motorcyclebloggers.com

You’ve heard of racism, can you say “brandism”.

It’s always amazes me how narrow-minded, short-sighted and ignorant people in our “community” can be. This guy had a chance to sell you a bike on his floor and he didn’t even make an attempt (including finding another salesman who cared or knew something about Buells). If I was this guys boss, he’d be looking for a new job right now.

I just bought a XB12Ss from our local Harley dealer. My experience was different. They didn’t seem to be pushing them, but they were glad to talk to me, let me have a test ride, and seemed to know & understand the bikes.

I think there is a weeding out process going on now. A lot of dealers are dropping the Buells. These are the sort of dealers you visited. check out
http://www.badweatherbikers.com
for more info. There is a lot of discussion on this topic there.

After now having worked for ( but never again ) in 3 of the Harley dealerships in the Phoenix area, I know the bad feelings and vibes that the Buell customer gets when they walk in and ask for help.
Yes, some of these salesman are “HARLEY ALL THE WAY”, but the real blame for such poor Buell sales and knowledge is the dealer. They provide ABSOLUTELY NO TRAINING OR ENCOURAGEMENT in how to show and sell a Buell. The Buell is made fun of by the owners of these places and the bad habits do trickle down.
But then again, when you get right down to it, most of the salesman in the valley are not that sharp about Harley’s either.
The very low level of service and follow up here is horrible. Dealers do NOT want experienced, mature, courteous sales people. They want 25 year old boys who are happy to make their rent and beer money. It is really very sad.

Its all circle of life stuff….

Bought a new Superglide in the early 70’s . Simple clean lines. Baggers were mostly rode by cops, shriners and wannabe’s and looked down on my bike (not a bagger).
Got shit from all the jap bike owners but non bagger Hog riders were tight back then.

Now every one has a Harley.

Buell is like that now. Many HD riders don’t like them. They don’t fit with most Jap bikers.

Sport bikers that ride them are rare.

These bikes are a pure engineering form with mass management carried to an extreme. The new machine with 145 HP should finally provide a competitive platform from which to launch a true competitor.

Hell, we should all buy one just to see the evolution of bikes in a new direction.

Just don’t expect others to aappreciate…they are invested in something else.