Triumphrat

Bonnecuse · 09-13-2004

Received a letter from my local dealer Riverside Motorsports in Syracuse......going out of business. Not good for me because my closest dealer is now 90 miles away and I can barely tell the difference between a torque screw and an allen wrench. Anyone familiar with the dealer in Canandaigua NY?

Hinckley · 09-15-2004

Riverside is going out of bussiness?
That's a shame. The last time I was traveling up there for bussiness, I stopped in and we chatted while I was making a couple of purchases. He seemed like a very knowledgable guy and the customers that came in while I was there, seemed to know him well and were happy with his service.
His shop was more like a dealer should be. It was small and personal yet had a good selection of bikes. It had character. What is wasn't was trying to emulate a car dealer like so many try to do today.

I wonder what is putting him out?

snowshoe427 · 09-15-2004

That's not good- I travelled to Riverside from Buffalo to purchase my bike. The dealer in Buffalo "retired" and no one picked up the franchise.

I can't offer anything on the dealer in Canandaigua, but at least they are still in business, but about 90 miles away for me also.

Bonnecuse · 09-16-2004

Yea...Riverside going under is a shame. Damon is a great guy but I guess he just couldn't make a go of it. My theory is that you need to have a volume line like honda or yamaha which that allows more sales per month and lets you sell things like snomobiles and watercraft. That will draw more visitors to the dealership and more people seeing the Triumph brand. I think having only the lines of guzzi, ktm,aprillia and Triumph didn't get the draw it needed. Don't get me wrong...I pretty much camped out there for 2 years before I made my purchase so the people that do go to the dealership have "buyer" written all over them, but more people probably would have led to more spontaneous sales all the way around.

I called the dealership in Canadaigua and they also do Honda (or one of the other big 4) and they said they love having Triumph and sell quite a few bikes. They said they'd winterize and store my bike for $350 for the winter. While they are winterizing it they'll do my 6000 mile service at a reduced price because they'll already have the bike on the rack. Hey...at least I get to go on a nice fall ride through the fingerlakes sometime in november right?

SCbonneville · 09-17-2004

My dealer, Ridge MotorSports in Batesburg SC carries Triumph road bikes, Gas Gas dirt bikes and Artic Cat atv's. Jeff, the owner told me that if he had to depend on Triumph sales only that he would be out of business. The atv's are his bread and butter....Plus a very good and reasonably priced repair shop that has two full time wrenches and a third fellow that works both sides of the counter, that stays busy on all makes of bikes...

I'm VERY lucky to have a great little shop near (~45 miles) me and he is doing well.