Q? for dealers, do you give free bikes 2 riders ?

three9zero
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three9zero
Edited Date/Time 1/8/2015 7:35pm
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the end of the season ? If so, what level are these riders racing at and what type of riding ? The norm for me would be a manufacturer supplied discount but the rider needs to still pay for his bike. What is the norm across North America?
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Gringoe
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Gringoe 1/8/2015 6:37am
1/8/2015 6:37am
three9zero wrote:
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the...
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the end of the season ? If so, what level are these riders racing at and what type of riding ? The norm for me would be a manufacturer supplied discount but the rider needs to still pay for his bike. What is the norm across North America?
Changes from dealer to dealer and rider to rider
newmann
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newmann 1/8/2015 6:40am
1/8/2015 6:40am
Gotta be a C class rider ready to dominate Loretta's! You'll get a free fleet of bikes and tons of amateur support. As soon as you turn pro though it's all over with. You'll be down and out, living in a ditch. Wink
Gringoe
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Gringoe 1/8/2015 6:43am
1/8/2015 6:43am
newmann wrote:
Gotta be a C class rider ready to dominate Loretta's! You'll get a free fleet of bikes and tons of amateur support. As soon as you...
Gotta be a C class rider ready to dominate Loretta's! You'll get a free fleet of bikes and tons of amateur support. As soon as you turn pro though it's all over with. You'll be down and out, living in a ditch. Wink
Decent 65 and 85 riders these days get ridiculous amounts of free bikes, its kind of mind boggling
pete24
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pete24 1/8/2015 6:51am
1/8/2015 6:51am
i give myself at least one new bike a year, and i dont have to give it back

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dazzlindino 1/8/2015 7:29am
1/8/2015 7:29am
pete24 wrote:
i give myself at least one new bike a year, and i dont have to give it back
haha...what kind of dealer r u.....LOL
dazzlindino 1/8/2015 7:30am
1/8/2015 7:30am
newmann wrote:
Gotta be a C class rider ready to dominate Loretta's! You'll get a free fleet of bikes and tons of amateur support. As soon as you...
Gotta be a C class rider ready to dominate Loretta's! You'll get a free fleet of bikes and tons of amateur support. As soon as you turn pro though it's all over with. You'll be down and out, living in a ditch. Wink
truth.....
web mx
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web mx 1/8/2015 8:14am
1/8/2015 8:14am
I have been out of racing for about 7 years,but back then and before I know around here only the top A-expert riders or extremely fast mini riders [the ones going to LL's,big am, races] were the ones to get free bikes. I know some shops would let the other fast guys kind of lease [ pay 1000.00 dollars to use bike for season] then turn it back in to the dealer. When I was moving up thru intermediates to A class I would get the bike each year at basically dealer cost then parts/accessories at 10% over cost so it saved me pretty decent for not really having the money to go to the big national amateur races. I did do the contingency races and did ok and in winter did the midwest region AX's and did well and got contingency that i could use at dealer.
KTMShane699
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KTMShane699 1/8/2015 8:20am
1/8/2015 8:20am
three9zero wrote:
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the...
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the end of the season ? If so, what level are these riders racing at and what type of riding ? The norm for me would be a manufacturer supplied discount but the rider needs to still pay for his bike. What is the norm across North America?
I work for a dealership and the days of free bikes are pretty much done for us. We used to do it for at least a few guys doing a bikes and parts deal and then we'd sell the bikes at the end of the year. The support within the industry for running a program like that has gone away. And with the internet, people aren't being driven to the dealer any more. So to take bikes off the floor at our expense, let someone ride them for the season and then go through them and sell them is a business proposition without a return on it. We'd lose quite a bit of money on the bikes and wouldn't really get any additional customers in the shop to offset that cost.

Take a look around here at Vital...most people push buying online. Which is fine since they're price driven customers, but it doesn't keep money in the shop to do cool things like let someone use the bikes.

In the past we've also loaned bikes to customers to race for the season where they'd pay a value for the bike over the season. The problem with that is we've been burned more than once trying to get the money that was part of the agreement which comes back to a loss for the shop.

Can't stay in business when you're doing deals where you're losing money. And if you're going to do them, you have to make sure that something about the deal is brining in money. Sadly there are more people who don't recognize that their part of the deal is to increase customer traffic and spending in the shop.

