You're Doing It Wrong: the pain of dealing with dealers who don't like what they do

My local dealer is one of the biggest 'power sports' dealers in the province and they're only ten minutes down the road from me, but they aren't who I think of when I think about motorcycles.  When I was all Kawasaki I found dealing with them challenging at best.  Now that I'm Triumph and Honda (two brands they don't represent) I'm glad I've had an excuse to experience more positive customer service elsewhere (Inglis Cycle and KW Honda have both been positive, engaging and enjoyable to work with).

Pack 'em in tight and no one can sit on 'em...

This local dealer is the only one I've ever used for servicing, but again and again I've found them dismissive and quite arrogant, as though my paying for service was a favour they were doing me.  I've been in the showroom of all three dealers.  The best I can hope for at my local is benign neglect.  The bikes are parked close together on purpose so you can't sit on them and the sales people in there are so focused on the sale that they don't even particularly seem to like bikes, let alone want to talk about them.  Even when I see other people sitting down to sign deals everyone looks like they're sitting in a bank getting a second mortgage rather than purchasing joy.

When I first went to Inglis Cycle the year I got the Tiger the owner of the place stopped and had a chat and then encouraged me to sit on the latest model of my bike.  Even though I wasn't there to purchase one that day (the only thing that seems to matter at the local dealer), he had time to provide a positive impression on his customers.  Inglis isn't some big, fancy, new bike-mall, but the people there seem to genuinely enjoy motorbikes and take the time to treat you like a fellow enthusiast rather than a wallet with legs.  I hadn't intended on buying anything but that positivity prompted me to buy a t-shirt with the Inglis logo on it; something I couldn't imagine doing from my local.  Since then I've bought thousands of dollars of parts and gear from them.

It ain't fancy but they love their Hondas
and encourage you to sit on 'em.

When I went over to KW Honda the first time I didn't own a Honda and just popped in to see what they were about.  The senior salesman on the floor was amiable and chatty and encouraged me to throw a leg over a beautiful new VFR800.  We then had a good chat about the CBX 1970s six-cylinder they had on display.  I made a point of going back there for parts when I finally became a Honda owner and there too the parts guy was chatty, curious about what I was doing and came out to see the old Fireblade.

Last time I was at my local looking for Kawasaki parts, I put my Roof Helmet on the counter and the woman who was new there displayed curiosity about it, so I showed her how it works.  She was enthusiastic about both the style and functionality of my strange, French lid and it left her wondering out loud why they didn't carry such a thing.  The old guy next to her said they were no good and wouldn't sell - in front of the guy who owned it.  That kind of caustic culture must be what takes the shine off everyone there so quickly.

Being a bygones kinda guy I contacted them by email the other day as they have a nice looking C14 Concours and I'm casting about for just such a thing.  We're in the middle of the winter of COVID and it's -20s with six foot of snow outside, so I don't imagine they're very busy, but getting the salesman to have a conversation over email was like pulling teeth... again to the point of rudeness.  I understand that dealers have to mark things up to pay for the premises and I wasn't expecting to pay what private sellers are, so I (foolishly) assumed that starting with offers at over 90% of the value of the bike would prompt a haggle, but emailing this guy was like playing a joyless game of 'no' tennis against a brick wall.

When I asked if there was a possibility of a trade he said he'd consider it, so I made an offer and got a no.  Then a I made a better offer and got a no.  Perhaps I've been watching too much Henry Cole doing Shed And Buried, or perhaps this is a cultural thing (Canadians don't barter), but I'd think a customer offering close to the value of the bike as advertised would be worthy of a conversation and a counter bid rather than series of terse 'noes'.

I was going to reply to the last email and ask why this business would want to turn such an enjoyable thing as the possibility of getting a new motorcycle into such a dreary experience, but I think I'll just cut my losses and finally learn my lesson, bygones be damned.  This latest experience, in line with all my previous ones, will have me looking elsewhere for parts, service and bikes... which is a shame.  I'd love to support a local business and talk them up positively (I do this whenever I can), but these guys can sit in their mega-edifice in misery.  I'll take my enthusiasm for my hobby/sport and my purchasing power elsewhere.

Some awesome local motorcycling businesses in Southern Ontario (from first hand experience):

Mostly Ironheads (my real local motorcycle service provider): in Elora, Ontario - if you want passion and customer service (along with quick turnaround times on work done), this is where you go

Inglis Cycle in London, Ontario

Kitchener Waterloo Honda in Waterloo, Ontario

NCK Cycle Salvage in Woodstock, Ontario

Perth County Moto in Stratford, Ontario

Revco - located in Ontario but found online

Flooding Fireblades: Sorting the fuel system on a '97 CBR900RR

Butterfly is under-gasoline...

Weather's closing in on us up here in Canada.  I had the 'Blade up on the bike lift last week thinking the riding season was over as we got buried in our first snow storm.  The next week suddenly warmed up due to a tropical storm somewhere, so I primed the Honda and got it going again (I'd run it dry in preparation for winter hibernation).  Unfortunately, it flooded itself and ended up with the first two carbs full of fuel.  You can see the wet in carb bell on the left.

