Total Motorcycle Community Forums

First off, hi everyone and thanks for this opportunity to blow off some steam.
I've owned and rode motorcycles since the mid seventies and currently have an old Harley Shovel and a old Honda XL. With retirement creeping up I have been looking at buying a new bagger to ride off into the sunset with. One of the bikes I have short listed was an Ultra Glide.
I ended up spending some time on most of the manufactures web sites and got to know the prices quite well. Then came a magazine with most current bikes listed with prices. Something just didn't jive between their prices and the prices listed on the Canadian sites. So out came the calculator. On that day after conversion an American could buy an Ultra Glide for $2,740.00 less than what I would have to pay for the same bike. Yep that is not a misprint. What a kick in the teeth. After reading all that crapola that Willy has spouted off about Harley owners being one big happy family I wasn't too impressed. I am not too familiar with the type of family that makes it a habit of bleeding relatives but I guess H D is.
H D isn't the only ones, they just happen to be the ones trying to give you the warm fuzzies while they are doing it.
As a result I've decided I don't need a new bike, I'll just put some money into the old scooter and be happy. And I guess I should thank H D for saving me from spending all that money. After all aren't we Canadians know for being polite.

Papa Bear

I paid $15,809CDN for my '06 FXDI. I just checked the HD USA site and they list the same bike for $15,809USD, which converts to $18,062CDN.

I can totally relate... except my story is about the dealer and not the MoCo. Once the papers were signed and the deal was done they treated me like I was a major pain in the "O Ring". Just one slap in the face after another. I've got the bike, but if I had known it was gonna be like this I would have gone a different direction.

Actually Mike, the web site recognizes your Canadian address and gives you Canadian prices. If you were able to look from an American address you would see that it's listed for $12,195.00 which today on XE.com is $13,935.25 can. Sorry.

Papa Bear

Papa Bear wrote:Actually Mike, the web site recognizes your Canadian address and gives you Canadian prices. If you were able to look from an American address you would see that it's listed for $12,195.00 which today on XE.com is $13,935.25 can. Sorry.

I did not know that. Sneaky little b*stards, eh?!

Yeh I guess they have all the angles figured out.

Papa Bear

An S2R Duck listed for $11800 in Canada last year, while the same bike was $8500 in the states. Good thing I got a discount but it is still a "pee"-off. You can blame Transport Canada for making it difficult to get bikes certified in this country. "If you build it outta cloned Harley parts, no problem. If you try to bring in an Aprillia that has been certified everywhere else in the world.....no dice. The headlight pattern does not meet our standards......" Blame your government....or the government we just turfed....

You would have thought that Transport Canada would have simply set their standards to match the standards used in the US or Europe.

jmillheiser wrote:You would have thought that Transport Canada would have simply set their standards to match the standards used in the US or Europe.

What, and lose all those cushy goverment jobs for the politicians to pass out to thier cronies? That would be un-Canadian....

A local Yamaha dealer told me that we get the bikes built to European standards which are slightly different than the US. So it's all just greed. Another way to get your hard earned money out of your pocket and into theirs!

If it wasn't for the beer, clean air, clean water, great riding, good people and many other great things I might consider moving. Naww I wouldn't do that!!!