISP-FL]

Sign of the tough economic times.

I tried to make a deal on a new Trike with my local dealer in Urbana Illinois. We know the owner and she was really nice when we buy accessories & apparel there.

The salesman didn’t want to give us anything for our bike and wanted full sticker for theirs. I tried negotiating and it was a take it or leave it, so I walked out. Plus all they had were the UGLY 2024 colors and didn’t seem interested in finding a trike for us.

I told her later that we were just too far apart and was thinking about converting our bike. She told us if we did, we would have to ride at the tail end of the group rides as conversion kits will make you wreck.

I went in to Service shortly after I did the conversion to have the BCM reflashed to a trike and got nothing but cold shoulder from everyone there.

Kind of hard to want to go back to them now for any future business.

I'm kind of thinking that since the whole conversion kit wasn't a Harley product they weren't that comfortable working on it, especially doing a BCM reset or tune. I'm guessing they would certainly do a partial routine service on it though.

I mean when you think about it, Harley gets freaked out and wants to turn their back on customers for installing trailer hitches.

 

[trike lady]

Nothing closes doors of a business quicker than turning away customers, word travels through the people and then it finds another place where it is welcomed and another place gets the customers.
This is not an economy to turn work away in if one wishes to keep the lights on.

 

[New Orleans Kevin]

I'm kind of thinking that since the whole conversion kit wasn't a Harley product they weren't that comfortable working on it, especially doing a BCM reset or tune. I'm guessing they would certainly do a partial routine service on it though.

I mean when you think about it, Harley gets freaked out and wants to turn their back on customers for installing trailer hitches.

The line from Harley dealers is that the MoCo does not make the bikes to tow trailers this they discourage that I believe it’s actually in the owners manual.
As for a conversion kit I can understand dealer not wanting to work on the conversion part as it is a non Harley product . If I owned a BSA or Goldwing I wouldn’t bring it to Harley for work or service. Sad that most independents are going away!
I know there are some great professionally done conversions but wouldn’t expect an HD dealer to fix it.

 

[bikerbillone]

I read that HD corporate has gone the 'woke' path, could be part of the business problem. Jus sayin.

 

[2K1200LTS]

One problem is the insurance is they don't want you to do this or that or they won't insurer you. The other problem is the techs work flat rate so they don't want to work on something they don't regular work on as they won't be making money. Last is the overhead. And everybody else always seems to have the answerers. In today's world I think it's then skill. In the last 50 years I seen more Indy's start up bad mouth the dealers saying they do know what they're doing and in the end the Indy seam to disappear.

 

[ISP-FL]

Before I retired, I used my local dealership for all my maintenance needs. Of course that was back over 11 years ago. The only mistake they ever made was allowing another 2-wheeler to fall over against my Ultra and damage my bags. They paid for everything, but the service was always perfect.

After I retired and moved down south, I started doing most of my routine maintenance. Dealerships started charging over $300 for a 3-hole change plus a couple friends experienced mishaps from some Harley mechanics. One buddy discovered the dealership filled his engine with gear oil instead of engine oil.

I have a local dealer that I would trust with some stuff, like flushing my hydraulic/brake lines, etc. However, there is only one dealer I have found with experienced mechanics that I would trust with internal engine work and it is over 900 miles away!

I my opinion most dealer's service departments have gotten much more expensive and provided much less quality workmanship over the past several years.

 

[Oldster]

I try to maintain a good relationship with my stealership since I do have a new tri-glide with the 5-year extended bumper to bumper warranty. I do all the maintenance myself after the initial 1000-mile service. I usually have them do the 20,000-mile service also. I really don't know if they are charging higher prices than is reasonable because it seems to me like every place is. I mean really, how did a pick-up truck get to be worth 90 grand or more?

 

[BikerG]

Over on HD Forums.com there's a running list of dealers that have closed over the past several years. It's pretty sad. The closures are due primarily to economics, including pricing and lower demand for high-margin bikes. Harley's core customers are aging out of riding. Millennials and younger generations think motorcycles are unsafe. Meanwhile, Harley’s secondary market — mid-life men who want a bike that reminds them of their youth — can choose from a very large pool of used-but-like-new Harleys priced thousands less than a new bike. This hurts sales of new bikes. Harley isn't helping itself either. The company faced a boycott in Sturgis this year following an attempt to implement a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program. Harley promptly dropped the program after a right-wing anti-DEI campaign.

 

[JTJersey]

Over on HD Forums.com there's a running list of dealers that have closed over the past several years. It's pretty sad. The closures are due primarily to economics, including pricing and lower demand for high-margin bikes. Harley's core customers are aging out of riding. Millennials and younger generations think motorcycles are unsafe. Meanwhile, Harley’s secondary market — mid-life men who want a bike that reminds them of their youth — can choose from a very large pool of used-but-like-new Harleys priced thousands less than a new bike. This hurts sales of new bikes. Harley isn't helping itself either. The company faced a boycott in Sturgis this year following an attempt to implement a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program. Harley promptly dropped the program after a right-wing anti-DEI campaign.

"right-wing" ? I believe the word "normal" would have been more appropriate, or no leading descriptor at all.