My local Kawasaki dealer (and, Triumph, KTM, Husky, others) went out of business this week.

Doors are closed at the Performance Cycle Center, Tucson AZ.

They're still selling remaining stock of parts, clothing, helmets, etc, at cost + 10%.

* Last updated by: mebgardner on 7/29/2016 @ 4:25 PM *

Bummer. Probably a bit out of town, I'm guessing. Those little places have a heck of a time staying open. I think the people right around here run bike shops almost as a hobby that they work their asses off to break even on. The dealership I went to back in Milwaukee has been there at least 50 years. They stopped carrying BMW though and closed the extra building they made for BMWs.

After having just dealt with a multi-brand dealership to buy my latest bike (FZ-10), I have vowed to never go in one again - or at least not this one.

The level of incompetence was astounding, customer service is next to nil. They knew nothing about the model, never knew anything about when it was going to arrive and never called me back despite promising to do so on multiple occasions.

All the complaints I have would be easily remedied if these people knew their product, and followed through with their promises. Easy stuff, imho.

Unfortunately, this seems to be the new normal everywhere. But I do speak with my dollars...

Call for parts. I hate to bear bad news, but a silver lining is, there's cheap parts to be had.

I buy everything online, from the cheapest source. The Stealers can't get anywhere near the prices that I usually find.

The stealerships are living on borrowed time...

I worked as a factory tech for 15 years, KTM, Ducati and Triumph. Our shop was bought and moved into a really nice, new showroom. But the general manager treated the mechanics as a disposable commodity. He figured he could replace us easily. After I was laid off the service center became staffed with untrained or barely trained technicians. In my opinion, 90% of the techs at dealerships don't know what the hell they are doing. And that right there can cause a dealer to close. Dealers don't make that much profit off selling bikes. The real money is in parts and service.
To this day that dealership has a service manager that I was training at the time I was let go. A nice guy but really needs way more training.

Mad

Last year I bought a 2015 Concours and when I called the same dealer this Spring about buying a new ZX-14, I found out they didn't carry Kawasaki motorcycles any longer. Still carry Kawasaki ATVs though. They recommended a small Kawasaki dealer that only carries Kawasaki. Got a super deal there and the great thing is that the owner actually rides and is the "wrench". Incredibly knowledgeable and super customer-oriented. He doesn't sell many new but makes it a viable operation by parts/service on most brands of motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles.

I was happy with other multi-brand dealership (also bought snowmobiles there) but have to admit that they aren't very knowledgeable of their products and they went through 4 service managers in as many years. A friend took his Ski-Doo there for a pre-season servicing and when he picked it up, it was about $100 more than quoted. The alleged service manager said they also changed the oil and filter. Only problem is the 800 ETEC is a 2 stoke (no filter and it is a direct oil injection system that doesn't ever need changing)...

There were only 2 Triumph dealers here in Maine and one of them dropped the Triumph line this year. Fortunately I can take my Rocket 3 Roadster to my new Kawasaki dealer!

* Last updated by: d04011 on 7/31/2016 @ 7:44 AM *

Tucson AZ is a large town, for AZ.

Hopefully, someone (not me) will see this as an opportunity.