Shane
rocketsocks26 1/8/2015 8:38am
1/8/2015 8:38am
I use to get bikes for free ,1 yr, I had a great relationship with my dealer and brought him alotta buisness, not on the moto side but on the quad side lol. Where I live in nj , my backyard is a 10/10 sq mile sand pit, and an overwhelming amount of quad guys ride it lol
ktm212
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ktm212 1/8/2015 8:39am
1/8/2015 8:39am
Unless you're a top amateur going directly through a deal like team green, rock river, blah blah (most are setup like a demo program) there aren't really free bikes like there was back in in the early 2000s. We give a demo bike to our top level racers after they've been with our shop for awhile but that's few and far between and after X amount of time they've either got to pay for the bikes or give them back to us in decent shape; this deal comes along with sending customers, winning local championships, promoting the shop. We try to give back as much as possible, help riders with gear deals, tires and parts accounts but free bike from an OEM are slim to none.

That being said some Reps find back door ways of getting local names bikes, through shops or personal demos or magazine bikes.
jeffro413
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jeffro413 1/8/2015 8:46am
1/8/2015 8:46am
three9zero wrote:
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the...
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the end of the season ? If so, what level are these riders racing at and what type of riding ? The norm for me would be a manufacturer supplied discount but the rider needs to still pay for his bike. What is the norm across North America?
KTMShane699 wrote:
I work for a dealership and the days of free bikes are pretty much done for us. We used to do it for at least a...
I work for a dealership and the days of free bikes are pretty much done for us. We used to do it for at least a few guys doing a bikes and parts deal and then we'd sell the bikes at the end of the year. The support within the industry for running a program like that has gone away. And with the internet, people aren't being driven to the dealer any more. So to take bikes off the floor at our expense, let someone ride them for the season and then go through them and sell them is a business proposition without a return on it. We'd lose quite a bit of money on the bikes and wouldn't really get any additional customers in the shop to offset that cost.

Take a look around here at Vital...most people push buying online. Which is fine since they're price driven customers, but it doesn't keep money in the shop to do cool things like let someone use the bikes.

In the past we've also loaned bikes to customers to race for the season where they'd pay a value for the bike over the season. The problem with that is we've been burned more than once trying to get the money that was part of the agreement which comes back to a loss for the shop.

Can't stay in business when you're doing deals where you're losing money. And if you're going to do them, you have to make sure that something about the deal is brining in money. Sadly there are more people who don't recognize that their part of the deal is to increase customer traffic and spending in the shop.

Shane
couldn't have said it better.
mauidex
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mauidex 1/8/2015 9:15am
1/8/2015 9:15am
back in the day the whole idea of "sponsorship" for anyone and any product...........from bikes to chain lube, was to get people to come into the shop..........that all changed in about 2000 or so with the advent of direct sponsorships from MFG through internet sites............eliminated the whole food chain and created an underground market..........know for a fact in todays market many companies sell 50% or more of their products to "sponsored" riders.................totally eliminated the reason for any local bike shop "deals"
BigDaddyG
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BigDaddyG 1/8/2015 9:31am
1/8/2015 9:31am
I know a 250/450 Junior rider who won LL and then started getting free bikes. Int. rider now and gets 2 free bikes a year. I also know a pro who races SX and gets free bikes. I also know of a local shop here that supplied WP40 with Suzukis for the past 2 years and NW2 with a slew of Kawis over the past few years. This local shop does very well and supplies lots of bikes to the top NW riders and a few national pros. I am sure the manufacturer is helping too.
muGz.147
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muGz.147 1/8/2015 9:31am
1/8/2015 9:31am
three9zero wrote:
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the...
Just wondering, who, if any dealer is giving free bikes to local racers to ride for the season, then letting riders give them back at the end of the season ? If so, what level are these riders racing at and what type of riding ? The norm for me would be a manufacturer supplied discount but the rider needs to still pay for his bike. What is the norm across North America?
KTMShane699 wrote:
I work for a dealership and the days of free bikes are pretty much done for us. We used to do it for at least a...
I work for a dealership and the days of free bikes are pretty much done for us. We used to do it for at least a few guys doing a bikes and parts deal and then we'd sell the bikes at the end of the year. The support within the industry for running a program like that has gone away. And with the internet, people aren't being driven to the dealer any more. So to take bikes off the floor at our expense, let someone ride them for the season and then go through them and sell them is a business proposition without a return on it. We'd lose quite a bit of money on the bikes and wouldn't really get any additional customers in the shop to offset that cost.

Take a look around here at Vital...most people push buying online. Which is fine since they're price driven customers, but it doesn't keep money in the shop to do cool things like let someone use the bikes.

