Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Just sent this to triumph

I just wanted to stress my feelings on hearing of my triumph dealer not continuing to sell new bikes. Not my closes dealer but the best dealer. The dealer I use is Ed's Service in Hyde park, NY. I bought a new 2008 speedmaster from them in march of 2009. They have made me and my family feel like we were there family. I live over 3 hours away from them and could count on them to do my oil change when I arrived and had me back on the road in less then a hour. Both local dealers Spitzie's in Albany and Preferred Powersports of Syracuse (45 min drive) told me I would have to leave the bike over night. Both of them are multi brand dealers that don't have any passion for the brand. Ed's has sold triumph sens the 60's. Some of the things Triumph has done In the last few years is really putting me of to the brand I fell in love with. The bike still seem to be quality but the lack of quality in the company and the dealers seems to be decreasing. I Like to support the brand and buy clothing and accessory but 60 to 70 dollars for sweatshirts, If I wanted outrageously prices accessory I would have choose the other brand. One reason I choose triumph because of the dealership. If it takes me 2 days to get a oil change and four 45min drives. I'm sorry I can choose any other brand and get treatment like that and have a dealer 20mins away. That is probably why there not many triumphs in my area the dealers don want to make it worth the drive. I hope you send this long I know from many forums I belong to that many people feel this way. I think Triumph needs to sit back and remember they blu it once.

Ed's is one of the oldest Triumph dealers in the USA.
that they've maintained their mom and pop status over the years
is pretty astounding.

Triumph's corporate decision is probably based on
Ed's lack of square footage and likely refusal to go
new school. hopefully, they'll be able to survive on the
top notch service they provide.

From what I under stand its ed's choose. They just dont want the BS anymore they will continue to do service on bikes at the current location

Clearly this is lack of sales making him unable to keep up with Triumph inventory requirements. Happened around 01-02 to one of our shops in San Antonio too. They were known as inventory bullies. Your unsold floor plan can break your back.

That is a shame. He will lose troubleshooting work too on the warranted bikes as Triumph won't let him fix them.

From what I know they were being push a lot of inventory on them in November. This is Up state NY come on they wont sell much of anything till march at the soonest. It just shows the company just cares about numbers and ya thats what all company's care about but when I first bought my bike I didnt get the feeling like that. It has gotten worse with the more good press they get.

Oh! Thanks for letting us know, but I am really sorry to hear this. Ed has kept my motorcycles going for well over 200,000 miles. I also live 3 hours away and still go back there for service and advice. Great family.

He started as a Triumph dealer in 1953. The year I was born. I've spent many Saturday afternoons hanging out there. Lots of other days, too.

I hope this is actually a stress reducer for Ed and Stacy. They've lived this business for a LONG time.

I'm not sure how out the news is stacy was talking to my mother about it at christmas time. But I know the feeling I would bring the whole family down to get service done just to spend the day there

Triumph cares about dealer service, but they care more about inventory "channeling", all vehicle manufactures do. Once the bike or vehicle is out the door of the factory and on the dealer's floor plan it's counted as sold as far as Triumph's bank is concerned. I know there is a little ponzi scheme taste to that, but look at the "channeling" GM has done over the last year, they've increased the normal dealer inventories three fold and booked those vehicles as sold.

My guess is that Ed correctly did not want to financially bury his future.

Man, I hate to hear stories like this. Ed's sounds like a good place. Reminds me of what Chevrolet did to their dealers a while back. I know a great dealer, small and personal, who they dropped cause he was too small. I always worry that they are gonna cut Baxter's one of these days, another ole school shop who takes care of their customers. Damn bean counters! It wouldn't do any good, but I'd write to Triumph about Ed's and places like them if I knew where to write. How about the community here spouting off to the powers that be. It might be too late for Ed's but maybe we'd head off the future a little or make them think?

Maybe they'll close my local shop and someone decent will take over. What's the start up cost on one? I drive to South Carolina on those rare occasions when I need a dealer because the dealer in Asheville sucks.

And now I'm thinkin... I don't get the corporate thinking on small dealers. What is the difference between 1 dealer selling 100 bikes a year and 10 dealers selling 10 per year? More dealers offer more visability for the brand. I asked my Chevy dealer, the one who GM abandoned, why this works this way. He told me that GM has no cost to keep him open. He buys all his own literature, all the tech equipment, and even has to buy all the computer programs from GM to service the vehicles. There is absoloutely no out of pocket expenses for GM to keep a dealership open. Same way for bike dealers? Any of you corporate big shots out there who can explain the business thinking that goes into this sales model? I really am curious.

I also blame them Hireing EX H-D mgt. ppl. It was not until this X HD guy started running Atlanta that we started seeing a push in clothing at dealerships, and then the dealer ships closing due to product being forced at them. Bloor needs to take an active hold again. I also think moving plants to Thiland sucks cause its not "built in Brittian" any more, Which has also been discused a few times in the past.

Sorry to hear about your dealer. Maybe there's a bright side? It will take you less than 20 minutes and 1/2 the price if you start changing your own oil. Super easy & fun. Won't solve all of your troubles but hopefully you won't need additional service often.

Ed & I didn't hit it off..Might have caught him on a bad day but haven't been back. I go to Rockwell Cycle in Ft.Montgomery when I have to. Mostly I wrench on it myself.