Went through a very similar situation after I read "Motorcyclist Magazine" glowing review of these soon to be released bikes back in late 2001, John. My two choices of dealers were however about equal-distance from me(about 8 miles in each direction...SoCal remember...There's LOTS o' people here as you may know, hence there's a lot more dealers in the area)
One was a dealer I had already bought one of the first Triumphs(Sprint) that came over to the U.S. when Triumph first re-entered the american market back in 1995. At that time this particular dealer sold Triumphs exclusively, as did the other in question here.
In the interviening years though, the dealer from whom I purchased the Sprint had become one of those multi-brand low-cost dealerships which now(in 2001) sold Hondas, Suzukis and Kawasakis, and seemed to place their Triumph operation on the "back burner", but sold the british brand at a few hundred dollars less than the other dealership which still exclusively sold Triumphs.
Feeling that the first dealership "didn't have their heart in it"("Triumph pride", so to speak) anymore, I told the second dealer that if he could get the "out-the-door" price of the BA down to within a couple of hundred bucks of the now high-volume low-cost dealership, he had a deal.
We inked the deal, I received one of the first BAs in the States a few months later, and now have a pretty good dealer-customer relationship with this establishment.
Matt Capri at SoBay Triumph(the dealer I'm referring to here) knows and appreciates these new Triumph twins like few others out there, and because of my continued patronage of his dealership over the years, I have received much in the way of discounts and even a lot of gratis(as in..FREE) products and services over the years, thanks in large part to this ongoing "relationship".(such as the free swag I got for the "Southwest Triumph Fest" last month in Prescott AZ)
So, my point is that sometimes the initial transaction one can have with these dealerships isn't the "want-all and be-all" of these things.
(and regarding this "community thing"...well, I refuse to shop at WallMart TOO...does THAT count for anything in your book???)
