Ride CT & Ride New England Serving New England, NYC and The Hudson Valley!
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com
A motorcycle business in Gastonia, N.C. buys gently used Harley-Davidsons, adds some bling and then sells them to customers around the world. In four years, the three-man shop has sold nearly 800 Harleys via eBay.
–
It wasn’t mentioned in this morning’s column in “The Republican-American” about Husqvarna’s bringing out street machines and Roost Powersports in Thomaston expanding to accommodate the new models, but Chaplin Kawasaki in Chaplin has added the Husky line as well. Chaplin still needs to update its website to make the addition more apparent. Also selling Huskies in CT is Motofit Motorsports in Danbury.
–
Commenting on the state of the industry to the “Los Angeles Times” in a story (posted by the “Contra Costa Times”) on this weekend’s Progressive International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, CA., BMW Motorrad USA Vice President Pieter de Waal said, “We know from research that there’s still interest in motorcycles. The trick is to give people a reason to buy. If there’s a ‘wow’ effect, then we see success.”
He continued, “More than anything else, you have to believe in the future. And you have to be brave when you design a motorcycle. You cannot go for middle of the road anymore. People who buy motorcycles don’t need to. It’s an emotional, irrational purchase.”
Perhaps this is why BMW and Triumph are having success – BMW with the S1000RR and Triumph with the Tiger 800. And that’s precisely why rehash like Victory’s just-introduced Hard-Ball model (see previous post) makes me go ho-hum.