In the past we've also loaned bikes to customers to race for the season where they'd pay a value for the bike over the season. The problem with that is we've been burned more than once trying to get the money that was part of the agreement which comes back to a loss for the shop.

Can't stay in business when you're doing deals where you're losing money. And if you're going to do them, you have to make sure that something about the deal is brining in money. Sadly there are more people who don't recognize that their part of the deal is to increase customer traffic and spending in the shop.

Shane
jeffro413 wrote:
couldn't have said it better.
I'm backing these guys...we've done it in the past, but those days are long gone for sure. I myself have become more of a liaison to my riders with helping them get the best possible deals on parts and/or gear through the relationships and friendships that I have within the industry. I leave the bike portion of things to our owner, who also happens to be my father. Even if I were to ask for a "free bike" or a bike to use for the season...it's not happening.
Juss
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Juss 1/8/2015 9:46am
1/8/2015 9:46am
I just walk into my local dealers and say I know RV2 or JS7 etc. Then just point at the bikes I want and tell them to load it up
In my truck. They are not to big on giving away free parts, but free bikes are better than nothing. lol
TJ 755
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TJ 755 1/8/2015 10:08am
1/8/2015 10:08am
BigDaddyG wrote:
I know a 250/450 Junior rider who won LL and then started getting free bikes. Int. rider now and gets 2 free bikes a year. I...
I know a 250/450 Junior rider who won LL and then started getting free bikes. Int. rider now and gets 2 free bikes a year. I also know a pro who races SX and gets free bikes. I also know of a local shop here that supplied WP40 with Suzukis for the past 2 years and NW2 with a slew of Kawis over the past few years. This local shop does very well and supplies lots of bikes to the top NW riders and a few national pros. I am sure the manufacturer is helping too.
Their latest investment is going really really fast. CB 910
scott_nz
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scott_nz 1/8/2015 11:03am
1/8/2015 11:03am
I was a dealer for 10 years, the only bikes that went out free were from the distributor, and just went though the shop, as Shane said above with the advent of internet shopping the margins are slimming and the room to do this sort of stuff is gone, alot of it is more to loving the sport and seeing the riders you support acheive thier goals, to have your shop name on a helmet of world champion is something ill remember for ever,

Also sometimes the best riders were not the best sales people, if they did not keep thier own bikes very well prepped, or had a problem selling thier old race bikes then alot of the time it was not worth the effort to support them, also you tend to get burnt a few times and lose the passion after a while,

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three9zero
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three9zero 1/8/2015 6:14pm
1/8/2015 6:14pm
Thanks for your input so far Dudes, I'd love to hear more dealers/reps chime in on this.
Sir Roostsalot 1/8/2015 6:20pm
1/8/2015 6:20pm Edited Date/Time 1/8/2015 6:21pm
Not only did I get free bikes for several years, I worked the deal to include free beer too, all I had to do was win a lot of races and follow it up by drinking tons of beer.
LappedU
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LappedU 1/8/2015 6:27pm
1/8/2015 6:27pm
In the 80' with yamaha, we used to just have to pay the local tax, and bring the bikes back when we were done. And as many as we wanted, and tons of free parts.
Jack mehoff
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Jack mehoff 1/8/2015 7:14pm
1/8/2015 7:14pm
Back in the 90 and eary new mileuim , most off the riders that where getting bikes to use for the season where supplied by the mfg and then passes through a high volume dealership and then returned to the shop at the end off the year for the shop to sell off as a mfgs thank you for the volume they where selling and dealing with there parts allowance that they would recive for the year.
KTMShane699
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KTMShane699 1/8/2015 7:35pm
1/8/2015 7:35pm
Jack mehoff wrote:
Back in the 90 and eary new mileuim , most off the riders that where getting bikes to use for the season where supplied by the...
Back in the 90 and eary new mileuim , most off the riders that where getting bikes to use for the season where supplied by the mfg and then passes through a high volume dealership and then returned to the shop at the end off the year for the shop to sell off as a mfgs thank you for the volume they where selling and dealing with there parts allowance that they would recive for the year.
That's correct about how it used to work. As the economy fell and budgets got cut, one of the first to go was racing and local support. Local dealers continued it for a while at their own expense. Then with a lack of loyalty from riders and people not supporting local shops, the return wasn't there to continue. Now for most riders at a local level, the best they can hope for is a decent discount or bike a cost...and some type of discount on parts.

Dealers can't stay in business giving product away. And the art of a business transaction (which is what sponsorship is) has all but disappeared. There's no incentive to contine the programs.

It's sad, but true.

Shane

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