I think from now on I'm going to turn off the fuel tap from now on whenever it's sitting rather than trust this touchy carb set to do the right thing.  Instead of taking the Fireblade out for a weirdly warm ride on Sunday, I was sitting on the driveway removing the carbs and changing the oil.

On the upside, pulling the carbs gave me a chance to replace all the rubbers (airbox and engine side), which needed doing (I'd been holding them together with some cunning chemistry).

New rubber bits on old bikes make a huge difference.  Even the engine side ones (which still looked good after 23 years of service) were hard and unyielding compared to the new ones.  I'm curious to see how the new ones seal in comparison.  I got the airbox rubbers from KW Honda in Waterloo, who were very responsive on email which hasn't always been my experience with local dealers.  They got four rubber airbox boots for a 23 year old bike that's been out of production for decades in less than a week, during a pandemic.  It's good to know my local Honda dealer supports older models.

I picked up a second carb set from NCK Cycle Salvage in Woodstock last fall for less than the price of the broken bits I needed to replace on the one that came on the bike.  I now have an entire second set of carb hard parts I can go to if I need any other bits.  The set they gave me (other than needing a choke pin on one of the carbs) was complete and balanced, and when I threw it on it worked a treat, so I ran it all summer having never gone through it.

With the carbs off in the late autumn sun last Sunday, I finally took the float bowls off and discovered that they were pretty grotty (when I emptied them the fuel came out brown).  It didn't take long to clean everything up, and I got carb cleaner deep into the jets and upper parts of the carburetors too.  It all went back together nicely and I was also able to lubricate and clean up the throttle action with the unit out, though it already moved sweetly.

With the new rubbers on, I put the carbs back on after work this week and they came back together nicely.  It's a good idea to attach the two throttle cables to the carb set while it's still loose.  Once the carb set is on the bike getting the cables on is a real bugger.

I went over all the fasteners as I went making sure everything was snug and leak free.  I've still got to put new oil in it, but we have a above zero day this Saturday so I'm hoping I can take the 'Blade out for an end of year run to make sure everything is five by five before I hibernate it for the winter.  Months hence after the winter of second-wave COVID pandemic, the Honda will be ready to go with fresh oil and a clean and capable set of carburetors.

This forgotten Honda is a real treat to ride this summer and is a very different thing from the Tiger.  One is a long distance tool built for pretty much anything, the other is more like an aeroplane designed for the road.  The 'Blade weighs over 20% less than the Tiger and makes almost 40% more power.  On interesting paved roads the Fireblade is in a class by itself.  Unfortunately, I live in a place deficient in interesting roads and track days in Ontario, even when there isn't a pandemic, are needlessly complicated (you basically have to show up with a race bike or rent something, there are no ride-on days for road bikes here).

The other nice thing about the Honda is how it's built for a single intention.  That focus on light-weight means getting in to work on it has been accessible and enjoyable.  Honda's aren't just designed ot run well, they're designed to be worked on too.  As my first Honda this bike has been a positive introduction to their engineering and design philosophy.

If I lived somewhere with interesting roads and reasonable track days I'd be hanging on to the Honda indefinitely as it was designed to express the dynamics of riding, but living in South Western Ontario, devoid as it is of interest, means I'm going to try and move the Honda on in the spring... assuming anyone is left post second-wave to buy it then.  I'm going to miss what it can do though.  Having this bike has opened my eyes to what a motorcycle is capable of dynamically.

FOLLOWUP

We've got a major winter storm (100km/hr+ winds, rain and snow mixed) rolling in, but I got out yesterday afternoon for an hour and the 'Blade is even sharper than it was before.  The new rubber seals tighter, making the engine even more responsive, and the cleaned carbs are razor sharp in responding to throttle.  When I got home (cold, it was only a degree or two above freezing), I closed the petcock and ran it dry before parking up the 'Blade and wrapping it up for the winter.

After our long cold winter with second wave COVID19 piled on top, it'll be ready to go in the spring...

A Honda Wander

Ah, to pretend to be Marquez...

I finally found KW Honda today!  It's hidden around back of the big Honda car dealer peddling bland people movers.  If you head around back you find Repsol themed race bikes and jewel like VFRs.

On a much needed lunch break from Skills Ontario provincial championships with thousands of boisterous teenagers watching a few hundred wonderfully talented ones, I got some head space wandering through the Hondas.

The bike I longed for as a teenager was the VFR750, so I was hoping to find its spiritual successor at the Honda dealer, and I wasn't disappointed.  

The white VFR800 they had on the floor was breathtaking.  The paint has a subtle pearl iridescence that gives it fantastic depth.  Every detail of the machine has a finished quality to it that I've found lacking in a lot of other bikes; it's a bike worthy of desire.

Stealth fighter cool front end on the VFR800...

 













They had a number of older Hondas as well, including this astonishing 1970s CBX with a massive air cooled six in it!

If I had thirteen grand to throw around a VFR would be in the garage right quick.  Sitting on it, my legs are about as folded as the Concours, I'm leaned forward more but it's a substantial bike, I don't feel like a circus bear on it.