I Spent All Afternoon At Motorcycle Dealers

"Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)" (bman76-4) 08/31/2018 at 23:05 • Filed to: None

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Saw a few things I liked

and by that I mean very few. Seriously, Wichita is not the place for bike shopping if you don’t want a black late model Harley something or other. Since I’m still working “summer hours” I left work at noon and decided to spend the afternoon looking at and sitting on bikes at various dealerships.

First dealership I went to had by far the most metric bikes. The Kawasaki Versys that I posted last night was there. First impression: lotta dirt bikes and side-by-sides. E verything else packed in so close that you couldn’t really look at any of them, let alone sit on them. I literally walked past an MT-07 (a bike I like) 3 times before I even noticed it was there.

They had swapped to a more street friendly front tire on the Versys than was in the ad. Not a bad bike for $3500 , I’m just not a huge fan of it in red.

Motorcycle dealers are bad at photos

They also had a new 2015 Yamaha Bolt C-Spec that I kinda liked, but I wasn’t impressed enough to want it for $5600, I know a place near my parents where there’s two new FZ-07s for less.

Like this

Weirdly, no one in the place ever acknowledged that I was there, so I left.

Next stop was an Indian/Used dealership who I’d heard had a lot of used bikes. Weirdly fancy showroom with wood floors and tables, and about 12 new bikes total, so plenty of room to walk around (thank you baby jesus). They had 3 new Indian Scouts including a red Scout Sixty that I liked quite a bit.

A much more striking bike in person than in photos, but out of my budget at $10k.

Asked them if they had any used inventory, and they pointed me towards a pair of double doors...

...behind which was a unfinished warehouse stuffed full of a ton of anonymous Harley junk I couldn’t care less about, so I left.

Next stop, the Triumph/Polaris/Victoy/Enfield dealer. Walked in and was immediately enamored with a couple of Triumph Bonneville Bobbers and a Speedmaster. I figured all of which were probably out of my budget, but nevertheless turned over the price tag to see the price...

It’s so pretty, but wow are Triumph proud of this thing

...and said “fuck you, and your $13k bike” and left.

Next was a very long drive (45 minutes) out to a place that sponsors the MSF course and was highly recommended by the coaches as being a friendly place. That was very true, however, their claim to be “the largest used metric bik e dealer in Kansas” was hilariously false.

So

Many

Shitty

Late

Model

Harleys

I will give them credit, they were extremely friendly without being pushy or annoying. Also, they take fantastic photos for their websites, showing every single blemish/dent/ding in an individual close up picture. 100% seem like the kinda place I’d want to do business with if only they actually had anything I was remotely interested in.

Thus ended my afternoon of looking at motorcyc les, without actually sitting on a single bike.

Decay buys too many beaters > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 08/31/2018 at 23:25

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Wanna buy a slightly salty used vtx? :P

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Decay buys too many beaters 08/31/2018 at 23:26

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I’m just really not into classically styled cruisers. 

Decay buys too many beaters > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 08/31/2018 at 23:30

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Me either, that’s why it’s not sticking around.

You should be able to get into a decent mid 2000s Bonneville used, private party, for cheap. My favorite bike that's similar to the stuff you liked.   

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Decay buys too many beaters 08/31/2018 at 23:34

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The problem there is that 07 and earlier were still carbu re ted, and I want fuel injection.

Decay buys too many beaters > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 08/31/2018 at 23:40

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A fair point, And those fuel injected ones seem impervious to depreciation (I looked real hard for one for my trip)

The cvks they used aren't terrible though. Had a set on my old Thunderbird and they didn't give much trouble

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 08/31/2018 at 23:53

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The last dealership, maybe let them know you have your eye on a certain flavor and model(s) of bikes, at X price range or X max, and ask them if they can sort something like that out for you. Sort of like those radically rich folks who pay somebody else to find and buy radically expensive and rare cars for their collections.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) 09/01/2018 at 00:11

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Yep, I’ll probably ask them to let me know if they get anything in I might be interested in.

shop-teacher > Decay buys too many beaters 09/01/2018 at 00:18

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I’ll give you ‘bou t tree-fiddy.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 09/01/2018 at 01:59

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The fz/mt07 is excellent and I've seen them under 5k used. Do you have any KTM dealers to check out?

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 09/01/2018 at 02:03

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I’ve got a couple mates with Versys’ of various flavours and they all love them. I agree the red is the blurst colour for them. Green or GTFAC

have you looked at the new rebels? I’ve been meaning to test ride a 500 as something small enough to fang around the city but big enough to not be shitting myself at every side wind on the high way like I do with my VTR250

xsnowpig > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 09/01/2018 at 08:47

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that pictured one with the ape hangers and the orange wheels is so sad- somebody thought that was the coolest thing ever, spent a small fortune customizing, but it’s just gross.

Manny05x > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 09/01/2018 at 09:58

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Stop looking and get the fz 07.

cmill189 - sans Volvo > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 09/01/2018 at 10:12

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The 07 is a great bike. I loved mine. Fast, fun, cheap, reliable, AND great fuel economy is hard to beat. 

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 09/01/2018 at 10:38

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man i really like those yamaha bolts. it would definitely be on the short list of bikes id buy first

Maxima Speed > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 09/01/2018 at 10:41

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I always sit on a bike if I’m at the motorcycle dealers , if only to imagine carving corner in the open air. Man I need to get my bike running.

nermal > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 09/01/2018 at 12:08

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Make the trip to Kansas City to look at an Aprilia.

The Shivers are dirt cheap for what you get right now. Plus, sexy Italian.