Total Motorcycle Community Forums

keysman wrote:old-n-slow,

I'm gald to hear we agree then. By the way I agree with on the cost for a VROD or a Street Rod, that's a lot or money. Just like the BMWs their overpriced.

Not sure If they are overpriced or not. They don't seem to have any difficulty (either Beamer or Harley) to sell bikes at that price so why not I guess?

Just too pricey for me.

I wonder what the mark up is for Harleys. I happen to know exactly what it is for the BMWs. I can't really say how I got that information. I wonder if Harley is similar and how BMW or Harley compare to other manufacturers in those terms. For example is there as much profit for the dealer in a Kawasaki as there is in a Honda?

I think Honda uses a tactic they use with their cars. They don't make quite as many bikes as they could to keep the demand, and the prices, high. I don't get the sense that BMW or Harley do that but I could be wrong.

When I got my BMW, I worked one dealer against another to get the best price I could get. I even had one dealer threaten me saying that I was not allowed to share the pricing they gave me with another dealer. What a joke. I ended up getting the bike from the dealer in my area for the lower price that the dealer from out of the area had offered me. This was before I knew what the markup was. My dealer pissed and moaned that the other dealer shouldn't have offered me a price that low and that they were only going to make $50 on the deal. I just told them if they wanted me to buy the bike from them they had to give me that price. They did.

A friend of mine got the same bike about a month earlier and I paid $1000 less than his starting price, out the door with tax and fees and all that garbage. I later found out the dealer had made about $500 bucks on the deal, not $50.

The dealers have to make some money though too. Otherwise they couldn't stay in business right?

Well if I only made $500 on a $15000 or higher machine I probably wouldn't sell it so I can't fault the dealer. I know they expect to make money on service and warrantee etc but most have a rather substantial overhead I would think.

Honda is not the only one to play that game. i believe the waiting list on a new road king is up to three or four months, judging by a chap I know waiting for his. and then if I recall he waited still an additional 6 weeks before he actually got it. This is a common ploy throughout various markets. It's precisely what the diamond cartel does to control pricing. I don't think there is any shortage of buyers for the high priced bikes and that being the case, if you want one, you are going to have to either pay or settle for less..

Y'all need to join the military. The exchange new car program buys an allotted number of Harleys at the beginning of the model year, and sells them at MSRP... but the best part comes at the end of the model year when they blowout what remaining stock they have at $1500-$2500 discounts off msrp ...

I'll be getting that street rod at the end of 2006 model year ... saving my

oldnslo wrote:One of the mainstream rags did a roadtest of a pre-rubber sportster, and they thought it shook quite a bit, especially after one of the turn signals vibrated off and fell off in the street at a stoplight.

Hasn't happened on my wifes Sporty yet....

TechBMW wrote:I loved riding around on my buddies pre-rubber mount Sportster 1200 for the few months I was in Daytona. The vibes didn't bother me nearly as bad as everyone said they would. don't knock it til you've tried it.

FINALLY....A REAL (MAN) MOTORCYLIST!

Well Said Tech....

keysman wrote:Wow! You guys are pretty um how should I say, protective about Harley in general. I think you ALL took me ALL wrong.

I know where ya coming from Matey!....

I hear they are a good laxative.......

old-n-slow wrote:I would venture that this post sums it all up especially the words "HAVING NEVER RIDDEN A HARLEY" I suspect that most of the posters knocking the Harley are simply on the bandwagon because they think it is a popular thing to do however when it comes to the experience to back up their opinions they don't have the back ground.

BINGO! My thoughts exactly.

But even within the Harley family we have our problems... I rode a Sportster for 7yrs and 120,000km and had to endure comments every day about "half-a-Harley", "girl's bike" and other comments like that. I found that the overwhelming majority of these people were only parroting what they'd heard other Harley riders say - they'd never ridden a Sporty themselves.

TechBMW wrote:Y'all need to join the military.

Been there, done that, got the medals and the certificate. Never again, thank you very much.

BTW, our Canadian military doesn't have an exchange car program anymore. We used to when we had a presence in Europe, though - we had a deal through the diplomatic service that allowed us to buy new cars (but not bikes) at a discount. The only bike "deals" to be had were offered by the American military; we could purchase a new Harley from their warehouse in Manheim for a good price and without taxes.