Shops closing.

[redbikejohn]

I live in Wycombe area. There are no bike shops left.
Old kawasaki shop went years ago. As did the off road shop. Brian Grey powerbiking is gone according to my mate but then again they were only doing Chinese bikes recently having given up yamaha. We sat down at breakfast and tried to think of shops in area. MX shop is gone. I remember several shops in Harrow but they went ages ago. Suzuki in Chesham gone too.
We came up with bmw shop near maidenhead - went past it today .... gone! There isn't one anywhere.
Ducati place out near Aylesbury. I think there might be a triumph place out near A40 Oxford but not been there for a while. There was a yamaha place over near Berkhampstead.
So Internet is obvious culprit but shops don't do much to help themselves. Diversify and adapt. Make it a destination spot with coffee shop food etc ...

[Magnusson]

RyanF9 did a pretty accurate video about dealerships few years ago.
It's not a profitable business. Margins on new bikes is down. Lease is up. Clothing (the highest margin item) is all online now. Same with extras and option parts. People are claiming warranty after mistreating their bikes until failure. Used bike sales is mostly online. What is left is service and getting good service employees is difficult. Founders of dealerships are ageing out of the business and their children have no interest in taking over. So, yeah, dealerships are dropping out one by one.

[HarveyCamm]

Chris Walkers Kawasaki & Ducati outlet in Grantham not only service and sell bikes but there's a coffe shop / cafe, barbers and tattoists - one stop man maintenance venue!

I stopped visiting them when they stopped fitting tyres to loose wheels for me, so that business now goes to a one man bike repair operation in the town - knobbly tyres must have no place in a shiney showroom

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Here's a thought.

In the early 1980s, there were 800 Honda motorcycle dealers in the UK. I ran one in the small town of Coalville, UK. There was another Honda dealer on the other side of Coalville, and another one in the next town to the west: Ashby De La Zouch. To the east lay Leicester..more Honda dealers there.
When I moved to Peterborough to be a journalist, there were 2 Honda dealers in the city itself, and a Honda specialist off-road dealer in a nearby village.

Now, there are about 70 Honda motorcycle dealer in the whole of the UK.

Most motorcycle dealers are now 'glass palace' destinations on commercial estates out of town. The days of dealers actually having shopfronts onto main roads that people drive, walk or ride along are over. Meanwhile the 'great and the good' scratch their heads and wonder why no one buys motorbikes any more. The only way you will even see a motorcycle dealer today is if you specifically go looking for it, and manage to find it between the kitchen showroom and the carpet warehouse.

My little showroom had a bus-stop outside. It was on the main road through Coalville. Midland Fox used to literally bring customers to the door. Not any more.

[redbikejohn]

Rates for shops went through the roof at some point. In some towns only charity shops and multi national conglomerates can afford to be there. Then the council crys out the town is dying ...... but look at the car parking charges! Plus all the anti car road changes.
I've no idea how biking will survive this. I supposed the younger generation is fine with buying a bike from online supermarkets. Personally I don't buy clothing online as so many of them don't fit right. Same with helmet and gloves.

[DavidS]

You have just described Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne, Brighton or anywhere else around here.
They charge up to 9.00pm in Hastings so the restaurant or any other evening businesses suffer as well.

Some under Wealden Council have free parking and seem to do better.

We were in Tenterden the other day (a fairly smart small country town in Kent) and their main car park lets you pay by the 10 minutes. Even adding in the Ring-go 20p, that is pretty good imho. Although you pay their commission, it does mean you can start low and just top up if you want to stay longer.

My wife and I hate shopping anyway as, at 68/70 but think we are 48/50, we can never find anything worthwhile, even at M&S
Bike clothing I do try and buy locally (J&S in Uckfield) rather than online and they are pretty competitive anyway.

[boboneleg]

In the case of some of the smaller shops a lot of the problem is the manufacturers putting too many demands on them. A dealer in Cirencester closed last year as Yamaha wanted them to spend on a fancy showroom etc so the owners (family business) decided to close and retire.

Although I live in Bristol I bought my T700 from them as it was a much more personal experience and they were much better to deal with instead of the big shops where you're just a number.

I really don't know where the motorcycle business is heading in UK , it's a shame

[Tonibe63]

I really don't know where the motorcycle business is heading in UK , it's a shame

As we old guys with money to buy bikes get older and the next generation of debt laden consumers become the target audience it will all depend how 'affordable' the bikes are. BMW and the Japanese 900cc plus bikes will be PCP rentals with the contractual servicing and repairs being the main source of income for the diminished number of 'corporate' dealers. The 450cc to 900cc bikes will be mainly Chinese built unless the Euro and Jap dealers get some attractive finance deals or low outright purchase prices, initial servicing done by dealers but ongoing servicing will need to be competitive. The sub 450cc bikes will be Chinese or Indian built and be either DIY serviced or done by 'friendly' local dealers (drz400 is dead in the water at those abr prices ).

[redbikejohn]

So my mate is after another bike. We popped over to a ktm dealer near Oxford to look at a ducati scrambler grey had in stock. Counted at least 7 members of staff scattered about shop. We wondered around looking at bikes in general discussing them and spent quite a while looking a the three scramblers they had NOBODY CAME UP TO ASK IF WERE OK OR IF WE NEEDED HELP! No the shop wasn't busy.

[DavidS]

My local Triumph dealer, who I have known since junior school is, according to my visit on Thursday, still busy with sales, servicing and training. They have a back street shop that is rammed but obviously do good business for Triumph so haven’t been told to get a shiny floor showroom like Laguna in Ashford.

Laguna ignore me every time I’ve been in (their loss when I was looking for a bike) but Gedges always say hello, normally offer a cuppa and let you out on pretty much anything.
They’re doing well but only open officially Monday to Friday since Covid - 85% of customers are old fits like me or self employed.
Is it me or are Triumph bucking the non-survival trend and doing well…along with RE?