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LordShaftesbu... |
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LordShaftesbu... World Chat Champion
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Polarbear |
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WindyMiller |
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WindyMiller Scooby Slapper
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Posted: 19:31 - 24 Feb 2012 Post subject: |
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
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Recluso |
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Recluso Brolly Dolly
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Posted: 21:43 - 24 Feb 2012 Post subject: |
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That sucks, was thinking of checking them out as they're not far from me ____________________ 'Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken.'
Honda PS125i > Yamaha YBR125 > Yamaha XJ6 Diversion > Yamaha Tracer 900 |
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junglejim |
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junglejim Banned
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defblade |
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defblade World Chat Champion
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Posted: 07:37 - 28 Feb 2012 Post subject: |
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junglejim |
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Polarbear |
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Kickstart |
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Kickstart The Oracle
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junglejim |
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LordShaftesbu... |
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LordShaftesbu... World Chat Champion
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Kickstart |
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Kickstart The Oracle
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Musketeer |
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Musketeer World Chat Champion
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junglejim |
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Kickstart |
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Kickstart The Oracle
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junglejim |
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junglejim Banned
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Posted: 19:34 - 28 Feb 2012 Post subject: |
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Kickstart wrote: | Hi
As said they came from the MCIA, specifically this doc. They are the figures for the imports of bikes over those years (split between mopeds and motorcycles, and added together).
Yes there was a minor peak in 1990, but the figures were still pathetically low, falling even further through the early 1990s (low point for imports being 1994).
All the best
Keith |
I don't doubt the figures, but in 1989 I started working for a bike dealer and sales skyrocketed from about 1990.
I left in 1993 but I kept in touch, and there was no let up, till about 1999 when things turned dramatically.
Let's not forget that the figures quoted, I suspect, are new bike sales.
That's not telling the whole story. |
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Kickstart |
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Kickstart The Oracle
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
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Posted: 10:28 - 29 Feb 2012 Post subject: |
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I can suggest a possible explanation for how you could both be right.
As sales began to rise, existing dealers would be beating customers off with a rusty chain, thus you're right about that dealer.
But for national sales to rise, it would take some time for that demand to spill over and create new dealers who could service it. So Keith is also right about the national picture lagging behind the surging sales at any individual dealer.
For my next trick, I'm going to sort out that little spat in Palestine. ____________________ Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike |
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Kickstart |
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Kickstart The Oracle
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junglejim |
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Kickstart |
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Kickstart The Oracle
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Posted: 13:14 - 29 Feb 2012 Post subject: |
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junglejim wrote: |
Well whatever.
Fact is that a lot of dealers who survived at least two previous recessions (including George Whites), have recently fallen victim to the current climate, which indicates to me that something very different is going on now. |
I don't actually remember George Whites from more than about a decade ago. Sure they were around, but to my knowledge no more than a normal local decent size dealers. What seems to have killed them isn't lack of sales (they sold a hell of a lot), rather trying to survive on minimal unit profits and bonuses from massive sales. If the calculations are slightly wrong the bonuses don't appear and the losses are massive. Suspect they would have suffered exactly the same fate if they had used the same tactics 20 years ago.
Dealers go bust regularly. In 1987 / 88 I lived in Portsmouth. One road there used to have a load of dealers which pretty much all closed down, just leaving the Portsmouth Honda Centre (think that landed up as a Motorcycle City branch in the end, think it closed entirely when they gave up) and a small shop for Rafferty Newman. After that I moved to Nottingham, again a place that lost a load of its dealers around then.
junglejim wrote: | Which is completely different to my recollection so maybe it was a regional thing |
Quite possible. Bikes were certainly popular in Northern Ireland around the late 1980s for example, although there they had a few advantages. Car insurance was hideously expensive (~4 times the mainland rates) while for bikes they missed out on the 9kW / 125cc learner law (if you could afford the insurance you could have a TZR250 as a learner), which was widely blamed for destroying the UK bike market in the early 1980s.
Moving back to the mainland the areas I spent a load of time in were Winchester, Portsmouth, Nottingham, Mansfield and Derby before moving over to Stafford. In all those places bike sales were pretty dead (there were 2 main dealers in Stafford when I moved here, the Kawasaki one closed shortly afterwards), with dealers numbers limited or closing and interest in bikes was pretty dead. It did seem to pick up in the mid 1990s, with in the early 2000s in a small team of ~15 people at work I landed up with 2~3 wanting to get into bikes (and 2 passing their tests).
All the best
Keith ____________________ Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing |
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junglejim |
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
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Posted: 14:23 - 29 Feb 2012 Post subject: |
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Recession and some pretty rotten summers and a dip in new licensees when the new mod 1 came in and exchange rates pushing up prices sharply (and a rise in VAT) and Chinese fake-a-aways eating into the bottom end of the market and the increasing ease of finding a used private bike anywhere in the country then having it delivered for significantly less than dealer markup and typing "Big Barry's Bikes" into Google often turns up hits like "I've not spoken to a single person who hasn't said the word 'rip off' in the same sentence as 'Big Barry's Bikes'".
Bear in mind that businesses generally expand by borrowing, and to pay that back they need a rise in net profit, not just higher volume. That's exactly what you don't get in a recession when everyone is watching the pennies. ____________________ Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike |
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 12 years, 110 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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